Wind vane

[Cornish]

Can any one recommend a wind vane for the 26X and recommend electrical installation for wind read out in the cockpit. My boat will be in and out of the water alot.

Cheers

[Gerald Gordon]

I'm also interested to have a wind speed/direction guage in the cockpit

[tangentair]

And if you can consider a few addition questions:
the X's mast is stationary, but will it work with the M's rotating mast?
if it is mounted on the mast carrier, is the reading as accurate or representative of winds aloft?

[March]

Tacktick instruments manufactured in good ole England. You won't have to muck aroudn with wires since the wind vane has a transmitter and sends data via radiowaves. The display is also pretty cool: it has solar cells to recharge the battery.
The price in the states is around $1300 (ouch!) but you might find cheaper units in England.

[Matt19020]

I used the Raymarine ST40 @ about $280 And I am VERY happy with it. It has been on about 2 months so far no problems yet, hookup was pretty straight forward once you get the wire thru the mast. I have a M and the mast has foam installed about every 8 feet. I used 3 lengths of metal conduit connected together and attached a fish tape. I tapped it thru the full 30 ft to fish the wire ...remove the conduit after you run the wire. In addition I installed a LED anchor light and deck light since I was running wire there anyway. I used a trailer 4 wire pin connector plug at the base to disconnect the wire leads for when I drop the mast for trailering. The M has a rotating mast and this effects the wind direction indicator some what. but you should not have that problem with the X. No great pictures of the install ....sorry...

[baldbaby2000]

the X's mast is stationary, but will it work with the M's rotating mast?
if it is mounted on the mast carrier, is the reading as accurate or representative of winds aloft?

In reverse order: I doubt you'll get useful results on the mast carrier; too much airflow distortion back there.

The angle of the rotated mast needs to be taking into account in some way if the sensor is on the mast head unless you somehow want to interpret the readout based on the mast position. I use a potentiometer as a sensor that I built into the mast base. See mod page. It works well but I think I need to put a pin or something through the bolt end of the coupling (the tube between the pot and the bolt) because I think it slips sometimes when I'm trailering. If it slips you're still OK: it's pretty easy to calibrate it with the Technautic system.

Daniel

[Scott]

We have a Raymarine ST 40 setup with mast top "Roto vecta"

Love it









I replaced the 2 pin perko through hull at the mast base with a 4 pin. Didn't even have to enlarge the hole

[bastonjock]

Scott

was replacing the 2 pin perko straight forward?

[Frank C]

Seems inevitable that a deck socket will take water, therefore, corrosion.
My next attempt at the problem, I'm thinking of using a deck cable passthru, and leaving the plug & socket hanging at the mast, so the socket's no longer a 'vessel' to catch water. I guess a right-angle socket would be the alternative, but I hate having deck-dongles! I think mine is a 6 or 7 pin socket, to support the masthead wind transducer. IIRC, that darned plug set was over $50.

[baldbaby2000]

I have the wires for my wind system come out of the deck through a feed through and the plugs on those wires. The mates come out of the mast. I use an automotive type plug socket with an o-ring. Haven't had a failure in 3 years. Before mating them after trailering I spray them clean with silicone spray.

I use the Perkos for my mast light and cockpit speakers--they suck. They oxidize and don't fit tight enough to make a good connection.

Daniel

[bastonjock]

theres a new wind vane advertised in this months PBO mag,it has the usual functions plus a barometer with up to 7 days recorded pressure,it costs about $450.00

[Scott]

was replacing the 2 pin perko straight forward?

It was a straightforward job. Same size as the original and accessable through the fuse panel and to waterproof it frank, I just gob on the dielectric grease. Hasnt been a problem in 4 years.

Also frank, to reduce wires I put a waterproof switch 1 foot up from the base of the mast to switch power from the steaming light to the masthead.