Can anyone recommend a good windvane and/or self-steering solution
that could be used on a 17' open boat?

For a "do it yourself" solution look he

http://www.mindspring.com/~waltmur/Self-Steering/

There is also a forum about windvanes...
see:
http://www.cruisenews.net/cgi-bin/windvane/windvane.pl
In the forum posts you will find several links to different windvane
variants...

Paolo Zini

from Pisa, Italy

Dave Cannell ) writes:
What type of rudderless boats are you sailing?

look in my website under Boats, then DogSkiff and Loonie

I go the idea from TF Jones ("Boats to Go") who sailed an open kayak
without a rudder but only downwind. I wanted to have a boat I could cartop
and portage like a canoe so I left off the rudder and tiller to save
weight and space and to have one less thing to carry. Both of my boats
sail upwind. I worked it out that because there's no rudder you have the
daggerboard at the leach of the sail instead of 1/3 back from the luff.
I've had the DogSkiff out in a chop and was surprized by its steadiness.
The only problem is I have to use a paddle to tack and its a struggle in a
stiff breeze waves to get the bow around, and waves make it worse. Maybe
with a better sail ...

There are photos somewhere on the Internet of the St Lawrence skiff
rudderless sailing races many years ago.



... Spent a long weekend on
the east coast of Spain a few years ago (near Barcelona) and saw their
rudderless cats. Wanted to sail on one SOOO badly. There was also a
writeup in WB (I think) on those same boat, showed one of them
pitch-poling 8-( They were a rather narrow (by Hobie standards) cat.

Pirate_Dave

In article , William R. Watt wrote:
Arco ) writes:

Can anyone recommend a good windvane and/or self-steering solution
that could be used on a 17' open boat?

The crew weight issue is interesting. I sail a couple of small boats which
do not have rudders. There is some resolution of forces based on body
weight, boat displacement, sail area, and wind strength which determines
whether a boat can be sailed with or without a rudder or wind vane. It
should be possible to work it out mathematically. I find it easy (and
comfortable) to sit on the bottom of the boat facing forward and steer by
leaning from side to side while working the main sheet. When close hauled
with the sail pulled in tight I sit still. On a boat the size of a
Wayfarer or Albacore (15 ft, 250 lb) I'm sure I'd find that difficut to
do. I've done "wet assed" sailing in Albacores. It isn't enough to sit in
the middle of the boat, you have to get your weight out over the side. The
alternative to "sitting out" is to let out the sails to reduce power. A
wind vane will not let out the sails. However if you can depower
the sails by reefing, and accept lower speed, it should be possible.
Performance would depend on the variability of the wind. Might not work on
gusty days. Some cruising sailors simply tie off the tiller with shock
cord in steady winds. On a small boat you'd have to tie off the tiller and sit
still, like I do in my rudderless boats.



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Can anyone recommend a good windvane and/or self-steering solution
that could be used on a 17' open boat?

Navik's are fairly light (about 35 lbs) but I think they would be overkill
for that size boat. Perhaps a simple sheet to tiller rig (bungee cord)
would be o.k., given that you probably won't be sailing it overnight?


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'll start by expermenting with a
sheet-to-tiller system.

Here's a couple of good references with pics that I found:
www.bright.net/~htmills/SelfSteering.html
www.jsward.com/steering/index.shtml




On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 23:01:47 -0800, "Evan Gatehouse"
wrote:


Can anyone recommend a good windvane and/or self-steering solution
that could be used on a 17' open boat?

Navik's are fairly light (about 35 lbs) but I think they would be overkill
for that size boat. Perhaps a simple sheet to tiller rig (bungee cord)
would be o.k., given that you probably won't be sailing it overnight?