a couple of occasions recently i have been sailing my 285 in a bit of a blow F6 and my wind vane has started travelling up the aerial at the top of the mast. By the time it has reached the top the aerial is oscillating madly and i fear that the vane will disappear or the aerial break.

luckily i have only to bear away to reduce oscillation and the vane drops back to its correct position. On resuming my beat the pattern repeats itself...very annoying when hard pressed.

can any one shed any light on this ? Have i got something missing up there?

grateful for comments.

will phone Bill as well

regards

charles

charles clements

Spartacus 285

I found out that I have not assembled it correctly. The vane is free to slide up the aerial but should be held down by a tiny flange that catches under the two "angle arrows". Something I must put right next time I take the mast down.

I wonder if yours is the same?

Brian Fisher P235 Thrift

If your aerial is the V-Tronix/Hawk model then I think Brian is right. Just above the mounting for the "close-hauled" indicator arms is a collar which retains the windvane. It is possible for the vane to "escape" the collar,or in an older installation, for the plastic to become brittle, break, and allow the vane to rise spectre-like, up the whip, with the result you observed!

I used two methods to cure it. Initially a few well-placed turns of electrical tape just above the vane to prevent it rising up, but when that failed due to sun and wind drying out the tape I came upon a more permanent method.

I extracted from the top of my can of gas lighter fuel ( which of course we all have on board to refill our gas-fired cooker lighter wands!)a couple of likely sized nozzles, and took a ride up the mast so armed together with a bradawl. It was the work of a minute or two to ream out a suitable nozzle and place it as a friction fit in place of the tape just above the vane. As a belt and braces I also placed a nozzle over the tip of the aerial in place of the original cap(which had also gone missing).

275/30 "Cascada"

thanks for your helpful comments

looks like a visit to the top of the mast

lucky my bosuns chair is about to arrive

regards

charles

charles clements

Spartacus 285