I am interested in anyone who knows something about the new wireless wind sensor (WS320?) from B&G, not surprisingly they make a fuss about its accuracy and durability, they reckon it is good for 200 000 hours (my calculator makes this to be 22 years!).
Again always good to get the opinion of others before a purchase. It uses bluetooth to transmit, which might be better than tacktick etc.
Lukas

B&G stands for Bullion & Gold doesn't it??

The only reference I could see to 200,000 hour was the wind tunnel tests where they used 500 units to achieve the total and come up with an impressive number. The batteries are NiMH and appear to be similar in size to AA so you would be up there replacing them every couple of years. Other than that looks like a good unit if you have $1k to spare.

Thanks for the clarification, I did wonder how they ran the unit for twenty years to justify the claim. The cost is a bit less than the competitors and bit more than its wired alternatives, priced just right!

if robustness and reliability are critical, then with all kinds of gear i choose wired over wireless unless there are absolutely compelling reasons to go with wireless.

yes it's PITA to deal with wires going down the mast, but the cost of going wireless is a significant amount of complexity and fragility at the top of the mast. with a wired system, all you have at the top is a simple, dumb sensor unit...

I have the raymarine one and it works OK. Probably not as reliable as the wired one as it occasionally drops out but a quick restart and is back again.
Cant comment on the B&G

ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

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SandS said..
ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

Tell me about it . Dropping mast on tues. to straighten vane for second time in four months

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Bananabender said..

SandS said..
ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

Tell me about it . Dropping mast on tues. to straighten vane for second time in four months

yup birds win

Regardless of the hype and the opinion of the critics at the clubhouse, does a sailing boat need an anemometer, at all?

I don't think so.



Ps: Bananabender, who told you, one must drop one's mast to realign ones wind vane?

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SandS said..
ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

I was pretty horrified at a large flock of resident White Long billed Corellas that use local marina in Busselton as an amusement park. No joke, these pest play on the wind instruments , spinning on them, biting them, hang upside down from VHF antenna bending the hell out of them ring barking it , whatever you can imagine along with the chewing of sails, halyards and electrical cabling.
Whey swarm in mid morning and seem to go from mast head to mast head in groups, They are vermin in WA and use to be controlled, but slowly the numbers have got out of control. Locals are getting sick of them damaging trees and property. They also seem to enjoy pulling the rubber glazing wedge out of windows,,, I would rather a pelican sitting on the masthead than one of those Correllas.

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Jolene said..

SandS said..
ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

I was pretty horrified at a large flock of resident White Long billed Corellas that use local marina in Busselton as an amusement park. No joke, these pest play on the wind instruments , spinning on them, biting them, hang upside down from VHF antenna bending the hell out of them ring barking it , whatever you can imagine along with the chewing of sails, halyards and electrical cabling.
Whey swarm in mid morning and seem to go from mast head to mast head in groups, They are vermin in WA and use to be controlled, but slowly the numbers have got out of control. Locals are getting sick of them damaging trees and property. They also seem to enjoy pulling the rubber glazing wedge out of windows,,, I would rather a pelican sitting on the masthead than one of those Correllas.

Gosh it seems like putting up with a bit of bird poo now and then is a walk in the park compared to that!

Select to expand quote

Jolene said..

SandS said..
ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

I was pretty horrified at a large flock of resident White Long billed Corellas that use local marina in Busselton as an amusement park. No joke, these pest play on the wind instruments , spinning on them, biting them, hang upside down from VHF antenna bending the hell out of them ring barking it , whatever you can imagine along with the chewing of sails, halyards and electrical cabling.
Whey swarm in mid morning and seem to go from mast head to mast head in groups, They are vermin in WA and use to be controlled, but slowly the numbers have got out of control. Locals are getting sick of them damaging trees and property. They also seem to enjoy pulling the rubber glazing wedge out of windows,,, I would rather a pelican sitting on the masthead than one of those Correllas.

Gosh it seems like putting up with a bit of bird poo now and then is a walk in the park compared to that!

Select to expand quote

Jolene said..

SandS said..
ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

I was pretty horrified at a large flock of resident White Long billed Corellas that use local marina in Busselton as an amusement park. No joke, these pest play on the wind instruments , spinning on them, biting them, hang upside down from VHF antenna bending the hell out of them ring barking it , whatever you can imagine along with the chewing of sails, halyards and electrical cabling.
Whey swarm in mid morning and seem to go from mast head to mast head in groups, They are vermin in WA and use to be controlled, but slowly the numbers have got out of control. Locals are getting sick of them damaging trees and property. They also seem to enjoy pulling the rubber glazing wedge out of windows,,, I would rather a pelican sitting on the masthead than one of those Correllas.

Gosh it seems like putting up with a bit of bird poo now and then is a walk in the park compared to that!

Select to expand quote

sirgallivant said..
Regardless of the hype and the opinion of the critics at the clubhouse, does a sailing boat need an anemometer, at all?

I don't think so.



Ps: Bananabender, who told you, one must drop one's mast to realign ones wind vane?

Ha, I did. It's a ts and only takes 10 mins max. with a bit of help .
Deck stepped , bolted to mast step at rear of mast, let go forestay, mast falls back onto temporary stern post ( carefully with a bit of muscle),climb onto boat behind ,straighten vane, lift mast back up,attach and tighten forestay . Shrouds stay affixed.
The benefit of a TS .

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2bish said..

Jolene said..

SandS said..
ive gone back to basics tri colour and VHF only up top , wind is light weight indicators on shrouds . sick of birds crashing the wind stuff up top .

I was pretty horrified at a large flock of resident White Long billed Corellas that use local marina in Busselton as an amusement park. No joke, these pest play on the wind instruments , spinning on them, biting them, hang upside down from VHF antenna bending the hell out of them ring barking it , whatever you can imagine along with the chewing of sails, halyards and electrical cabling.
Whey swarm in mid morning and seem to go from mast head to mast head in groups, They are vermin in WA and use to be controlled, but slowly the numbers have got out of control. Locals are getting sick of them damaging trees and property. They also seem to enjoy pulling the rubber glazing wedge out of windows,,, I would rather a pelican sitting on the masthead than one of those Correllas.

Gosh it seems like putting up with a bit of bird poo now and then is a walk in the park compared to that!

It's like a scene from a Hitchcock movie.... I witnessed a similar event in port Stephens !

On recent mast refurb I also went back to simple vane setup. And put some of these around it. $5.50 from bunnings. No idea if it will work but had to try something to avoid climbing the mast. It seems the older I get the less I want to be off the ground

Might have to have a look at that when it happens again.
Boat is tied up at daughters place and in helping me straighten on tues. said " you know your wasting your time it'll only happen again. Have you ever wondered why no other birds here when there are hundreds of seagulls a k away." Pair of sea eagles use roof of house or your mast
to sit on when fishing in canal.
Whats the penalty if you injure a sea eagle!