On Tue, 09 Jan 2007 04:41:48 GMT, "William Longyard"
wrote:

I really wonder if wind driven self-steering gear is better than electronic
gear.

A. Though electronic gear can fail, carrying a few spare units is less
expensive than the initial installation of a windvane system.

B. Though electronic gear consumes power, power generation is not a major
issue for many cruisers.

C. Electronic gear will probably fail at no greater rate than the
wind/mechanical system, and would be infinitely easier to replace a as a
complete assembly than would be a windvane and its associated gearing.

D. Electronic gear takes us much less real estate and leaves an already
cluttered transom untouched.

My two cents. Glad to hear other opinions.
Bill Longyard


I've never owned either but it seems the wind driven models get more
efficient the harder it blows whereas the electric ones work harder
and demand more power.
I think there were disasters with the early powered autopilots too.
Racing boats broaching at the peak of a massive wave in the Southern
ocean and such due to computer malfunction.
I sailed with someone who ran under power in high seas while flying a
small foresail and had an electrical steering arrangement on a huge
quadrant. It was very noisy on board both from the weather, the engine
and the steering gears swinging around. The quarter birth was
unusable. We had no reliability problems though, even in very confused
seas. Someone had to sit in the cockpit and keep watch anyway, which
seemed weird and useless without something to do.
Also, the steering vanes all seem to have loads of lines and pulleys
led to the cockpit which just seems awful to me, taking up most of
the cockpit space. It seems like you'd be fighting all that rig to
attend to anything at the stern like handling a drogue, fish line,
skiff, anchor or such.
Be nice to hear the pro and cons of each from people who have lived
with both.