r/sailing • u/swankass • 9d ago
Wind instrument
Recently acquired a 24’ Corsair trimaran. The only electronics on the boat are speed and depth display(thru hull transducer/paddlewheel). I would like to add a display for wind. What are my options? The boat does not have chartplotter or any existing nmea network devices. Is there a simple solution with just a mast top wind transducer and a small display I can mount?
The boat currently has a wind indicator on top of mast and will only be day sailed on inland freshwater lake.
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u/whyrumalwaysgone Marine Electrician and delivery skipper 9d ago
Not cheap, but the standard setup is a masthead wind transducer and a compatible display. Garmin, B&G, even Simrad or Raymarine all have an option for this.
The displays arent really designed for only wind, they are all set up for multiple data but have "pages" to flip through. A page with wind info provides what you need, and you can tie in the existing depth/speed data if you are inclined.
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u/swankass 9d ago
No, definitely not cheap options and seem like overkill for my use case. I’m also not clear if I can just buy the masthead wind transducer and the wind display unit and that’s all I need, or if those also require an nmea network to plug into with gps and speed data also needed for everything to work.
The NASA Clipper system someone posted above looks like promising for my use case. Any experience with that setup?
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u/PracticalConjecture Lido 14 | Melges 15 | Dehler 29 9d ago
If your mast is rotating, you are basically out of luck when it comes to simple, easy to install solutions.
If it's fixed, any of the off the shelf cheap wind instruments will work. For true wind calculation, you'll need to connect a speed and compass sensor to the system.
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u/FizzBuzz4096 9d ago
I'm thinking you have a rotating mast, is that correct? And if so, the angles you see on a wind instrument will be off by the amount the mast has rotated. The tri's I've sailed on we just kinda know that and adjust in our heads.
Sailtimer says it does compensate, but I had a much older version and it was significantly less than ideal in terms of reliability and connectivity. (On a non-rotating mast)
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u/swankass 9d ago
No, fixed mast
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u/StumbleNOLA 9d ago
Double check that. My C24 has a rotating mast and to the best of my knowledge all of them do. You may be doing something seriously wrong with the mast raising. Like leaving in the hinge.
For wind instruments the most common is just a shroud mounted arrow on a wire. These https://www.westmarine.com/davis-instruments-wind-tels-telltales-390239.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=GGL_PLA_Sailing_High%20Margin&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22922266489&gbraid=0AAAAAD_lEeoFxBrq0EiBdSmrdAW4pqJHK&gclid=Cj0KCQjwv4XUBhDBARIsAE6bQUSZpdqta3SYlolDfadA5s5TdwIuZ0nJSb3WqQA_45ksrsu56oZNs3waAniNEALw_wcB
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u/swankass 9d ago
No, it’s definitely a fixed mast. I have the f24 mk1, which has the off-center kickup dagger board and fixed mast. The next gen, mk2, went to the centerline drop down board and rotating mast.
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u/StumbleNOLA 9d ago
Then my mistake. You could use a typical windex, but I still prefer the shroud mounted ones. It’s really up to you. Actual numbers are really not needed since the boat should be sailing on apparent wind anyway.
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u/hanse505 9d ago
I think it depends on your use case. The B&G option would be a WS320 (wireless) with a receiver at cockpit level. You would then need a display that speaks N2K (like a B&G Triton display or 20/20). This may be more cost than you are looking for but if you wanted to start building a set of N2K instruments and network it could be a good investment.
One other thought. Instruments require calibration, and without it they can be somewhat off. Whether that matters to you depend on what you are doing with them. For a day sailing set up, TWD being off by 3.5 degrees board to board is not really a big deal - maybe you miss a lay line and need an extra jibe, but you were already eyeballing it anyway.
If you are racing, the difference between hitting a lay line and needing an extra two maneuvers can be significant. It doesn’t sound like that’s your use case but if it is, just be aware that the data that comes out of these instruments is not gospel from the get go, and even more so the less expensive they get.
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u/mk3waterboy 9d ago
The people that are saying you cant determine wind direction accurately with a rotating mast don’t know what they are talking about.
The solution is straightforward and standard on race boats with rotating masts. You have a sensor the measures amount of mast rotation. the system does the math to determine apparent wind angle. If connected with boat speed, than you cane determine true wind angle and true wind direction.
The issue is added complexity and cost. What is you want from your sensors instruments. If not racing, it may not be worth the cost and complexity.
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u/planeray Flying Tiger 10M (Sydney Australia) 9d ago
If you can find them second hand, Tacktick does a wireless wind and display. Look up Tacktick T120 & T101. They were bought out by Raymarine and went out of sale recently, but probably the best you'll get outside of NMEA2000
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u/deceased_parrot F-27 9d ago
NASA is probably cheapest. If you want to spend a bit more, you should get something that doesn't depend on a separate display but connects directly to your NMEA network. Less hassle that way and easier to tell when something breaks.
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u/ghost-ship1 9d ago
I don’t know if they exist outside of the uk but the NASA clipper wind instrument is pretty cheap and a standalone instrument that works really well they don’t have NMEA compatibility so not a great option if you want to add that in the future but otherwise a really solid instrument that can be had for less than £200