Best wind vane steering for a DE 38 General Forum Forums

I am going to go with a Cape Horn. I like them because they don't have any cordage above deck and nothing attaches to your wheel. The system attaches directly to your quadrant through block and tackle that should have plenty of room to run in the cavernous lazarette's we have. You can also attach an "inexpensive" electronic autopilot that connects directly to the wind vane. This is good for sailing downwind when there might not be enough breeze over the stern to influence the 'sail' on the wind vane. The electronic autopilot is mounted in the lazarette, keeping it out of the elements (the Raymarine small autopilots are not waterproof, ... seriously.) This system has already been installed on a DE 38 before so Cape Horn has some information on what is needed for this type of boat.

"www.capehorn.com/sections/liste/Downeaster38.htm"

I plan on buying it next fall at a boat show or the following spring ('15). I live on Long Island Sound and don't really need it for local cruising but have a loose plan to cast off for a while in '15, where it will come in handy. I'll be sure to take pictures of the process and document the installation.

svbodhran said:

The boat the I sailed with the Cape Horn had a tiller and outboard rudder, so it didn't run the control lines through the transom.  I wonder about the ability to fine tune the control lines on the Cape Horn.  My understanding is that you have two lines coming up from the quadrant that you pull through cam cleats to engage the windvane.  I assume that wherever you have the wheel when you pull the lines will be your built in weather-helm.  Then when you need to tune it, you would ease one of the lines and take in on the other.  It doesn't seem as good a system as the wheel adapter or the good old chain/tiller setup.

This is exactly right. I've sailed on a wheel steered boat with the Cape Horn and how you describe it is pretty much spot on. You get your sails balanced like with any self steering system, pull two control lines through a pair of cam cleats and you should be more or less set. You can tweak weather helm with by pulling on one or the other of those lines. You tweak the angle to the wind by pulling on a continuous line that goes around the weather vane vase, it rotates the weather vane a bit when you pull on the line.

Scott Carle said:

I think I would rather the tiller pilot be on the stern rail so you can reach it easily.. 🙂 I just know what a pain it is to access any of the steering components under the cockpit lockers and in the engine compartment.

The tiller pilot isn't directly connected to the steering gear, it connects to the wind vane connection inside the lazarette. You can also run small line via blocks from the tiller pilot actuator arm to the small "tiller pilot steering arm" that connects to the windvane. We'll see how it goes but I have a loose plan to install mine just under one of the lazarette hatches. I already have a Raymarine a/p with remote, so the remote should work with the tiller-pilot as well. We'll see how it works. I hope I don't have to get another remote to use the second autopilot...

I had ten years excellent performance on a Contessa 32 with the Hydrovane. Likely the most expensive gear but I bought the this new gear in 2010 before I bought the new boat. I have a PDF on the new unit which I will email to Scott.

Some advantages include completely separate system and rudder which gives emergency steering in case of main system failure, emergency tiller allows Tillerpilot to guide the boat under power, the latest units have optional remote steering lines that are led back along the coaming to the companionway under the dodger, there are no actual steering control lines required to the main tiller or wheel, the cockpit is then clear of any tangle, the wheel or tiller is locked off in position to take up the weather helm.

The new units also have a geared sensitivity selector along with ability to lower the vane feather on its axis to reduce the power of the vane in heavy weather. Vane steering is worth about five crewmen, and greatly reduces fatigue and improves lookout (or should). Here in south UK English Channel, the ship traffic is major; someone calculated that a yacht would encounter a potential course change with large ship every six minutes; there are designated TSS control lanes. I much prefer seas empty of such traffic.

Apart from price, the only small negative I note is that under marina berthing, the turning radius of the boat is wider. If you are frequently coming and going for day sails in and out of marina, I would take the rudder off; it is held with one stainless pin. Best to tie a line to the rudder onto the pushpit in case the pin let go.

The next choice for me would be the Monitor. I have no experience of Cape Horn unit.

See http://www.hydrovane.com for details and mounting for various sterns. Sorry about the cost but the engineering is excellent.

Apart from the new optional remote control lines, the Hydrovane has no lines, cords etc; it is all metal to metal contacts. There is no actual gearing as such. The transfer of the vane tilting away from the wind is achieved by a very clever series of angled stainless pins which rotate around a virtual axis. See PDF photos with arrows pointing out the mechanics. It is quite a heavy unit if the stern of the vessel was tender but that would not apply to DE.

The Aries servo-pendulum gear I have seen and one was on the boat when I bought her. It was old and needed a lot of renovation. I hear that in good shape they can sell for about £1300 = $1800 in real money. I had the new Hydrovane in a box so I sold the Aries at a boat jumble for some £300. The Aries is one of the earliest designs, looks like a real contraption, works OK I hear but is massively heavy with main casting looks like it came from a main battle tank, albeit the casting has been known to crack.

The Monitor I have seen close up having helped a friend unpack it new. It is more modern design, elegant and clearly well-made, light in weight, well-proven and should give good service. In all-up weight it is lighter than the Hydrovane.  The pivot worm gearing of the Monitor, where the stress would be focused, seems light in section but I am sure is satisfactory.