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Monitor on an ultralight

E

Eric Thomas

New member
I just pulled a mint condition Monitor wind vane out of the dumpster at the marina. Wondering if people have used these on an light boat like my Olson 30. Mark I know you have one on the J? I think Allen had a Navik on his SC27. Any thoughts? I have great performance from the pilots, just trying to find some redundancy. If not it will be available for sale at a later date.
 
Yes, I had a Navik on Ankle Biter and I loved it, until the water paddle shattered. It drove the boat almost exclusively for three days and it would have happily driven the boat all the way to Hawaii if it hadn't self-destructed.

I'm not the most aggressive sailor in the world, and you were a LONG way ahead of me at the finish!!. I didn't have a chute up for 12 hours a day, in contrast to you. I wouldn't trust an SC27 under spinnaker if 18 knots of breeze with a squall coming, with the Navik doing the driving. However, I *WOULD* probably trust the boat under nearly any conditions with fairly big twin headsails and a vane driving. I certainly would trust an Olson 30 on a broad reach with white sails up, and the Monitor driving...no problem at all.

I'd suggest giving it a try.
 
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Windvanes on ultralights

Windvanes have been used on small ultralights. For upwind and reaching there shouldn't be any issues however things change downwind. Windvanes work using the apparent wind angle so things can get dicey off the wind. When a boat like the Olson 30 surfs down a waves the apparent wind goes WAYYYY forward so the windvane tries to keep up and eventually crash gybes the boat. Most ultralights work much better with a powered pilot off the wind. Also, there is the drag factor.... an Olson 30 is very slippery through the water so any drag, like a windvane, will certainly effect it's performance.
 
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