Is it possible to build a wind direction instrument?

Chuck Creel · Feb 3, 2010

Try putting some recording tape from an old cassette tape around the standing rigging / side stays. This has work for years flawlessly without requiring 12V or running the batteries down.

Also Yarn works pretty good .

Happy Sailing

Ross · Feb 3, 2010

I cut one inch widestrips from plastic grocery bags and luggage hitch them to the shrouds. Panty hose also works.

kenn · Feb 3, 2010

I believe that the current crop of wind-direction sensors use two fixed coils and a moving armature, and the position is given by the relative levels of ac signals in the coil. Fussy stuff for the home-builder...

I did see something very interesting last year... my friend bought a new Raymarine windspeed/direction instrument, and the masthead sensor had just the 3-cup speed sensor - no direction vane!. Closer inspection of one of the cups reveals that it has an extra "tab" on the side, and the operating principle is that when the tabbed cup is turning into the wind, it'll slow down just a bit, likewise when it's turning with the wind it'll be a touch faster. This will result in a speed variation for every revolution of the speed sensor, so the job is to just figure out when these speed variances peak and dip in relation to an index pulse (0 degrees). Sounds like a job for a PIC microcontroller...

But to be honest...when underway, I generally get all the info I need about wind direction just by point of sail, masthead windex, and land-based clues like smoke, flags, etc.

Jim Kolstoe · Feb 3, 2010

Ross said:
I cut one inch widestrips from plastic grocery bags and luggage hitch them to the shrouds. Panty hose also works.

Bet it gets more comments too.
Jim Kolstoe, h23 Kara's Boo

r.oril · Feb 4, 2010

Found this thread:
http://forums.macgregor.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=677507&highlight=wind direction

I look up. check the feather, grab my hat and feal what the boat wants.

Ed Schenck · Feb 4, 2010

With my pinched nerve I understand the desire. I also have yarn and tape on the shrouds but love my wind display. Especially since you can tie it into the autohelm. Ladylove sails well to 45 degrees, even 40 with enough tweaking.

Soldering one up is certainly possible if that is your bent: http://www.scienceprog.com/how-to-measure-wind-direction/ . Forty years ago I put a Heathkit weather station together. I should look, might still have the manual with the schematic. But with Google you might find just the right project. Or with E-Bay maybe someone has one for sale.

cephius (Dave) · Feb 4, 2010

The only time I look up is when the wind is not blowing. I usually see the Windex turning circles with the roll of the mast.

When the wind is blowing there are so many clues I never look up. Waves, jib luff, telltales, and other cheaters. I guess I've been sailing so long I internalize all these clues and just "know" where the wind is.

Sanman · Feb 4, 2010

cephius (Dave) said:
The only time I look up is when the wind is not blowing. I usually see the Windex turning circles with the roll of the mast.

When the wind is blowing there are so many clues I never look up. Waves, jib luff, telltales, and other cheaters. I guess I've been sailing so long I internalize all these clues and just "know" where the wind is.

I'm apparently in step with Dave. I've learned to Feel the boat and the apparent wind angles through seat of the pants sailing since I was a kid...
But I have thought about the same thing from time to time... in my research I have looked at an interesting product: the home weather station. I have seen these at Lowes and Home Depot, etc... They usually have an anemometer which, I suppose is supposed to be mounted on top of your house, (theoretically making converting to a mast mount relatively easy) and wirelessly xmits to a base unit which operates on Batteries as well. I have been pondering these as an alternative to the typical wind instrument, because it can give a multitude of information which could be useful on the hook as well...and since I raise and lower my mast regularly changing the batteries wouldn't be a challenge. I have seen these as low as 50 bucks all the way into the $200 range.
Has anyone tried THIS approach yet, It would at least be worth an experiment, would it not?

Hermit Scott · Feb 4, 2010

Walmart has a weather station they are selling for about $90. I think I saw it first at Northern tool. It tells wind direction and wind speed, barometric pressure, temp.
It would be nice if you would go ahead and buy it to test it for me. Then let me know if it works well for sailing applications. I don't like looking up either, not because of age but because I am lazy.

tommays · Feb 4, 2010

The people that make them have trouble with them lasting

My wife worked for a company called Climatronics and its pretty complex to build a waterproof unit

Snotter · Feb 4, 2010

Get it to talk to a computer and market the thing. I'd buy one.

rejenk3 · Feb 4, 2010

I agree with Hermit. See if you can find some type of weather station. I got one at Home Depot for the house. The sensors are wireless and changing the batteries once a year at the mast head shouldn't be a problem for a trailor sailor. Mine gives peak and average windspeed along with direction. BTW, it survived 50mph winds at the house.

