Windvanes & self steering systems.

[s/v Faith]

 Copied from CF post;

Mister Vee have released plans for a self steering system to be self built with a level of skill that most keen DIY enthusiast have: OS Walt

OS Walt is the third in the line of self steering systems named after the late Walt Murray who inspired countless sailors to build their own self steering system.

The basic plans are totally free and comprise a list of materials and 3D pdf's.
The detailed plans include drawings of the individual parts and a support forum.

If you are interested in building a windvane self steering system yourself, free subscriptions to the website with the detailed plans are available untill February 7th.
Free windvane self steering plans from Mister vee

After the 7th you can only get access to the complete plans if you are invited by another subscriber.

Sven Heesterman
Mister Vee self steering

edit to fix link

[Oldrig]

I had trouble with the link, but finally figured it out.

Here it is again:


http://veeworld.mistervee.com/?q=os-walt-free-self-steering-mister-vee

--Joe

[AdriftAtSea]

I just subscribed to the OS Walt... Should be interesting to see what happens.

[Oldrig]

Thanks for posting this.

I just signed up for the Mister Vee subscription and downloaded the plans.

It seems like an interesting site. Whether I have the capabilities to make this thing is another matter, but we'll see.

Best,

--Joe

[Capt. Tony]

Well, I went to the Mr. Vee site and subscribed.  The big wrinkle seems to be applying for a role (whatever that means), which enables one to aquire the detailed information for building the OS Walt.  I have read and reread the Walt Murray site for several years now and there are critical bits of information necessary to make a windvane that performs well. 
Has anyone here been able to access the detailed plans?  If so what is the 'trick' to getting in?

[Oldrig]

Tony,

The site seems to be a bit confusing and, while the English is pretty good (better, I'd say, than most of our Swedish--except for MaxiSwede, of course), there seem to be some vocabulary problems.

I was able to download two PDFs, one of the finished windvane and one that can open into exploded diagrams of various parts and steps in construction. I'm not really sure if this qualifies as detailed plans, or if there's more available.

How to attach the windvane and connect it to the rudder remains unclear, among other things.

Clearly, the site needs more exploration before expiration of the access to the "free plans."

--Joe

[okawbow]

Tony,

The site seems to be a bit confusing and, while the English is pretty good (better, I'd say, than most of our Swedish--except for MaxiSwede, of course), there seem to be some vocabulary problems.

I was able to download two PDFs, one of the finished windvane and one that can open into exploded diagrams of various parts and steps in construction. I'm not really sure if this qualifies as detailed plans, or if there's more available.

How to attach the windvane and connect it to the rudder remains unclear, among other things.

Clearly, the site needs more exploration before expiration of the access to the "free plans."

--Joe

I got quite a lot of information from his site. I went to his www.windsteer.com website and learned how a servo pendulum selfsteering works. I like the design of the vane. I plan to make a unit for my Cheoy Lee ketch, and the downward hanging vane makes sense to me. I also like the bevel gear drive on his commcial units.

[skylark]

It says the plans will be updated throughout the next week so we are not seeing all the plans yet.  You would not be able to build one from the plans that are available as of this evening.

Having said that, I don't have Adobe, so there may be information that I am not getting from the pdfs.

Hopefully this version of the plans will show a little more about the USD vane design.  I could not figure out the USD design shown on Walts old page.

Somewhere I had saved all of Walt's website, but I may have lost it in a hard drive failure.  I will dig through my ancient files.  Does anyone know if Walt's site is still available online?

[skylark]

http://www.mindspring.com/~waltmur/Self-Steering/

[Oldrig]

Sorry, MaxiSwede, I should have said Dutch, rather than Swedish.

[j d]

I don't know if any of you got anything usefull from the Mr Vee site. I did not, but what I did get is spam on my email regularly now. I've had the same address for 5 years and had none until I gave these guys my address. Thought I would let you know.