windvane mounting advice needed

[Lynnie]

Hi folks, I'm putting a windvane on my hunter 23.5 mast for the first time and I need advice about how to mount this. My old mast had a long thin ruler shaped piece of stainless that was riveted onto the top of the mast, stuck out towards the back of the boat, and had the windvane on the end of that. However this new mast does not have anything like that and my mast light is up there taking up all the room.

I've looked online and viewed the mounting rods, but not sure how those work by looking at the pictures...and I'm just not seeing how those brackets are used, etc. Plus I hesitate to drill any more holes in my mast as I don't want to weaken anything up there.

I think my best bet would be to find a piece of flat stainless that already has holes drilled at the appropriate spots and then put this piece of stainless under my mast light and pull the light wires up through another necessary hole just for that purpose. Is anyone out there making something like this for a reasonable price?

I searched the archives without luck.

thanks in advance for your help!

Lynnie

 

[Tim R.]

Make your own. Should not be very hard if you have the correct tools. Otherwise contact a local machine shop with your specs and they should be able to make one up fairly cheaply.

 

[Forrest15112]

I have a Davis and it is mounted directly to the cap on the mast. I assume the previous owner just drilled a hole behind and slightly to the side of the mast head light. It has been very secure there and easily visible.

 

[Timo42]

I have the smaller Davis, mounted it to the side of the mast sticking out to the side and put a right angle bend at the end near the windvane end.

 

[kloudie1]

Like Forrest, on my old 23, I drilled and tapped a hole in the forward side of aluminum top cap, away from the top light, and screwed the thin stainless rod directly there..

 

[kloudie1]

Couple of examples..

The one on a strap out forward is my neighbor's.. The one on the right is mine, drilled and tapped into the crane so that it misses the VFH antenna

 

[RichH]

Consider mounting it to the side at the top of the mast: http://www.boatersland.com/dav3155.html
For a 23ft. boat there is really no need to have the windex mounted on a 'strip' at the aft of the mast.

 

[Leftfield]

BWY has an offset $10 or so. I rivet mine so screws don't grab wires. Also learned from this site to put wires through several pieces of foam to keep them centered in mast and stop any wire slap noise from transferring to cabin.