On 26 Apr, 20:36, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
"I have some big news today. It's not necessarily good news, but the way I
look at it, it's not bad either. I am going to be pulling into Cape Town for
repairs thus ending my non-stop attempt. My whole team and I

I love the phrase "my whole team" - as if they were working for her
and she wasn't just the payload.

have been
discussing whether or not I need to stop ever since my main auto pilot died.
It's one thing to sail across an ocean with one well-working auto pilot,
it's another to keep going with one that is not at all reliable."

So which bit failed - the wind vane, the water vane or the linkage?

"Ian" wrote:

So which bit failed - the wind vane, the water vane or the linkage?

What wind vane?

Lew

On 29 Apr, 15:25, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
"Ian" wrote:
So which bit failed - the wind vane, the water vane or the linkage?

What wind vane?

I presume "her team" weren't daft enough to send her out with only
electrical autopilots when simple, reliable windvanes have been
available for fifty years. Were they?

Ian

Ian wrote:
On 29 Apr, 15:25, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
I presume "her team" weren't daft enough to send her out with only
electrical autopilots when simple, reliable windvanes have been
available for fifty years. Were they?

Ian

I've never sailed with any sort of windvane, probably because they are too
temperamental and vulnerable to fit to inshore charter boats. But I have
used wheel-pilots, bolt-on tiller jobs and built-in heavy duty jobs.

Anything "reliable" is only so until it breaks. Then the advantage of
windvanes to blue-water sailors (I gather from my reading) is that they can
be repaired with DIY skills and easily carried spare parts. Though, since
they are mostly outboard, not without some danger.

So, as usual, maybe it is horses (colts or fillies) for courses...

Mike.
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On Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:58:57 +0100, "Mike Coon"
wrote:

I've never sailed with any sort of windvane, probably because they are too
temperamental and vulnerable to fit to inshore charter boats. But I have
used wheel-pilots, bolt-on tiller jobs and built-in heavy duty jobs.

Anything "reliable" is only so until it breaks. Then the advantage of
windvanes to blue-water sailors (I gather from my reading) is that they can
be repaired with DIY skills and easily carried spare parts. Though, since
they are mostly outboard, not without some danger.

So, as usual, maybe it is horses (colts or fillies) for courses...

From what I've seen the "wheel pilots" and "tiller pilots" are too
lightly built for long term continuous duty. The built-in heavy duty
units can be made as reliable as your check book permits but they are
in fact heavier in weight and take more power to run. The integral
electric/hydraulic rams made by Simrad and others seem to be a good
compromise between price and durability.

Mike Coon wrote:
Ian wrote:
On 29 Apr, 15:25, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
I presume "her team" weren't daft enough to send her out with only
electrical autopilots when simple, reliable windvanes have been
available for fifty years. Were they?

Ian

I've never sailed with any sort of windvane, probably because they are too
temperamental and vulnerable to fit to inshore charter boats. But I have
used wheel-pilots, bolt-on tiller jobs and built-in heavy duty jobs.

Anything "reliable" is only so until it breaks. Then the advantage of
windvanes to blue-water sailors (I gather from my reading) is that they can
be repaired with DIY skills and easily carried spare parts. Though, since
they are mostly outboard, not without some danger.

So, as usual, maybe it is horses (colts or fillies) for courses...

Mike.

Windvanes are good for sailing in the open oceans where winds are
undisturbed, Inshore, mountains and islands and spits and winding
channels all contribute to change wind direction so your boat goes where
the wind goes.
Also, motoring is hard on windvanes due to the turbulent waters
coming off the prop. Things are constantly vibrating and wearing out faster.
Gordon