NowhereMan:
I like sail-trolling in my AI, not to mention speed-sailing, when conditions allow. But, the one thing I don't like about either, is the constant need to adjust the rudder.
So, I looked to see what "real" sailboats do, steering-wise, and self-steering windvanes are popular. Here's a Youtube video that shows a DIY version in action:
This guy also has a website with detailed info on how he built his self-steering thingy.
Do you think a scaled-down version of this might work on an AI/TI? My guess is that trolling might be too slow for it to be effective, but at slightly faster speed, I can't see why it wouldn't work...
AlsHobieOutback:
I've watched some youtube videos showing the self steering wind vanes and even watched instillation videos and they are certainly an interesting concept. Although i'm certainly not a expert, I think that the more wind the better to get them steering for you, and you need constant wind. Adapting to have a secondary rudder that does the self steering, or adding a fin to your existing rudder to give the windvann steering control would be challenging, but knowing your crafting skills I bet you will come up with something.
But I came across some other videos on doing sheet to tiller self steering like this one:
Since you have a jib this method looks to me like it would be easier to adapt to your AI setup. However all of the self steering stuff needs a way to control the rudder, and the Hobie rudder controls are so stiff, I think that it might even make sense to start fabricating a tiller control for the rudder to use instead of the original.
If you had a tiller you could also install an autopilot :smt044