Patrick's Sailing Blog

Hey, Patrick - I'm responding to your synopsis of the SSCA DB 'fix proposal' right now but clicked on your link and saw this. We crossed the Atlantic with several boats using the Cape Horn product (as well as a number of other brands). It's a good choice as a piece of machinery goes (as are most of the others). You probably know about John Stevenson's website (svsarah.com) and he installed a Monitor; getting some feedback from him might be helpful since he did two crossings with it, had to deal with some issues (not product failures, just "issues") and would be a good counterbalance source if you are trying to weigh one of these other brands to the Monitor.

There is a good (and reasonably priced) choice built down in SoCal, another built in S Africa for a British firm, another Canadian choice beyond the Cape Horn, and several more built Down Under. And altho' Stellan seems to be retiring in place, there's also the Sailomat product that we've been using.  FWIW I think my primary criterion in choosing a new vane would be the company first, and then vetting the product to insure it's built and performs well. I say this because every one of these companies save Scanmar is basically a one-man band...and you'd like to think there will be the continuity of support over time for your choice when in fact that might be an unreasonable expectation. Of the firms I know about, my own impression is that Scanmar probably has the best chance of commercially surviving it's founder and current owner simply due to the huge installed base and the broader product line (multiple types of vanes).  I opted for a Sailomat in part because I didn't fancy the oil derrick assembly and wanted quick removal of the vane assembly (which I got with the Sailomat). But in retrospect, I should have seen even 12 years ago that Stellan was getting close to retirement and that should have raised some Q's that it didn't.

BTW none of this touches on the rudder-type vanes such as the RVG and Hydrovane (very popular among the British crowd but golly it's expensive).  You'd definitely want to beef up the thin transom if you went in that direction (which isn't a bad idea anyway).

Jack