Davis Vantage Vue Weather Station on my mast?

[eugenesdream24]

Hey everyone, I have a dumb question.

I own an Irwin 28 which had no wind speed / direction instrument at the top of the mast from the original owner. So I have been in the market for one and came across the more advanced solar powered weather stations from Davis. I read good things about them, see the marine retailers carrying them, but don't see anyone putting them up on their mast.

For taking a long cruise, I do like the idea of having up to the minute weather updates and being able to see conditions coming my way in the next day or so. However my question is basically, I don't see anyone else in my waters around me setting up these bigger instruments up on their masts.. So is there a reason why I would not want to mount it up there? For clarity I will post a link to the system I am talking about. Any thoughts, comments, or input is appreciated.

http://www.vantagevue.com

 

[Chris Patterson]

I've sorta wondered the same. I have a similar unit on my boat, but mounted it on a stern pole where there is already fifty pounds of junk hanging off of them. It works great by the way. The only downside is the response. The outdoor unit only pings the display every 15 seconds, which would make trimming sails by that alone difficult. It's not why I own it though. Outdoor temps, humidity, wind speed, and the parameters of the direction is what I want. Truthfully, I love it. And would replace it today if it failed. If you're looking for a 200 dollar stand-in for a Tack-Tick, you may be disappointed. But it sure does everything I want. Plus I like looking at the actual indicator on the unit for wind direction, kind of like a spar fly. Beats staring at the top of the mast; where the sun ALWAYS is..

 

[eugenesdream24]

Thanks Chris, I am basically in the same thought. I keep mostly manual / analog instruments on board for quick info while under sail. But I bought this for temp and general weather conditions / monitoring coming weather, rainfall, general wind info, etc. It seems like a great product, but I never put all my eggs in one basket or would expect this to fit all my needs while sailing. Hence having multiple instruments, some electronic some manual. I was considering mounting it somewhere around my stern rather than up on the mast too. Have not made a decision on that yet. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Yeah, it was too simple to put a pole up on the stern, there's a commas pole there anyway. On the display of north, I just remember it is the front of the boat. I really don't need to know exactly the direction, just how it relates to the boat.

 

[capta]

I've been using the LaCrosse instrument package mounted about 7' above the deck on the mizzen, for a chart table and aft cabin read outs (NOT at the helm where I have ST-60) and have found they work OK. Unless the Davis is very different from LaCrosse, it still requires batteries, which last for us about 9 months. These things are not well made and bits need replacing now and then, so you'd probably be better off to bite the bullet and get a proper marine set up first time around as your primary system. It's quite possible they wouldn't even be able to take the shock that they'd receive at the top of a mast, and just fly apart.