Windguide finish and install

[DGA]

So I am getting close to completing and installing my new design "Windguide", as I have called it. Still need to get the final stainless fittings and flanges water jet cut, and the weather in Detroit to be a little more human friendly. Couple of pics attached. A question, how thick and what is the lower transom made from; I know it's polyester fiberglass, but will there be a core or solid? Probably need some sort of backup plate internally I'm guessing. It gets a 1.5" hole bored through the transom just to the left of the "Detroit" wording in the pic, then a 5" flange with 5- 5/16" bolts through it.

 

[jimcleary]

DGA

Please give us a bit of info on your new design, it looks interesting. Keep in mind that the hull was a two piece affair that was bonded together. There is a seam down the middle of the transom. if your device will exert any amount of torque on the hull, it might be advisable to have a strong backing plate that will span the center of the transom.

Jim

 

[DGA]

There is little torque on the hull, the main steering torque goes through the drive tube inside the outer housing. There are a few upper mounts to the pushpit railing etc, yet to be determined. It mounts so that the swim ladder and rear access is not compromised, and it is inside the solar panels. I truly dislike most of the existing wind vanes in that they take up so much " boat real estate". The Morgan transom is one of the easier shapes to work with, the mount flange does not need to have a lot of angle, and a rear sloping transom would be more of a pain. In an upgrade to this, it also becomes an electric autopilot, but using low wattage, Arduino controlled driving a nema 17 stepper motor.

 

[Warren Holybee]

The transom should be cored, and is very strong. My monitor has no backing plates, just fender washers. It does have 4 mounting points spread out though. When I bought the emergency rudder for my monitor, scanmar advises what reinforcements different boats need. The Morgan 382 needed none.

Depending on what types of mounts you have, the centerline is either the strongest part or the weakest part depending on how that seem was laid up. If you triangle the mounts so that it bolts on either side of center, you should have no problems.

I am very interested how the design performs, as it does seem significantly different from popular designs.

 

[DGA]

Thanks Jim, Warren. There are mostly water drag and rolling inertia loads on the flange, the upper mounts reduce the inertia loads on the transom to near zero, so the only real load is if the water paddle hits a submerged object, log or something, so there are brass shear lock pins on the retraction pivot so it should not rip the whole assembly off the transom. These are spring loaded pins with pull rings; you retract both of these to release the water paddle and rotate it 180 degrees out of the water and stow it behind the main vertical tube. This also disconnects the drive from the air paddle.
Attached pic shows the inner bulkhead mount and control arm, with drive engage knob and ball linkage to another arm on the rudder shaft.

 

[Mitchell S Allen]

DGA,
Your design and workmanship are quite impressive.

I've been considering a windvane for Sonata too. And considering fabricating it myself. I too, am quite interested to know how you do with your design.

I have E Rudder mounts that are triangulated on Sonata's Transom. I didn't install them so can't speak to the Transom thickness.
Two upper mounts are spread wide and take two ss struts that form the upper gudgeon. The lower mount is way down in the center of the transom. This was all installed to meet ocean racing requirements before I got her. They are backed up with thick plywood plates glassed inside.
The E Rudder is quite large and very heavy and would probably inflict more load than your windvane. It took two of us and a hand truck to move it when I bought her.
Anyway, I think I would beef up the interior, if just for peace of mind.

Mitchell

 

[DGA]

Christian Williams showed a video of his "Cape Horn" wind vane, it is similar in that it drives through the transom, but I think that because it isn't designed for a single boat like this one is, it drives the rudder inside the hull through a series of pulley turning blocks and lines. It had a tiny eyelet tapped into the rudder quadrant and this broke, no surprise to me. His big issue with the internal blocks and lines was the difficult daily inspection while on an ocean crossing. The only internal inspection on my design is to lift the helm seat and look at the linkage, only two ball links and a push/ pull rod.
Dave.

 

[Mitchell S Allen]

Dave, yours will be offset. How far? Sonata now has a propane locker, a box that takes up the Lazerette hatch nearly to the hull.
Mitchell

 

[DGA]

The aft bulkhead, which is the forward wall of the aft locker, is about 23" from the transom. After I bore the transom and bulkhead holes I will have more accurate dimensions and adjust the driveshaft and pushrod lengths to suit. Attached an updated pic of the linkage and rudder shaft arm, this drives to the 9/16" hole in the rudder shaft that I believe is the emergency tiller hole. Not sure how offset it all is from the hull centerline, take a close look at the first pic of the transom, the flange will be centered close to the star on the left of the "Detroit" lettering.

 

[DGA]

I settled on a lateral offset of 14.5". This gives enough pushrod length to not get into some odd geometry when the water paddle goes to it's maximum movement (or when I swing the water paddle out of the water and stow it and forget to disconnect the mechanical drive link when hand steering.) Got the 1.75" hole bored in the transom today and much of the measurements figured out, and fitted the lower tubing to the transom mount plate. FWIW, the transom is just under 3/4" thick of solid fiberglass, very strong indeed!

 

[Warren Holybee]

If this works, its going to be a really slick setup. Is there a way to adjust the pushrod(or some other part of the linkage) for sailing conditions?
For example, on the monitor you would adjust it so the rudder is off center while the pendulum is centered and the boat sailing straight, due to weather helm. Without that adjustment, the boat sails a slight S.
You introduce a few new ideas that really separate it from what's out there. And great workmanship too. Most home made steering is very scary looking.

 

[DGA]

Well, the trim knob should do that I think, basically load the wind paddle against the water paddle so it creates a load balance against weather helm. In theory this design isn't like the horizontal pivoting wind paddle which constantly move from side to side, with this you adjust the wind paddle more until there is balance. In theory anyway.....

 

[DGA]

Need to add, I recently modified the wind paddle to water paddle reduction, it was set at 5:1, now I can change it to 4:1 if it seems to have too much 'S' curve trim. May need to increase the air paddle area for that, will see.

 

[DGA]

I got the wind guide mostly fitted. Still have to get the upper brace completed, takes some trips to fit and weld the stainless tubing when I am not able to tack weld it all in place. Working on a few friction issues but not a problem. Second pic is of the water paddle in the stowed position in it's mount.
Also fitted a battery monitor system, last two pics. And got the new carbon depth sounder mount bonded to the hull.

 

[DGA]

I uploaded a video on YouTube for this. Have had a small test in light wind, it held course nicely, until the wind died. I have now made a 50% larger wind paddle just for that situation. More tuning to come when I get back out, and I will take a video of it operating.

 

[chawakee]

Brilliant.. looking forward to seeing sea trails.
Cheers

 

[Warren Holybee]

Great craftsmanship, and unique design that gets rid of all the tangled lines. You might have a real winner.

 

[Mitchell S Allen]

I totally agree!

 

[DGA]

Have done some tuning on the Windguide. I adjusted the mechanical gearing, the water paddle did not have enough authority over the rudder, so I changed the rudder arm linkage point. We got beat up in lake Huron the day before and the original main sail tore from one of the battens back to the leech. Also launched the Windex off the top of the mast, so I need one of those as well now. Was too rough for me to be able to set the Windguide up, so I didn't get to test it then. This was a lot calmer on lake St Clair with only the jib up so you see the weather helm it has to hold it's course. So this was actually a good test for it, light winds and high rudder loads. It held a nice straight course, I was pretty pleased with it. I may go to the 4:1 wind paddle to water paddle gearing, it still has the 5:1 now.