I have a 28 foot boat with a long scooping transom I have some difficulty putting the mainsail up by myself it has a rope in a track arrangements on a vary raked mast and the boat has to be headed directly into the wind to even think about shifting it.
can anyone recommend a autopilot- windvane that will not brake the bank and will be out of the way for swimming ect when I'm stopped.

The first thing I would do is convert the mainsail to slugs and have gate to keep them on the mast. Then install lazy jacks. Mainsail halyard back to the cockpit and steer with your backside! Tiller pilot would be handy but not essential once you have some control over your mainsail. Build a windvane set up at your leisure.

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Ramona said..
The first thing I would do is convert the mainsail to slugs and have gate to keep them on the mast. Then install lazy jacks. Mainsail halyard back to the cockpit and steer with your backside! Tiller pilot would be handy but not essential once you have some control over your mainsail. Build a windvane set up at your leisure.

Will I still get the same bend in the Mast with slugs in the mast.
halyard already runs to the back of the cockpit but you cannot feed the sail into the track and pull the halyard and steer I have to raise the sail on he morning.

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w8ingforwind said..

Ramona said..
The first thing I would do is convert the mainsail to slugs and have gate to keep them on the mast. Then install lazy jacks. Mainsail halyard back to the cockpit and steer with your backside! Tiller pilot would be handy but not essential once you have some control over your mainsail. Build a windvane set up at your leisure.

Will I still get the same bend in the Mast with slugs in the mast.
halyard already runs to the back of the cockpit but you cannot feed the sail into the track and pull the halyard and steer I have to raise the sail on he morning.

Mast bend will be the same. There will be a slight loss of performance but you won't notice it. It will transform your sailing experience and returning to the mooring or boat ramp in fresh conditions the mainsail will always be controllable as you drop the sail.

I can recommend an st2000 autopilot there easy to hook up and use little power, i use mine all the time

Thanks I had not seen them before

For single-handed hoisting on a trailerable, while motoring slowly into the wind, you will need a tillerpilot; as a vane will not hold course in these conditions. A vane works best when set-up, balanced on a steady course.

+1 for mainsail slugs, mast-track gate, lazy-jacks and halyard to cockpit. And I use a topping lift as well.

Wind vane are good for offshore sailing especially when you want to save power. No good for motoring around or harbour /bay sailing
Auto pilot is better unless you are going to do longer offshore sailing.
You can also hook an auto pilot up to your wind instruments and have wind vane steering with it.

I can motor and have the windvane steer. All you need is some relative wind, once the boat is moving the servo blade has heaps of power.

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Ramona said..
I can motor and have the windvane steer. All you need is some relative wind, once the boat is moving the servo blade has heaps of power.

Are you seriously trying to say that a wind vane steering is better suited to motoring than an auto pilot? Let alone moving slowly forward while raising the main sail. If you did read my post I said it is not giod for motoring around slowly not it won't do it.

The op also wanted something out of the way while swimming. By the look of his boat in the picture he is not about to do a lot of offshore work. It more looks like a fast trailer sailer. Why would he want a wind vane? An auto pilot would be a lot more suitable for his needs.

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twodogs1969 said..

Ramona said..
I can motor and have the windvane steer. All you need is some relative wind, once the boat is moving the servo blade has heaps of power.

Are you seriously trying to say that a wind vane steering is better suited to motoring than an auto pilot? Let alone moving slowly forward while raising the main sail. If you did read my post I said it is not giod for motoring around slowly not it won't do it.

The op also wanted something out of the way while swimming. By the look of his boat in the picture he is not about to do a lot of offshore work. It more looks like a fast trailer sailer. Why would he want a wind vane? An auto pilot would be a lot more suitable for his needs.

No. I'm just saying that I can motor about with a windvane. W8ingforwind could just motor forward into the wind and steer with his butt while hoisting the main. No need for a tillerpilot or windvane.

Very true h e can also lash the helm to go to the mast .
But I would have to say in my opinion a simple tiller pilot would be a good investment.

Yes, tiller pilot plus slides/slugs for the mainsail. Just one problem- that tiller is a weird one, and the tiller pilot would have to fitted on stalks over the sugar-scoop, or better, lower down on an auxilliary tiller screwed to the rudder cassette. Whichever way, it would not be elegant.

My vote for the st2000.

Welcome to the world of inelegant tiller pilot fits.

Here's "Frankenpilot" on Alibi - my solution to a too-narrow cockpit- the pin is fitted in a stainless removable table leg fitting so it can be removed.

The bit of marine ply had to be very carefully shaped to allow the bulb on the bottom of the pilot to fit.

Works a treat.

Cheers

Bristol

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w8ingforwind said..
Thanks I had not seen them before

W8ing,
I have a ST2000+ and Raymarine EVO autopilot , (v70 control head) I am just about to list on Seabreeze, so keep an eye out if interested. Came off a 26ftr similar to yours. Really good until big nasty seas on rear quarter, then it sucks.

Have made a system for this exact thing that works a treat.....

Firstly make your main halyard long enough to go back to the traveller (or some other point aft)and fwd to the mast when the main is down.
Attach one of these to the point mentioned above
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRwLuBtROy-amAbgNKaSzmiz4JoD5KZQfof9oM_JzkrMr-GOhRE4Q
Now run the halyard (with the clutch closed) back through the snatch block and back fwd to the mast to pull from there.

Now for steerage I used to tie the spinnaker sheets to the tiller and then clip together in front of the mast to control steerage.

30sec job to setup and pack up each time and worked a treat!!!

Snatch block was used instead of normal block as I used to run endless jib sheets through it for single handed sailing so the sheets wee always reachable from the steering position

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rumblefish said..
Have made a system for this exact thing that works a treat.....

Firstly make your main halyard long enough to go back to the traveller (or some other point aft)and fwd to the mast when the main is down.
Attach one of these to the point mentioned above
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRwLuBtROy-amAbgNKaSzmiz4JoD5KZQfof9oM_JzkrMr-GOhRE4Q
Now run the halyard (with the clutch closed) back through the snatch block and back fwd to the mast to pull from there.

Now for steerage I used to tie the spinnaker sheets to the tiller and then clip together in front of the mast to control steerage.

30sec job to setup and pack up each time and worked a treat!!!

Snatch block was used instead of normal block as I used to run endless jib sheets through it for single handed sailing so the sheets wee always reachable from the steering position

Goodthinking

The problem with slugs is the vary experience looking
carbon-Kevlar main sail that came with the boat.
Out of respect for the current setup of the boat and the time and effort that has gone into getting it to this point i have difficulty doing something that will make it sail slower when I have made it go as fast as i can then I'll make it go slower .
its a mental thing but the day will come when I set it up that way.