Works Progress

Things moved fast and unexpectedly with the wind vane installation on Sunday. I had previously marked the center line of the transom and the ideal centers of the four tubes. Working alone with the same focus and pace as if I were disarming a bomb I managed to hang the body of the unit from the davits and by attaching other lines at various points got good sensitive control which enabled me to position it almost exactly in place - centered and plumbed. The boarding ladder in the down position was very useful. (After the installation I will unbolt the ladder, remove it from below, then insert it from the top.)

I put on the airvane and started to explore and analyze. It took about an hour to identify the biggest problem. Because the lower tubes were square to the unit and the sloping transom is almost flat the U-brackets had to be positioned almost vertically. That placed the lower holes of the lower brackets much higher than we had planned.

Then I got lucky. Jeff from a beautiful 40-footer 7 slips away saw me working, came over, and I discussed the problem with him. Jeff has his own Monitor wind vane, has plenty of time on his hands until his wife joins him in six weeks, and had earlier offered to help me. After much analysis and discussion we concluded that the safest course of action was to mount the brackets according to specifications and accept the inevitable raising of the unit. I drilled a thin pilot hole which confirmed that the hull was even thicker that I had expected. To orientate the brackets properly and accommodate the large backing plate washers provided resulted in the movement of the lower tubes 90 mm up the slope of the transom, resulting in the raising of the unit another 50 mm off the water.

Unfortunately we will have to cut about 35 mm off the top of the airvane but I preferred this than compromising the mounting of the unit. This does offer the additional advantage of raising the top edge of the watervane to 50 mm out of the water. I considered modifying the overhead davits pipe during the hardstanding in Seattle, but this would allow the accommodation of the full-sized standard airvane only and not the longer light-air one, since the full size light airvane will strike the davits. At this point I do not think that the extra 35 mm of airvane justifies the expense of modification of the stainless steel davits. Much depends, of course, on how the system performs on the Seattle leg.

By the end of the day we had the four brackets in place with the upper extension tubes thru-bolted. The unit appeared to be almost perfectly centered, vertical athwartships, and with a small forward rake which we would try to eliminate but did not consider worth worrying about too much.

Jeff and I resumed work on Monday morning and spent three hours inserting the compression cylinders in the joins of the upper tubes and bedding the U-brackets at the transom with sealant.

We resumed work early this morning and inserted the compression cylinders in the joins of the upper tubes, bedded their U-brackets with sealant, then installed the diagonal supports which included cutting off about 50 mm from each tube, bending the ends, and the insertion of two more compression cylinders.

This concluded the installation of the main body of the wind vane. I am very happy with the result. The unit is centered, plumb, and solid as a rock.

The next tasks are relatively easy: mount the steering wheel extension and set up the control lines which will involve the purchase of some very expensive roller bearing blocks.


I then telephoned Ron about the communications system. He wants me to join Sailmail and we will talk at the end of the week. My guess is that he will install the system next week.

I then spoke with Jerry and the radar cable arrived yesterday. He will visit Pachuca on Thursday morning and we will try the radar with the new cable. If that was the problem we will then have to feed the new cable down the conduit inside of the mast, probably using the old cable as a "pull through"