Freehand Steering System new offer.

BCC Forum
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Attention Bristol Channel Cutters and Falmouth owners:

Hi Sailors,

Mike Anderson from AndersonBoatworks.com here, the original builder of the Freehand Steering System.

While examining the detailed cost of the system and consulting with my external vendors I have found a way to lower the cost of the Freehand System. Only with a batch order of 5 or more … I can offer a 25% discount off the original price, making the Freehand Steering System’s new price for the Bristol Channel Cutters at $5200.00. Similarly with the Falmouth owners.The option of purchasing the lower unit first is still available, then add the upper unit when your ready ($2600.00, not including shipping and handling fees).

This complete system consist of the lower unit, upper unit and autohelm bracket, Installation/Maintenance Instructions and Sailing Syllabus.

Standout features of the Freehand Steering System.

  • Designed by Lary Pardey and endorsed by Lyle Hess.
  • Vertical Axis direct trim tab to rudder connection.
  • Double reefable sail to"bare frame" proven in 65 Knots by L.Pardey.
  • Autohelm has an extended mechanical life due to the trim tab hook-up.
  • Removal of tiller enabling full cockpit sailing.
  • While motoring you have fingertip adjustment with micrometer results.
  • Easy installation.

This is the real deal and I’m the original builder, get your order in this week and you’ll be able to use your Freehand Steering System for your summer cruise.

Buy Original.

Thanks,
Mike Anderson.

Mav5252@aol.com
949 673-0270

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Hi, Mike,

Sorry I won’t be ordering one, but you can count me as a happy customer. We’ve got about 30 000 miles on ours, and I’m glad we chose the Freehand. Also glad I’ve never seen Larry’s 65 knots!

All the best,

Tom
Galatea, #117

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Mike, how easy will it be to get replacement parts? I also own one – which I want to install. It’s a summer/next-haulout project. Will I be able to get parts if needed?

4

Based on studying two Freehand Systems, you should be able to fabricate any part. Further, the bearings are off-the-shelf and should be available at McMaster.com or any local bearing seller.

r

5

Ben , no problem getting parts, just let me know what you need.
Mike

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Hi Tom, Happy to hear from you and happy to hear that you have 30,000nm logged using the Freehand. I’m sure most of the sailors reading these post would love to hear some Freehand Sea stories and I would like to know where you are now.
Thanks for signing in.

Fair sailing bro,
Mike

7

now if i could just buy one half and get the other half for free! oh well…

8

Mike,

We, and Galatea, are in Trinidad, finishing up a refit after a period away from the boat (family stuff in the States). We’re planning to head for the Chesapeake in April.

I’d like to tell some sea stories about the Freehand, but the reality is that for us, it made for no drama, and was a reliable third hand that did almost all the steering, with appropriate supervision, of course. We used a Simrad TP10 as a backup/supplementary system for very light air or motoring, and the trim tab worked well for that.

We have sailed it in about 4-5 knots of apparent wind, maybe a bit less in very smooth water, and up to about 40 knots downwind, at which point we heave to. At about 27-30 knots, I take the sail off and go with just the plywood vane. I guess that’s the drama, getting that sail off, but again, it works so well with the BCC design that it’s more drama than real risk. The boom gallows is right there, so you can solidly lean into the gallows as you’re working on the vane. What better place to watch her stern rise to those big waves, anyway?

I particularly like its simplicity in design, a key component in its reliability, not to mention its aesthetic qualities. Nothing is perfect on a boat, but I’d have to say that the Freehand is probably the best piece of gear we added in terms of usefulness, durability, and reliability. We’ve had fewer problems with it than almost anything else, and when it needed attention, it was easy to care for.

I always feel a little uneasy feeling grateful when I’ve escaped other people’s woes (by good luck or otherwise), but I’ve had enough friends arrive in port exhausted after their selfsteering failed and they ended up handsteering the last several days or even weeks into port. Solidly reliable AND repairable selfsteering is essential, and it’s hard to say that about any electronic selfsteering system.

I’ll quit before this sounds anymore like a shameless plug. It’s not, I just like the gear.

Tom
Galatea

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Tom,

I assume you have a SSB aboard – where does the insulator go, and any interference with the vane there on the backstay?

If you can – can you give me a measurement from your turnbuckle to your lower insulator. I have to remake my backstay and want to plan ahead for the freehand installation, and make sure I don’t put the insulator in the wrong place.

