I’m delighted with mine. The first thing I did after the end of the first season was to revarnish the blade. Don’t build up too much varnish at the pivot point . I used one pack poly. Other tips: I lead the control line through two snap shackles. Pulling on the top one rotates the vane clockwise. Bottom one…the reverse. Also, if the blade is canted, when you want to lift it and the us under sideways pressure, it may not disengage. Simply adjust it to centre and wait a few moments. I have a long keel Twister. This year it has worked very with upwind and downwind…but, if the apparent wind drops below around 9 knots…it needs careful sailtrim. On the other hand, in. F7 and a quartering sea from the stern…brilliant.
Thanks for your comment and thoughts! I actually need to thin ours down at the pivot point before re-varnishing this winter. Re control line, we find identifying which one is the upper and lower at night is impossible without using a torch and destroying night vision, need to experiment with your suggestion of two snap shackles. Ours has worked surprisingly well in light winds, but perhaps slightly lighter boat than yours!
Very nice! -- QUESTION -- One thing I cannot understand about wind vane steering systems, is why you must manually adjust the vane into the wind? To be clear, I understand why the vane must be adjusted in reference to the wind. However, I don't understand why it can't adjust itself to the wind, in the way that a wind vane on top of an old barn would always point to the wind's direction, and do so automatically. Why not incorporate that feature on wind vane steering systems and avoid the control line?
Bought a boat with one of these fitted. Can you tell me what the church house pin is? Haven't tried mine yet as been refitting but looking forward to giving it a go. Nice clear information on your video.
Thanks for your comment! If the servo blade strikes anything the overload plate is designed to shear in which case you can remove the Churchouse pin from the servo blade and insert it through the stainless side plates and through the blade. This will hold the blade down (being plastic will shear should you hit something else). Hope that helps.
The coating on the blade shouldn't have failed (after such little exposure to the elements) to the extent that the blade is near impossible to release from the housing. So we need to thin it down and then re-varnish as required. But overall great bit of kit!
