sailboat windex installation

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Installing a Windex

• Thread starter John
• Start date May 23, 2003
• Catalina Owner Forums
• Ask A Catalina Owner

I have just purchased a Davis Windex 10 Sport for my 1985 Catalina 25. I am trying to figure out what angle the tabs should be set at. The directions say 55, 60, or 65 degrees. I have never installed or set up a windex before and I'm having trouble finding someone who has. Any help/pointers would be helpful.  

JOlson I have aC30 with a15" windex and mine is set to about 40o becouse the boat sails 40o to the wind very good and my sons can stear that with out anty problem . When I want to pinch up wind I stear with my windex tail to the inside of the the 40o box and wire. Hope this helped  

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INTRODUCING RONSTAN ORBIT WINCHES™

"The WINDEX® Wind Direction Indicator is an indispensable tool for sailors of all levels since it allows instant and accurate wind information at all points of sail"

The WINDEX® is a Swedish invention from 1964 that is currently sold in more than 40 countries across five continents. In total more than 1,500,000 WINDEX Wind Direction Indicators have been sold over the last 45 years.

The different WINDEX models are found at the top of masts on every type of sailboat from Americas Cup boats to racing dinghies, and everything in between.

It is one of the most well known and recognised yachting products. The inventive and superior design of the WINDEX Wind Direction Indicator has allowed it to stay virtually unchanged for more than 40 years.

Windex® Products

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A Do-it-Yourself Wind Sensor

For more than 20 years, I always had bow-mounted vanes-a Telo Cat on my beach cat and a Windex sport on my Stiletto 27. The Telo Cat was sheltered under the forestay bridle and bowsprit and was never damaged. The long bows of the Stiletto kept the Windex out of harm’s way-although the Stiletto had a spinnaker, it reached faster than the wind and we always tacked downwind, jibing the chute inside like a jib and keeping the sail and sheets away from the bows. When I moved on to a PDQ32 catamaran, a cruising cat with a chute that is jibed outside, there was no place where either a sail or sheet couldn’t pulverize the vane in short order. I learned this the hard way, crumpling several commercial vanes. The solution was not to build something strong, but rather to build something that could flex with the assault and pop back up; a flexible wand topped with a length of yarn.

Mine is made from a few lengths of fiberglass tent pole from a child’s backyard tent and 3 inches of polyethylene airline tubing for pneumatic tools, although surely there are many possible variations. The basic elements are a short length of pole that can be clamped to a bow rail, a hinge created with a few inches of stiff but flexible tubing, and an 8- to 12-inch wand that can be knocked flat, only to pop up again. The yarn (wool or wool/acrylic blend) and cable ties are replaced annually, and the tubing every five years, as needed.

The do-it-yourself wind indicator has proven indestructible, having been flattened by the chute thousands of times during five years of cruising. It is not perfect. It is not as responsive or sensitive as the mini-vanes, it is harder to gauge the wind direction because of the droop, and the yarn can become wrapped around the vane (threading the yarn through the center of the wand, rather than attaching it with cable ties helps).

Drew Frye is a longtime PS tester and the author of Circumnavigating the Delmarva Peninsula. The book is available through his website, www.sail-delmarva.blogspot.com , where he blogs about his sailing equipment research and adventures on the Chesapeake.

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Windex 10 Sport Windvane

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I just received a new Windex 10 Sport windvane for my birthday. The installation seems very simple, however the instructions don't mention how to determine which angle to set the tacking tabs at. All the instructions say is something like "Set the tacking tabs at an angle between 45 and 65 degrees." I'm assuming the angle corresponds with how well the boat points/sails to wind, but how do I determine the right angle for my particular boat? Or does it even really matter?  

The tacking tabs should be set depending on your boats pointing capabilities. It can vary from 65 to 50º. On my boat they are set at 50º. These should be set on normal boats at 60º for cruisers or 55º for race boats. Rember they point apparent wind. What boat is yours?  

If you carefully read the instructions, they tell you ''all" the angles that can be determined by the tail and the tabs. It is a very clever design and very few take advantage of it.  

Given the size and relative speed of your boat, I would suggest that somewhere around 60 degrees should work well for you. Even if you don't get it perfect, as tigerregis points out, read how to use the instrument properly and it will still tell you all that you need to know once you get used to the normal tail to square positions for various wind speeds and wave conditions. The next step is to add teletales to the leading edge of your jib. Jeff  

Mine on the old IOR design (long J measurement) was set for 60 degrees, but I could regularly "feather" a bit higher than that in the right conditions, to about 55-56, and I have neither a "race" bottom nor new sails on that boat. A simple way to determine this is to put a straw with a piece of tape glued to the top. Insert the straw into a piece of cardboard and affix to the deck where the apparent wind can get at it. Draw a baseline that is parallel to the boat's beam, and then draw angles on the cardboard using a protractor. As seen from above, you'll see the same thing as your windex, except that deck gear might interfere with the air flow. Probably the best place to put it would be on the pulpit, I guess...send the bow person forward to stick their head around the forestay to observe the luffing point!  

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