How to Install a Masthead Anemometer Without Lowering or Climbing the Mast
1. Cantilever Method (free): The loop on the mounting rod is the simplest method for raising the Wind Instrument. Just attach an extra pennant or foresail halyard, and add a thin line (e.g. 4-mm diameter) through 1 or 2 holes in the foot. It is amazingly simple: just raise the Wind Instrument with the halyard, then pull it upright with the thin line on the foot of the mounting rod. (We don’t recommend using a pennant halyard on a spreader, because the Wind Instrument would be blocked by the sails on some tacks.) If you don’t have a spare halyard going up to the masthead or want to try a more solid attachment, then use the Track Slider below.
2. Track Slider Method: Raise the Track Slider to the top of the mainsail mast track. The Base Plate (photo above) on the Track Slider is designed to sit flat against the mast underneath the rigid headboard at the top corner of the mainsail. The Base Plate is held in position by 2 slider cars in the mast track (which you provide, since there are different varieties on each different boat). A cable tie holds the slider cars in the two notches on the Base Plate.
Add your own pulley block on the halyard shackle, and a new mainsail halyard on the block for pulling up the mainsail. Further details are provided in the Owner’s Manual (PDF, 4.7 MB). This allows you to use the Wind Instrument until the mast is down or until you have taken a trip up the mast in the bosun’s chair, to install the Wind Instrument on the masthead.
The base plate takes up 1 inch vertically at the top of the mast track (flat against the mast, inside the mainsail halyard, and inside the headboard on the top corner of the mainsail, as in this photo). It has been tested with lots of different mast and sail types, although there may be rare examples where it won’t fit (and can be returned for a refund).
You’ll need to put 2 shackles in the large holes in the base plate, with a size that fits whatever kind of clip (or knot) you have on the end of your halyard.
This is our most secure method of raising the Wind Instrument and holding it precisely in position at the masthead. Attach a thin line diagonally from the Mounting Rod of the Wind Instrument to the shackle on the far side of the Base Plate (as shown in the photo above). This lets you tilt the Wind Instrument upright once it reaches the top of the mast.
INCLUDES: Marine-grade stainless steel Base Plate, 2 cable ties, and 3 pairs of stainless #8 machine screws (1/2-inch) and lock nuts for attaching L-Bracket. Fits a wide range of mainsail tracks and slider cars. (Requires L-Bracket, which is sold separately in case you already have it.)
