mounting a wind vane

[sagehill]

Greetings all. I'm new to this forum although I have had my boat for 4 years now. I would like to hear from those that have mounted a wind vane and let me know how you have overcome (or not) the swivelling mast of the 26M. Thanks

 

[Doc_holiday]

Personally, I throw tea leaves in the air (and ultimately into the water) for wind direction as well as my own little flip of my finger to the government, I then ceremoniously wet my finger and hold it up. Yes, the middle one.

Seriously I have my vane mounted on the aft starboard side of the mast where it's above the main and spins around over my anchor light and I can see it no matter where the main is. I'm not sure how a rotating mast would play into it but I'll be curious to see the other responses.

 

[sagehill]

Maybe I should add some clarity to the issue here for others to comment. The 26M has a mast that rotates at the base, I'm guessing some 10 to 15 degrees each way. So, if the base of wind vane is fixed to the mast, then the base of the wind vane AND the tacking tabs would rotate with the mast. While this should not affect the vane itself which spins freely with wind direction or apparent wind, the "tacking tabs" moving with the mast rotation means that the tacking tabs are not useful for purposes such as indicating the heading of the boat or the points of sail, boat information necessary for teaching sailing skills like man-overboard recovery. Hope this better defines the problem.

 

[justsomeguy]

Maybe I should add some clarity to the issue here for other to comment. The 26M has a mast that rotates at the base, I'm guessing some 10 to 15 degrees. So, if the base of wind vane is fixed to the mast, then the base of the wind vane AND the tacking tabs would rotate with the mast. While this should not affect the vane itself which spins freely with wind direction or apparent wind, the "tacking tabs" moving with the mast rotation means that the tacking tabs are not useful for purposes such as indicating the heading of the boat or the points of sail. Hope this better defines the problem.

Exactly, necessitating listening to/watching your sails for luffing.

 

[Doc_holiday]

Oh. Sorry, mine doesn't have tacking tabs. My speed falls off and my sails start flogging if I get to close.

 

[hewebb]

Tie small ribbon (1/8) about 6 to 8 inches long to the main shrouds about 6 foot up from the deck on both sides. Those and telltales work quite well. When Windex broke I used this system for several months.

 

[Tsatzsue]

Cassette tape is perfect for attaching to the shrouds. I agree with the mast rotating. The windex reading will be different but still good for reference. Definitely better than not being up there at all. Once you use one it is hard to go back.

 

[Yosi]

Sagehill, I installed it on my rotating mast. It is still very helpful. I always try to avoid drilling holes anywhere on my boat. I had this bolt on the mast, don't know what it's for. I made a bracket out of aluminum and bolted it with double side adhesive on the top plastic thing. Sorry I don't have picture of the bracket itself.