Hello All - I bought Surprise in March and have been getting her
shipshape and adding a few things. I have had several windvanes over
the years and wouldn’t leave without one. To make them work well, it
is important to dial in the right amount of helm and then engage the
gear at just the right time when the vane and servo rudder are more
or less vertical. That is often difficult when using a wheel but is
easier with a tiller. I didn’t like the tiller attachment that comes
with the Monitor so I designed another one and had a friend weld it
up. Since there seems to be a problem with picture attachments at
the site, I have posted a picture of the attachment in the Photos
section. One of the SS plates is threaded to make screwing the
plates together easier. I have acorn nuts for each of the 4 threaded
screws but they are not on in the pic. I put some leather between
the plates and the tiller to protect the varnish. The attachment can
be placed anywhere along the tiller for optimum performance. If you
need to dial in some helm or tighten the lines if they stretch, no
problem, just adjust the lines in the cams. I also have lines (the
ones in the pic) tied to the stanchions for the boom crutch and I run
those thru the tiller attachment to either secure the tiller at
anchor or in the slip, and I often use them to “self steer” for short
periods by securing the tiller amidships or dialing in a little helm
if necessary. This device makes it very easy to engage/disengage the
vane gear and to make any adjustments that might be needed in various
conditions.