Such a good windvane! We have crossed the North Atlantic with this as our only form of self steering (no electric autopilot) and never once wished for anything different!
Thanks for another no-nonsense sailing video. On another note, I recently finished reading your third book and enjoyed it very much also. Thanks again, Ken in St. Pete.
Nice install and demonstration. I’ve always wanted to put a self steering vane on my boat to play with but alas find myself hand steering all day long for hours. Plus she’s a bay and coastal cruiser not a true blue water girl. That age old sailors wanderlust just keeps nagging and if I had one the temptation to chase the horizon would beckon me onward. In the mean time the old Edson binnacle wheel brake and balanced sail plan will have to suffice. And for what its worth your videos are very good and I’ve enjoyed following your work.
I have a nicholson 32' 1977 I have a old hasler SP2 wind vane. 1970 still works great. There nice, knowing your not using any power! Monitor's are really nice!
The GGR was not kind to monitor vanes. Lots of failures. I spoke to a competitor with an Aries and he was super happy with it and had no issues at all. I have a hydrovane on mine, and no lines in the cockpit and a backup rudder. Happy days
Yes, the hydrovane has a good reputation and makes a good choice for some people on some boats. As I pointed out in the video I'm only aware of one recurring failure issue on the Monitor in the GGR and that is the safety tube breaking during surfing down huge waves at speed in southern ocean storms. I believe all were using long safety tubes of standard thin wall. I believe the fix is very simple - buy a thick walled .065" tube or order one from scanmar. I sailed a Monitor with standard tube for many years going from Hong Kong across the Indian Ocean around the African cape in a storm and back to the US and had no failure of anything. That is a more typical experience.
I have a Monitor on my Hans Christian 41T, and I am very pleased with it's dependable performance in heavy or light air. As a single-hander, I consider it one of my most important piece of equipment.
What a great video…Re:the lower mounting hardware with backing plates…are those brackets bedded with something before being bolted to the hull? Thanks for your great videos.
Yes I bed the backing plates in sealant such as 4200 or Sikaflex 291 or West Marine Multicaulk to fill any uneven voids and help waterproof the holes. I normally use G10 fiberglass board for backing plates but happened to have the aluminum plate in stock.
@@atomvoyager thanks for the reply. I had also meant to ask how you hoisted the monitor into place and supported it while you positioned the mounting pads. Thanks
@@coldisle As seen at 4:00 in the video we lashed the whisker pole on a 2x4 plywood crutch and hoisted with the 4-1 tackle of the boom vang. If your mast is up you can lash a pole to the boom so it extends aft the transom and used the vang. Above the vang the pole is supported by the main halyard.
Thanks for sharing. I am learning a lot here! Below you mentioned that Hydrovane might be a good choice for some boats. I just wondered if you could expand on that. The Monitor system does look like a more complex piece of engineering when compared to it. It would be interesting to hear people's thoughts on both. Thanks again.
I haven't used the Hydrovane so maybe someone else can give you all the pros and cons. I have done some research on it and even recommended it to a client on a 30' boat with wheel steering. He sailed with it solo across the Pacific and said it worked fine. But it is heavy - his installation was 115 lbs dry weight which is twice as much as the Monitor and it costs more than the Monitor. His priority was to have an emergency rudder and he didn't want the trouble of setting up a wheel drum for steering lines. But the Monitor has an optional MRUD emergency steering rudder so that is not a big issue for some people. On smaller tiller steered boats or boats having mounting issues with the design of the transom and rudder and if cost is an issue then the Monitor may be a better choice. If you want to avoid steering lines or if you have hydraulic wheel steering then I'd select a Hydrovane.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Your reply makes a lot of sense and I am grateful for the pros and cons you've highlighted. I hadn't considered the weight aspect of the hydrovane. I guess if you've got a boat with hydraulic steering then cost may not be such an important consideration. I've a birthday coming up, I know three books that are at the top of my present wish list! 🙂 Regards
Hi, Great vid. So just how did you get the nuts on the back of the top mounting bolts ? Or is that an access plate I see behind the builders plate? Thanks Ian
Thank you for sharing. It crossed my mine though to ask whether this Monitor self steering is suitable for an off-center installation. If not, which make of windvane you know would work best for such a situation? Appreciation your reply. Thank you.
