Call them and ask whatever questions you may have. ![]() Monitor customer service is EXCEPTIONAL! I encourage you to see for yourself. If you've ever tried climbing up a transom mount ladder while out to sea (or even in a rough anchorage) you understand why. You need to remove the aft boarding ladder (or purchase an optional hinge for the wind vane mount) but we were planning to do that anyway. ![]() The Monitor is strong enough that you can climb around on it like a jungle gym which is actually proving to be convenient at times. The Monitor can be converted into a relatively substantial emergency rudder using their MRUD kit. If you want the Monitor can be easily removed for storage when you're in port for an extended period of time. Essentially you bolt on four "feet" and connect the unit. Installation was simple but did require some careful measurements. It has the strength and corrosion resistance advantages of stainless while still remaining light. Despite that it is not much heavier than a Sailomat mainly due to using large diameter thin walled stainless. The unit is made out of stainless steel rather than aluminum. The current design is essentially the same as the original with some structural improvements (for example a bar to protect it from being damaged by dinghies etc). The Monitor is a very widely used wind vane on a wide variety of boats. That said they both probably function well in general and the Capehorn is a good looking piece of kit in our opinion. We decided against Sailomat largely based on poor customer service (difficulty getting in touch with the one person running the company) and the fact that they frequently change their design and do not stock many parts from prior models. We also wanted the ability to use the windvane as an emergency rudder, something not available on the Sailomat and inadequate (in our opinion) options on Capehorn and hydrovane.īefore choosing Monitor we considered capehorn and sailomat but decided against capehorn due to the complexity and difficult access of the control lines and blocks. We are preparing for offshore passage and extended cruising in remote areas so our priorities (in descending order) are function, durability, availability of spare parts, availability of tech support, and ability to be jury rigged as needed. ![]() I was in contact with them when I was looking for a windvane for our 38-200 and partly based on their feedback we ended up installing a Monitor wind vane There is a couple currently cruising in Fiji (after a few seasons in French Polynesia) who have a hydrovane on their E38-200. Ps.I have no affiliation with norvane, but I will be calling them to order spare bearing for my next cruise, but so-far zero maintenance. My Ericson has proved to be a great sea boat in just about every way. I will be heading south again this year on to Ecuador, and then west. I will let everybody know how the rudder works for me. I just returned from Mexico (again) and Foss is making me a new extended rudder, that I'm hoping to gain a little more controll downwind. I have a raymarine 4000 tillerpilot for lighter winds and motoring.ĭDW in large swell the boat does fishtail, but this is not because of the vane. I engage the vane whenever the apparent is at least seven knots, not all vanes are capable of this. One of the tricks on any vane is low friction. I do not worry about accidental jibes, hasn't been a problem. I've sailed many, many miles with the unit DDW with either double head sail, spinnaker or prevented main and poled jib. The unit works very well on my 29 even DDW.
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