Article, photo, and illustration by the TMY Editorial Staff
This article was published in The Model Yacht, Vol 22 No 3, Fall 2021.
We have tried all types of wind indicators from very fancy to quite simple. The design for this one came from Ken Shaw, a member living in Rock Hall, MD. It works pretty darn well and is simple to make.
The sleeve spins freely on the music wire powered by the wind on the ribbon.
Materials
- 4-in length of 0.022-in music wire
- One crimp (#3) or small diameter tubing,
cut to length - Clear duct tape – cut to fit
- ¼-in silver Mylar® ribbon, 6-in length
Tools
- Wire cutter
- Needle nose pliers
- Another pair of pliers
- X-ACTO® knife
Procedure
- Cut a 4-in piece of music wire. Be sure to clean off the wire with a good solvent as it is usually very oily.
- Make a 45-deg bend 1 in from the end of the wire using both pairs of pliers.
- Make a second 45-deg bend ¼ in from the first bend so the short end is parallel with the long end of the wire. The bends need to be in a single plane.
- Slide the crimp over the short end.
- Make the last bend at a 45-deg angle above the crimp (see the drawing).
- Make sure that the bends lay flat on your workbench. If they do not, adjust them so they are in the same plane.
- Cut a piece of silver Mylar 6 in long or whatever length you like.
- Attach the Mylar ribbon to the sleeve using duct tape. Make sure that the tape is adhered to both sides of the Mylar and wraps around the sleeve.
- Next drill a #63 hole, vertically in the top of your mast about ¾ in deep. You may need to drill through the mast crane.
Notes
- You can make the wire and Mylar ribbon any length you want. Longer lengths may get caught in the rigging of your boat.
- The Mylar ribbon can be any color; however, silver reflects light well and is easy to see against most backgrounds. Other colors do not reflect the light as well and are hard to see in flat light.
- The width of the ribbon and the number of strips of ribbon can vary depending on what you like and what you can find. We found the cheerleader pom-poms are a nice source of Mylar. They can be found in party stores.
- If you increase the number of ribbons you use or the width you can simply increase the number of sleeves you use and change the length of the area where the sleeves are to accommodate more. Make sure you leave enough room for the sleeves to rotate freely. The little squiggly bends at the ends of the wind indicators (see photo) act as ‘hold fasts” and keep the wind indicator in the hole in the top of the mast. The one with the additional bends on the bottom fits into a hollow (aluminum) mast.
When you start the process, you will want to make a handful of these. Good luck and have fun!