Monitor recommends staying on centerline as do most windvane manufacturers and users. Hydrovane claims off-center is OK and many people have done it successfully. A few inches off center on any windvane probably won't matter but a foot or more will mean the vane's rudder (or servo oar) can come out of the water at high heel angles or it may not get as clean air on the leeward side going upwind. It's usually better to find a way to get the gear on center. For example, if you have a swim ladder in the way, relocate it. If it's a transom hung rudder blocking you then make an adaptor mount to attach the windvane. But monitor's four-point mount makes it no problem to stay on center to go around the transom-hung rudder as on this Nicholson.
Thanks for the video. Very helpful. I am in the process of mounting a used Monitor on my little Bristol 24. I used your video to help me along. You said the block closest to the tiller is secured about 15 degrees aft of the attachment point to the tiller. From the video it looks to me like the line runs at a 45 degree angle from the tiller to the block. I'm not sure what angle you mean when you say about 15 degrees. Can you help me out here?
What I meant was to position the blocks about 15 degrees aft of perpendicular to the tiller when it's on centerline so that comes out to 75 degrees. All you want to do is attach the blocks a few inches aft of perpendicular so that when either line pulls the tiller hard over towards the block it forms closer to a ninety degree angle instead of pulling forward. It will work even if you get it wrong. It's just a slightly more efficient pulling force this way. It might be a camera angle illusion that makes it look like 45 degrees.
Such a good windvane! We have crossed the North Atlantic with this as our only form of self steering (no electric autopilot) and never once wished for anything different!
Love your videos! I’m years away from installing a wind vane but still enjoy this video.
Thanks for another no-nonsense sailing video. On another note, I recently finished reading your third book and enjoyed it very much also. Thanks again, Ken in St. Pete.
Good to hear you enjoyed the book. I'm working now part time on the 4th book which will come out later this year.
I hope to be installing my new ( to me) Monitor in a few months and this is incredibly helpful. Thank you.
Nice install and demonstration. I’ve always wanted to put a self steering vane on my boat to play with but alas find myself hand steering all day long for hours. Plus she’s a bay and coastal cruiser not a true blue water girl. That age old sailors wanderlust just keeps nagging and if I had one the temptation to chase the horizon would beckon me onward. In the mean time the old Edson binnacle wheel brake and balanced sail plan will have to suffice. And for what its worth your videos are very good and I’ve enjoyed following your work.
I have a nicholson 32' 1977 I have a old hasler SP2 wind vane. 1970 still works great. There nice, knowing your not using any power! Monitor's are really nice!
Excellent information, thank you so much for putting this very easy to follow video together.
Hi, I have a used Monitor going on my Tayana 37. Thank you for the video
Brice
The GGR was not kind to monitor vanes. Lots of failures.
I spoke to a competitor with an Aries and he was super happy with it and had no issues at all.
I have a hydrovane on mine, and no lines in the cockpit and a backup rudder. Happy days
Yes, the hydrovane has a good reputation and makes a good choice for some people on some boats. As I pointed out in the video I'm only aware of one recurring failure issue on the Monitor in the GGR and that is the safety tube breaking during surfing down huge waves at speed in southern ocean storms. I believe all were using long safety tubes of standard thin wall. I believe the fix is very simple - buy a thick walled .065" tube or order one from scanmar. I sailed a Monitor with standard tube for many years going from Hong Kong across the Indian Ocean around the African cape in a storm and back to the US and had no failure of anything. That is a more typical experience.
I have a Monitor on my Hans Christian 41T, and I am very pleased with it's dependable performance in heavy or light air. As a single-hander, I consider it one of my most important piece of equipment.
What a great video…Re:the lower mounting hardware with backing plates…are those brackets bedded with something before being bolted to the hull? Thanks for your great videos.
Yes I bed the backing plates in sealant such as 4200 or Sikaflex 291 or West Marine Multicaulk to fill any uneven voids and help waterproof the holes. I normally use G10 fiberglass board for backing plates but happened to have the aluminum plate in stock.
