Hove to

V

vegatern

.
Oct 2, 2005
465
Just for fun I've added a picture, to Tern's album, of my little Vega hove to under storm sail and reefed main. The photograph was taken inshore along the California coast. Wind was southerly at 8 knots, gusting 12; swell was 3 inches every 4 seconds with occasional combined seas of 5 inches. Under these conditions I found the boat fore reached about 50 degrees off the wind at 2 SK (scale knots) and made leeway of about ½ SK. Just for fun ;-)

Craig Tern #1519
 
P

pjacobs55

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Oct 30, 2019
1,459
Craig: Interesting picture. Now you have to tell us the details on your inner fore stay installation, and that interesting looking wind vane!

Peter
#1331 'Sin Tacha'
 
V

vegatern

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Oct 2, 2005
465
Since Little Vega is only 27 inches long I didn't invest much time in making a proper crane and block for the baby stay. It is simply a bit of thin rod bent to the profile of the mast and epoxied in place. Soldering aluminum is not a skill set I possess. The tack is secured to a small ring with a stub which is epoxied into a hole on deck.
The vane is modeled after a vane Blondie Hassler used in the `60s or `70s. The vane turns a wheel that is directly connected to the tiller. In theory, when the boat heads up the new wind direction on the vane pulls the tiller up as well. I have problems with friction though and have had only marginal success with it. It is also sensitive to wind strength and is either overpowered or there is just not enough air to overcome the friction. Blondie had reef points on his vane I believe.

Craig Little Vega 1519
 
P

pjacobs55

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Oct 30, 2019
1,459
27 INCHES .... I get it, it's a model of Tern !!
Looked at the rest of the photos ... that's a beautiful model. Did you build it?

Peter
#1331 'Sin Tacha'
 
V

vegatern

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Oct 2, 2005
465
It was a project I played with over the winter. The deck and hull were laid up with cloth and resin in molds. I had projected the lines in the Vega manual onto thin ply which gave me the stations for the hull shape, this was carved from plaster and clay to make male plugs, the basis for fiberglass molds. When the glass work was done I moved it to a corner of my office where I worked on it in odd hours. It was intended to be radio controlled but when the project bogged down I decided to simplify. Were I to do it again from scratch I think it would be larger, 1 1/4 or 1 ½ inch to the foot would be easier to work with, make the installation of servo motors simpler. At 1" to the foot some of the fittings are a bit clumsy . . . sheaves, sail slugs for the mast track and so on. It didn\'t meet all my expectations but was satisfying none the less.

Craig Little Vega 1519
 
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