Installing a Monitor Windvane help

[Martha Lei]

Hi
thinking on installing a used Monitor Windvane and wonder if any member that installed one might have kept pictures,schematics,etc to give me an idea of what is involved.
thanks

[Martha Lei]

also how will work vs a Cape Horn,not sure as I have a davit and like to to keep it for use, and I believe the Cape Horn has less bulk protruding?.

[Capt Hook]

I think Jim Walsh has a Monitor on Orion. He’s made it to Bermuda with it.

[Steve Laume]

I installed a Monitor on Raven. It is a great wind vane but I am not so sure you could use it with davits. There is only so much real estate back there, Steve.

[Larry McAnally]

I installed a used Monitor on my CD36 and am very happy with the way it performs. It took us from Pensacola to Havana in the race 2 years ago. Crossed the Gulfstream with 30 kt wind opposing the stream and the Monitor loved it.
Installation was a bit of a challenge for me. However, the people at Scanmar are really good to work with. They will supply parts, pictures of typical installations, phone support and sugestions. They are dedicated to making us happy with the windvane.They will work with you to make sure you have the best mounting hardware for your boat.

[Steve Laume]

I bought my Monitor used. It was virtually new and a late model unit. It came with the installation guide for the Pearson boat it had been installed on. This included the tube lengths for that boat. I was able to contact Scanmar and get the installation guide for the CD30 that also included the tube lengths. From that I was able to change and adjust the tubes to properly fit my boat. The tubes are expensive, if you have to buy a whole new set. The large curved ones are particularly so. Instead of buying the longer ones I needed or having them made up locally, I had a heavier tube, welded inside the ones I got with the vane. The seam is covered by the diagonal brace clamp and is stronger than the original.

Scanmar has made changes in these vanes, over the years and the later ones are better than a very old unit. Mine still has bronze gears, which is fine by me. The newest ones have gone to stainless gears. The thing works flawlessly. I single hand almost exclusively and the only time it ever failed me was when the wind completely died and then filled in from a different direction while I was sleeping. I suppose it was still working properly but we were now headed in the wrong direction. I found I could out steer it in high winds and large head seas but not for very long. It just never gets tired or loses concentration. I do and I don't really like to steer anyway.

My only complaint is with the wheel adapter. I had to buy a new one and it was around $500, years ago. Keep that in mind if you are buying used. It works fine but is not very refined for the money they get for the thing. The engagement knob is some stamped out piece of stainless that looks like a left over scrap from the manufacturing process. The biggest insult for that kind of money is that they supply hose clamps to attach it to the wheel spokes. Seriously; they couldn't make up some nice clamps to fit the thing? It does work well but it lacks the final refinements that you would expect.

Most people run the control lines off to one side of the cockpit and then over to the wheel. This limits your ability to move around the cockpit. I was able to mount two small blocks on the lower rail of the stern pulpit and then run the lines down to a double block, on the cockpit sole, directly below the wheel. I can easily step over it and can stand at the helm with my feet on either side of the control lines. It also makes the run of the lines, short and simple.

The entire unit is robustly built but does take up a good bit of space on the stern, Steve.

[John Stone]

I have a Cape Horn vane on the Far Reach. Though I converted from a wheel to a tiller, I left the steering quadrant attached to the rudder post and ran the control line to the quadrant then up to the forward edge of the cockpit. It’s a very streamlined look. No control lines running across the cockpit and no need for a wheel adapter if you have wheel steering.

Performance wise, I couldn’t be happier with the Cape Horn. I sailed with it to the West Indies via the offshore route, about 1600 nm. I singled handed home. It worked flawlessly. I use it all the time sailing locally as well.

I think the Monitor or Cape Horn will serve you equally well. Both essentially operate the same way—servo pendulum method. The Monitor is a little more expensive but easier to install. The Cape Horn is more difficult to install but has a less obtrusive appearance and no control lines running across the cockpit.

[John Stone]

Here is another picture of what the control lines running to the quadrant look like under the cockpit sole.

[Steve Laume]

One of the big advantages of the Cape Horn system is that it eliminates the entire wheel system and could still steer the boat if anything happened to the wheel and cable system. Then again the Monitor can be used as an emergency rudder so it could still function to steer the boat, even if you lost your entire steering system to include the main rudder.

The Monitor did seem easier to install. It did not include the stress of drilling a very large, perfectly aligned, hole in the transom.

I am sure it would be much easier if you took out your engine before you started the install, Steve.

[John Stone]

Pish posh. Drilling a perfectly aligned hole in your transom is not physically or technically difficult. Mentally, however, is a different story! Seriously, it just requires confidence and planning. True enough, there are a few people that have no business drilling a hole or making repairs to their boats. But I am of the opinion that most people, if they take their time, get the right tools, do their homework, and measure carefully can do much better work than most boat yards can or will do.

No need to take your engine out. I would venture to say 99.9 percent of the many boats with Cape Horn windvanes have inboard engines. In fact, I could install the padeye blocks in the engine compartment in less than a hour and a half even if my boat had an engine. You need to do all the prep work (cutting the plywood pads, drilling the holes in the pads for the padeyes, precutting the biaxial tape, mixing the epoxy) on a work bench on the ground or in your shop or on the dock. You have to do similar work in the locker compartments but that is not an engine compartment issue. However, there is no getting around it’s more work than installing a monitor vane.

As to the OPs original question, I think you can use the vane with davits installed and a dinghy in the davits. But, it will depend on the davits being used and what kind of dinghy you plan to carry. The nice thing about the Cape Horn Windvane is it is close to the back of the boat and can be ordered with any size tower you want. So, you can have the windvane blade up above the dinghy and davits. In fact, if I had a different style boat than the Far Reach (say, a Boreal 44) I might have davits and I would also install a Cape Horn vane. Totally doable. You just have to integrate the parts into a holistic system...which we should be doing anyway in our boats whenever possible.

None of this is to suggest one vane is better than the other. It’s mostly personal preference and making sure you are not asking your equipment to do something it was not designed to do.

[John Stone]

Gosh darn. I got it wrong. What do I know. The engine compartment is easier than I remembered. Look at the photo under the cockpit sole. There are no pad eye blocks or epoxy or biaxial involved in mounting the control lines in the engine compartment. The blocks are all mounted on easy to install padeyes...fastened with bolts and nuts to the bulkheads. The blocks coming off the Cape Horn’s integrated quadrant in the lazerette require the pad eye blocks to be epoxied in place. Once the lines enter the engine compartment, it’s just the strap pad eyes.

Also, here is the link to the text and photos of how I installed the windvane. I think it’s all there, from drilling the hole in the transom, to making and installing new the padeye blocks, to attaching blocks to the old steering quadrant.

http://www.farreachvoyages.com/projects ... dvane.html

[Jim Walsh]

Pish posh.

That alone was worth the price of admission.

[Martha Lei]

Thank you everybody
I settled on a used (looks like new) Monitor,overall will have preferred the Cape Horn however price for the Monitor was a deciding factor as well as the install of Cape Horn,personally do not have problems drilling holes but found my arthritis and back issues do play in not longer be nimble enough to work in closed quarters such as inside lockers to set backing plates and glassing over etc,oh the joys of going geriatric!!!!
Need to play with the idea of mounting a short stub on the auxiliary tiller and use it instead of going to the wheel,IF the short stub will be longer to provide the needed leverage.

If any body has photos of the Monitor install will be really nice.