There is always a running debate on what sort of wind vane is best. Well, I can't attest to the best, but i can tell you the most popular. By just eyeballing the anchorage I can tell you that there are two clear majorities post crossing. Monitor and Hydrovane. The monitor is servo-pendulum model. Some believe that servo-pendulum is more powerful.
The only comment I have is that the monitor which uses control lines to the helm / tiller, do chafe after a few thousand miles where as a hydrovane does not have this issue. Always remember to keep spare (non stretch) replacement lines. Changing them at sea is not much fun, I can attest to that.
One vessel we heard about almost lost their hydrovane as the bolts securing it to the hull came loose. Not a fault of the hydrovane needless to say. There is considerable pressure on the gear as it is a large paddle (ensure good sized backing plates and tight bolts)
As mentioned in a previous post though, the ratio of wind vanes to those with auto pilots is about 50 / 50. But one of the major issues people encountered along the way was auto pilot failure.
At a cost of $7000 for a new monitor for example, you can buy an autopilot + spare and solar panel and battery or two to keep it running and probably still have change…
Autopilots have come along way and are a lot more reliable. I believe the rule of thumb is buy the biggest one you can for your boat and make sure you have spares and know how to fix it if you are going to rely only on electrics.
Of all the catamarans that we have seen I have yet to see a wind vane, so all must be using auto pilots. Its a long way to hand steer!
As auto pilots improve on electrical consumption and reliability, so I think we will see fewer vessels with wind vanes (they get in the way of dinghy davits - which are very useful and sugar scoops / stern boarding ladders etc which many modern designs seem to favour)
All said and done, I am very glad that we had our Monitor and it has done a fantastic job for over 5000 miles.
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