Joe · Feb 4, 2010

Get a pair of "Davis Wind-Tells"... attach them to either shroud so they are in a sight line with your jib telltales. Sit on the windward side when you steer, then you can see the wind indicator and your tell tales without moving your head. Trust me when I tell you that you will sail better with this method than staring at a bulkhead mounted display where you can't see the tell tales. http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/DAV/DAV1260.html

If you remove the devices when not using the boat, the plastic vanes will last a lot longer otherwise you'll have to buy replacement vanes every few years.

I've always thought twist in the main would compensate for the shear and you use the main's leech telltales to adjust that. Sorry, but you've got to look up some time.

bffatcat · Feb 4, 2010

wind direction indicator my 2c

Ross`s comment about trash bag ties is right on. But let me add to that. Take an empty clorox bottle cut out a couple of circles about 3/4 of an inch in diameter and drill a hole in the center depending on the size of your shrouds. make saw a cut so you can slide the plastic on to the shroud. it should not fit too snugly. Its must rotate. Drill a small hole on an outer edge and tie the bag tie on. after you attach it to the uppers put some tape on the wire above and below it so it dosent work its way up or down. Works fine costs nothing.

2. If your an experienced old salt like me you can point your face into the breeze. rotate your head slowly until you can feel the wind blowing evenly across the tops of your ears.
At that point the direction of the wind is where your nose is pointing. Takes a little practice.

sailaway78 · Feb 4, 2010

I saw these

I saw some of these weather stations at Tractor Supply a couple weeks ago. Since then I have seen them at several other places, including Wally World. The ones I have seen for under 100 bucks did not have wind direction. The ones for a little over 100 did have it. Some one ask about the display being water proof, and I doubt it, but would probably be pretty easy to come up with something. I did not notice whether or not they were wireless. I find that the red drawstring out of a trash bag works well for me. Lasts about 6 months before it fades to pink. The price is right. It's very easy for me to read the water and tell the wind speed.

henkmeuzelaar · Feb 4, 2010

It always amazes me when specific technical questions from knowledgeable OPs are effectively being sidetracked by telling them they do not really need the piece of equipment they are looking for! Presumably, a lack of proper technical answers to the question at hand increases the chance of being sent on a merry go-round....

At any rate, by mounting a small, downward-looking video camera directly above the windex vane (using a special bracket) it should be feasible to produce a more or less clock-like image on a small cockpit-mountable TV screen.

Weather-resistant, wireless video surveillance cameras can be bought for about US $ 60-80, sometimes with small TV screens being thrown into the bargain.

Have fun,

Flying Dutchman

Don12364 · Feb 5, 2010

Is this what you need?

E-Bay.com - be quick, only 2 days to go!

Regards
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Danfort...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b9bc6594

rpwillia · Feb 5, 2010

henkmeuzelaar is right

[#Define Rant On] Why are you all so worried that he wants to add an instrument cheaply to his boat? I actually think it is a decent idea, and if he finds an inexpensive one I would like to hear how he got it, what it cost and if he is happy with it. I think it is entertaining that you all like to use garbage bag ties to tell you there is wind out there, but again that is not the point. For me I am replacing all of my plastic telltales with the yarn ones as every time I sail and it is wet out there they stick to the sails (especially the ones on the back of the main).

I have the $1600.00 Raymarine wind instrument and I use it all the time. I also look up from time to time at my windex at the top of the mast as well as my telltales on the sail and spreaders, and feel the wind on my face. To paraphrase Conan (aka Arnold the Guvernator) "my whole goal when I am racing is to crush my crush my enemies before me and hear the lamentations of their women and children" and anything I can use to help me sail better (including people who think they know more than me and can prove it) can't be too bad.

Operator overload from all those sensors is something for another discussion, but I will admit when racing I also use my chartplotter/gps to see if I am really optimizing my speed or just fooling myself.

Let's do a little what if: $1600.00 wind instrument that lasts 10-15 years vs a $100.00 cheapo from WalMart that lasts 3 years and you replace it 5 times - $500.00 vs $1600.00. Plus you can factor in each new model gives you some extra features. Starts looking like a deal if you can get it. [#Define Rant Off]

As far as the original question about building one, I think it is probably a little too tough when you consider all the parts, the integration and the tooling to put it together right. Go to WalMart and go the easy route.

Is it possible to build a wind direction instrument?

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