HI Tor,

I don't have any experience with my Monitor, but the backing plates seem to be no more than a big washer.  There doesn't seem to be any problem with cracking or anything.  For the Monitor, though, the forwardmost stern rail had parted from the foot plate due to the stress.  I had a local welder put gussets so that wouldn't happen again and on both sides so that if one did break, I'd have the other to use.

In fact, I could fix the raw water pump now or go to West Marine and buy the line and stuff I need to make it work…

Bob

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:

To all who have a windvane on your 424:

Did you (and/or the original installer) feel it necessary to beef up the transom to take that kind of stress,
other than big backing plates for the mounting bolts? Has anyone used a windvane a lot and then discovered or
checked for any signs of stress on the transom?

Thanks,

Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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—
Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Hull #8

Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

Hi Tor,

The PO used it for about a year as they made their way from San Francisco to Rhode Island.  They cruised the Caribbean for quite a while.  The mostly used it with a tiller-pilot autopilot.  But the vanes are here, both low and high wind ones.

If you follow the sternrail forward until it turns vertical and attaches to the coaming you'll see it's welded quite poorly to a circular piece.  That piece takes all the strain from the lines from the Monitor which is considerable.  Anyway, gussets fix the problem.  A picture could be provided.

Bob

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 2:12 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:

Tor,
I don't think it is an issue for most servo-pendulum vanes, such as my Monitor.  The mounts for my Monitor are backed by 6″ square x 1/2″ thick Starboard pieces (had them as scraps on board when installing)  along with the largest fender washers I could find.  Used the vanes on two Atlantic crossings.  Coming back we had nearly a week of gale force winds and seas > 8'.  No signs of crazing or cracking.  I do have crazing where the PO installed a boarding ladder on the transom, so I know the transom is not real strong.  Ladder has been removed.

I think the only way a servo-pendulum vane could crack the transom if the vane oar is hit something solid at good speed.  I think whatever that might be would have taken out the rudder first so the vane and the transom would be the least of my worries.

With the Auxiliary rudder type vanes I would definitely beef up the transom.  That's one of the reasons I went servo-pendulum and did not purchase the Monitor rudder feature (forget what Hans calls it).

All that said, it sure wouldn't hurt to beef up the transom in the area of the mounts.

John

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:

Syringa’s vane did not come with her so I don’t know what type she had. But she has some major cracking on the upper vane mount showing she went through some high stress at one time on her crossing of the South Pacific. All her vane mounts are backed with 6″ X 6″ 1/2″ Plywood bedded with 5200. If I were to re-install a vane I would add at least two layers of 24 oz woven roving and use full width 1″ X 8″ oak plank backing boards.

There's only one other thing to consider – what kind of windvane was it and did the damage occur from use or from accident?  I know that it's darn easy to back into a dock or have the boat swing or any number of things that would cause the structure to torque, compress, or both causing the kind of damage Don mentions.  That said, backing a bolt with something strong is never a bad idea.  It needn't be an onerous job, either, especially if you have a recycled metal place nearby. You can use 1/4″ aluminum plate as a backing with 5200 adhesive and it will be far stronger than any stress you can put there (except, of course, backing into a dock, boat, quay, pier, jetty or groin).  You can use a standard circular saw or table saw with a carbide blade to cut it and it's super easy to do.

I don't happen to like wood as a backing that much because it can work and compress over a period of time requiring re-tightening.  For thru-hulls, fine, but not for variably stressed items.  My humble opinion, though.

My two cents again.

Bob

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 6:01 AM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:

We installed a Sailomat, which has a single plate mounted in the center of the transom with four bolts, on Easy Reach. The first thing I noticed was oil-canning of the transom.

After some thought, I insgtalled two 1/8 by 2 inch Al bars vertical behind the bolts to stiffen the transom. This worked for several years until we sold the Sailomat to another cruiser. The unit was great at sea, especially off Belize catching the trades, where the wind was fairly constant, but a pain in the neck on the Great Lakes and close to shore with variable winds. We put in a new AutoHelm under cockpit which works nicely, not drawing anywhere the current our old one did. And with the new 150 amp Balmar dedicated to the house bank of four golfcarts, it meets our current needs.

Norris Larson, #203

— On Sun, 3/22/09, Silver Heels <> wrote: