I ran an advertisement in Latitude 38, I assume there are other similar publications where this will work as well, wanting a used wind vane. We received at least 5 emails from the one advertisement we ran, more importantly, the next issue of Latitude and subsequent issues produced a crop of wind vanes, Aries, Monitor, Sayes for sale.
The Monitor seems to fit well on the BCC, I'm sure others will fit as well, in the states, Monitor spare parts seem to be easiest to find.
We have a Monitor on our BCC, you can't fault it, it works well day and night without complaint, just wish it wasn't so damn ugly to look at, no, it's not for sale!
A little caution needs to be exercised when buying a used wind vane as all sellers will have you believe their vane is in excellent condition, most will need to be overhauled, so subtract this cost from the asking price. If they are asking a premium price, it needs an overhaul and they are not willing to budge on the price, keep looking, there are plenty of them out there collecting dust in garages, just be patient they will show up eventually. A friend picked up a used Monitor on Ebay for $1000, sent it in to Scanmar for overhaul and upgrade, total cost was $2500. If you do the overhaul yourself you can save some money, otherwise, it might be better off to purchase new as there are at least 40 upgrades over the years incorporated in the new units.
You might try walking the docks, we found an old English built Aries for our Pan Oceanic 46 by asking around, for $500; it will probably cost $1k to overhaul as the parts will have to be machines for this model, but it's worth it, it's a monster unit, best of the best when money or space was no option. It's to big for a BCC, but if you love machines, it's a work of art, from a time when someone had a little to much money on their hands and craftsmanship was the driving factor.
Older Monitors, the rudder, had exposed foam top and bottom and the foam may be separated, newer units are fully encased in stainless. Older units have bronze gears, while newer units are stainless, older bronze gear units will work if the gears are not to badly worn. If it is structurally sound, I haven't seen one that can't rebuilt yet. Check out the Scanmar website, they have some useful information on purchasing used units as well as a list of upgrades incorporated in the new units.
A good source of Monitor information is: http://www.selfsteer.com/ if you find an older monitor, check for the serial number on the main frame and call Scanmar International at the number listed on the site.
Aries: http://www.selfsteer.dk/
Cape Horn : http://www.caphorn.com/index.html
Happy hunting,
Marty Chin
BCC Shamrock
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