Has anybody used or fabricated a Hebridean Wind Vane? What your thoughts?


I've been thinking of making one as a supplementary to my autopilot on longer passages away from the coast. I like the idea it is easily removed and not too difficult to store. It would also be a fun thing to build.


Not to be confused with the Australian Fleming windvane.

Hi Jon , let me know if you need a hand building one , im in the middle of building a Hydrovane, so far so good

I Have!
It's actually a Horizontal Wind Vane.
The guy who built this version lives up in Hebridean in Scotland.
I think it is over built in that timber parts could have been done in lighter steel/aluminum.
I reversed engineered the vane from his diagrams and photos [he wasn't happy at that]
So I do have photos etc but passed the diagrams/plans on when I sold it.
I had mine on my 25' Top Hat and found it was really too big.
For it to work well it MUST be built square and true.
I used it sailing up to the Whitsundays from NSW in 2018 but found it required to much attention
and for coastal sailing it was to fiddley, but for ocean passages it would be OK.
If you need more info please PM me.
Phil.

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EastCoastSail said..
Has anybody used or fabricated a Hebridean Wind Vane? What your thoughts?


I've been thinking of making one as a supplementary to my autopilot on longer passages away from the coast. I like the idea it is easily removed and not too difficult to store. It would also be a fun thing to build.


Not to be confused with the Australian Fleming windvane.

Is the John Fleming that was involved in the creation of the Hebridean related somehow to Fleming who builds the Fleming wind vanes?

I looked at the Hebridean and was going to build one and my thoughts at the time was to use G10 Fibreglass sheet in place of all the hardwood parts. Its easy enough to find at the electrical specialised wholesalers. It certainly would hold up better. I did not proceed however I was concerned about weight of the g10. I did not do the weight calculations so cant comment on the weight comparison between G10 and premium hardwood as called for in the plans.

The hebridean seems to work well for those who have made them.
I can't get past paying $1000 to buy a few pieces of steel and some fittings many of which are just off the shelf ronstan parts.
If someone had a set of plans that would make more sense.

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Madmouse said..
I can't get past paying $1000 to buy a.....
If someone had a set of plans that would make more sense.

Walt Murray's plans for his 20 20 model. It was originally touted as "$20, 20 hours, 20 pounds weight" walt-murray.info/model_20-20b
Steve "Tophat"s plans are in this video he posted here on Seabreeze recently
Mark Dedman's video (plans?) on Trailersailerplace forum: www.trailersailerplace.com.au/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=16038

It's not just $1000 for a few bits of steel. It's the engineering involved, the skill, knowhow, and reliability, etc.

Ralasa, keen to drop around your place and have a look at your Hydrovane over the next couple of weeks.

Phil,
How did the horizontal axis go compared with conventional inclined axis windvanes?

There are plenty of reviews here.

www.cruisersforum.com/forums/tags/windvane.html

The early servo windvane systems were horizontal axis and they steered OK. The inclined axis system was introduced to reduce the zig zagging from over correcting. The airblade of a horizontal has the same power output over it's full range. The inclined air blades power is reduced as it gets to it's maximum deflection. By the time the airblade gets to it's full deflection the yacht has already started to corrected it's course and so does not need as much power. More inclination, less power at full deflection. Most systems use 15 degrees and some are adjustable.
This is easy to demonstrate at the mooring.

Used my Fleming Windvane today for the first time, it was surprisingly easy, I expected a lot more difficulty in getting it working. It was holding a course pretty well and adjusting to the lifts and knocks. I think I like it.

Took some footage of it as we were approaching Scawfell Isl

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FabulousPhill said..

Madmouse said..
I can't get past paying $1000 to buy a.....
If someone had a set of plans that would make more sense.

Walt Murray's plans for his 20 20 model. It was originally touted as "$20, 20 hours, 20 pounds weight" walt-murray.info/model_20-20b
Steve "Tophat"s plans are in this video he posted here on Seabreeze recently

Mark Dedman's video (plans?) on Trailersailerplace forum: www.trailersailerplace.com.au/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=16038

It's not just $1000 for a few bits of steel. It's the engineering involved, the skill, knowhow, and reliability, etc.

I understand the IP involved and l am happy to pay for that. Perhaps what l meant was the custom pieces of steel are only half the package. The rest is std Ronstan stuff and nuts and bolts which would be easy to buy locally.

Cammd,
Interesting seeing a centre cockpit wheeled yacht using a wind vane. The Windpilot manual advises not to do this, due to a combination of length of run and wheel steering. It seems to work.
Do you know your steering turns lock to lock, or your ratio?

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EastCoastSail said..
Cammd,
Interesting seeing a centre cockpit wheeled yacht using a wind vane. The Windpilot manual advises not to do this, due to a combination of length of run and wheel steering. It seems to work.
Do you know your steering turns lock to lock, or your ratio?

Sorry I missed this post, don't know the ratio but lock to lock is just over two full turns. My rudder only turns approx 90 degrees

Cammd,
Thanks, you have a reasonably large wheel with a smaller ratio. From memory, the Windpilot manual recommends 3:1 or under.
I have a small wheel with 3.5:1.