On another note, I’ll be heading towards the Chesapeake in late April/early May… perhaps we’ll cross paths. Not sure if Calypso is also heading back north for the summer or not. I think Mandy is northbound around the same time also… Could be a convergence of BCC’s this spring. Oh and Ma Muse is in the Bahamas now too.

Thanks!

A pic from last week…

10

So, just got my wind gen pole… gave it an eyeball in place. Suddenly I realized Freehand windvane and wind gen pole compete for the same space. Does anyone have both a freehand and a wind gen?

11

Ben:

The long boom, bumpkin and backstay are a challenge. I still have not found a solution to mounting a wind generator. Calypso, has a windbugger and hangs it in the rigging when at anchor. I would not name a wind generator, windbugger. Look up the word “bugger” in a dictionary, I think you will get a laugh.

We sail a 19th century boat. It was never designed for the electronic age - sextant, chronometer and kerosene lanterns. We have the electronic type.

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Crew of Galatea,

Tom and Jill… thanks for your honest thoughts, regarding your Freehand, ( I mean “Mikey”). Happy to hear he was your third hand and was reliable.
Remember to drop in next time your in Newport Beach.

All the best, Mike

13

Mike or anyone -

Any reports of wind gen poles working together with freehand vanes? I’m trying to see if I can mount this pole in a place that will allow for the Freehand in the future. Tough to figure out with the Freehand in NH, and me in FL. What’s the swing radius I need to clear?

I like the fact you can remove the tiller, and use the trim tab for the autopilot, and of course the Freehand is SEXY.

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Hi Ben, I’m really not the guy to ask being that I don’t have or know much about the Gen pole, however, I would think the Freehand would be a more useful tool on a variety of levels for distant cruising.

I would consider modifying the generator housing to accommodate a carr that might work on the Jib pole track on the fwd side of the mast (at anchor). Just an idea.
I’ll get back to you on the swinging radius.

Maybe Tom and Jill have seen some ideas on that .

Mike

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I do not want to make any public comments about either vane but I am willing to share my experience with both privately. I did have a Cape Horn and I did have a Freehand Steering. Roger Olson: xiphias37@yahoo.com

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One thing I really like about the freehand system is the trim tab setup. The trim tab is VERY powerful vs input. In fact when I was installing mine I took it out for a test before I attached the sail/vane. I took my finger and pushed on the trim tab control arm to see how it worked. It slammed the tiller over so hard it gave me bruises on my leg.
What this means is…you can use the smallest tiller pilot out there and it takes very little juice to run it, since the tab requires very little power input to steer.

I have 17 years using one. It has its pluses and minuses like anything. To say I’m happy with mine would be an understatement. one caveat, I have never used another type of vane.

ah…and no stainless steal! yippee!

17

Hi, Ben,

I checked and I put the lower insulator about 24 inches up from the quadrant hub. I can’t remember the exact numbers on length of the antenna; I think I was going for about 38’ and with the insulators, that’s what I got. The chances of anyone grabbing the antenna/backstay during a transmission are quite remote, but I did use some plastic stay cover material to insulate it up to the dogbone.

Hope that helps

Tom
Galatea

18

Tom,

Thanks, that info is good.

A sailor who knew you anchored here the other night… a Valiant 40 by the name of Blue Yonder. Said you two had met in the Pacific somewhere. I promptly forgot his name, as usual. He was quite a nice fellow.

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Thanks for that, Ben. I’ll help you out :wink: If you see him again, please tell “Dave” hello from Jill and me.

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Ben,
Where are you thinking of placing your wind generator pole? On boomkin, about where Shaula’s pole is located? How much clearance does the Freehand need around the backstay, and at what height? I can measure the distance between our pole and the backstay, if you’d like.

What have you found out about the Freehand and the insulated backstay? When you put the lower insulator above the Freehand wind blade, you still have the problem of bringing the wire that connects to the insulated segment down to the deck, past the wind blade. Tom, on Galatea, how did you rig this?

I’ve know several boats that rigged a 14 AWG wire from a block near the masthead to the stern and through the deck to the antennna tuner, with very good results. One of the boats thought it worked a bit better than their insulated backstay!

Have you gotten you Monitor to work well for you? We’ve had our Aries (liftup model) since 1985, and it has done the job for tens of thousands of miles. I suspect that the Monitor, Freehand and Cape Horn may all do a bit better in light winds. However, I don’t think that’s a significant enough difference to warrant changing vanes. We usually have a problem if the apparent wind drops below 10k, at which time we go with the Autohelm 4000.
Dan