I think for distance passages, the windvane has no equal. My personal
feeling is the boat handles better and sails better with the vane,
because everything is relating to the wind. A big puff, the boat starts
to head up, the lines tighten, the vane straightens the boat out, the
electric auto pilot never quite as "in sync" to me.

The one thing I haven't seen mentioned is the practice of some to take a
tiller pilot and mate it to the windvane servos so that a relatively
small auto pilot can handle a larger boat. I've read of people doing it,
I have no first hand experience with that set up.

I have an Autohelm 3000. It works fine, for keeping on course under
power and many points of sail, but I much prefer the vanes I sailed with
on other's boats, and I'll get one when I can justify it.

good luck.

Jonathan



Robert or Karen Swarts wrote:

Anyone care to discuss the relative reliability of
autopilots(electric/electronic) vs wind vanes for sail boats? Are wind vanes
still widely used?

BS



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I am building a Dudley Dix, Argie 10 for my daughter. Check it out:
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