@@atomvoyager thanks for the reply. I had also meant to ask how you hoisted the monitor into place and supported it while you positioned the mounting pads. Thanks
@@coldisle As seen at 4:00 in the video we lashed the whisker pole on a 2x4 plywood crutch and hoisted with the 4-1 tackle of the boom vang. If your mast is up you can lash a pole to the boom so it extends aft the transom and used the vang. Above the vang the pole is supported by the main halyard.
@@atomvoyager thank you very much for your help reply
Thanks for sharing. I am learning a lot here! Below you mentioned that Hydrovane might be a good choice for some boats. I just wondered if you could expand on that. The Monitor system does look like a more complex piece of engineering when compared to it. It would be interesting to hear people's thoughts on both. Thanks again.
I haven't used the Hydrovane so maybe someone else can give you all the pros and cons. I have done some research on it and even recommended it to a client on a 30' boat with wheel steering. He sailed with it solo across the Pacific and said it worked fine. But it is heavy - his installation was 115 lbs dry weight which is twice as much as the Monitor and it costs more than the Monitor. His priority was to have an emergency rudder and he didn't want the trouble of setting up a wheel drum for steering lines. But the Monitor has an optional MRUD emergency steering rudder so that is not a big issue for some people. On smaller tiller steered boats or boats having mounting issues with the design of the transom and rudder and if cost is an issue then the Monitor may be a better choice. If you want to avoid steering lines or if you have hydraulic wheel steering then I'd select a Hydrovane.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Your reply makes a lot of sense and I am grateful for the pros and cons you've highlighted. I hadn't considered the weight aspect of the hydrovane. I guess if you've got a boat with hydraulic steering then cost may not be such an important consideration.
I've a birthday coming up, I know three books that are at the top of my present wish list! 🙂 Regards
atomvoyager 7
Hi, Great vid. So just how did you get the nuts on the back of the top mounting bolts
? Or is that an access plate I see behind the builders plate? Thanks Ian
Yes there's an access hole to the transom behind the builder's plate.
Thank you for sharing. It crossed my mine though to ask whether this Monitor self steering is suitable for an off-center installation. If not, which make of windvane you know would work best for such a situation? Appreciation your reply. Thank you.
Monitor recommends staying on centerline as do most windvane manufacturers and users. Hydrovane claims off-center is OK and many people have done it successfully. A few inches off center on any windvane probably won't matter but a foot or more will mean the vane's rudder (or servo oar) can come out of the water at high heel angles or it may not get as clean air on the leeward side going upwind. It's usually better to find a way to get the gear on center. For example, if you have a swim ladder in the way, relocate it. If it's a transom hung rudder blocking you then make an adaptor mount to attach the windvane. But monitor's four-point mount makes it no problem to stay on center to go around the transom-hung rudder as on this Nicholson.
@@atomvoyager Thank you very much.
Love your videos!!!
Thanks for the video. Very helpful. I am in the process of mounting a used Monitor on my little Bristol 24. I used your video to help me along. You said the block closest to the tiller is secured about 15 degrees aft of the attachment point to the tiller. From the video it looks to me like the line runs at a 45 degree angle from the tiller to the block. I'm not sure what angle you mean when you say about 15 degrees. Can you help me out here?
What I meant was to position the blocks about 15 degrees aft of perpendicular to the tiller when it's on centerline so that comes out to 75 degrees. All you want to do is attach the blocks a few inches aft of perpendicular so that when either line pulls the tiller hard over towards the block it forms closer to a ninety degree angle instead of pulling forward. It will work even if you get it wrong. It's just a slightly more efficient pulling force this way. It might be a camera angle illusion that makes it look like 45 degrees.
@@atomvoyager Thanks for helping me understand. Makes perfect sense now. I appreciate your prompt reply. Best!
The control lines look like they are 15degree forward of the perpendicular not aft.
good job!!!
Thanks for the vidio.
Thank you
Vane is backwards...
I don't think it is. Can you explain what you mean?