Wind vane repairs
James Brooking makes a cheap, effective instrument repair
I noticed on a visit to the boatyard that my wind vane had suffered the ignominy of becoming a bird perch which had subsequently broken off one of the arms. Looking around the boatyard I saw that I was not alone.
Fortunately the mast was booked for un-stepping the following week, but the bad news was I couldn’t find replacement arms on any internet search.
With the mast down I took off the broken and remaining arm and returned to my workshop. There are basically three things to consider when designing a replacement: the mounting, the stem and the finial.
The stem was plastic about 3mm diameter and I needed something light, strong and of a similar diameter. A knitting needle sounded ideal and a trip to the haberdashers was the source of a pair for £1.75. A needle is strong, flexible and can be bent with strong hands or when gripped in a vice.
For the mounting, a choc-bloc cable connector seemed ideal. Knitting needles come in various sizes (these were 2.75mm diameter) so I was able to slide the end into the connector and secure it with the clamp screw. I found the plastic covering for the clamping screws was the same diameter and length as the original, so no modification was needed. One screw was removed and replaced with a longer one to attach to the vane.
For the finial a piece of plastic from an old gutter was cut to shape and glued on with epoxy. And to finish off I stuck on a piece of red vinyl. The completed item fits the bill at a total cost of £2 for two.