MATERIALS


Vesconite Hilube bearings that are ready to be installed in a refurbished Aries Wind Vane


FINDING YOUR BEARINGS Nautical bearings have some specific requirements, here we explore these in more detail T


he 60s were the golden age of (shorthanded) ocean racing, and inventor Nick Frankling built the first


Aries Wind Vane in 1964. He kept redesigning this now classic boat and the current Aries is based on his third model. Nick Franklin passed the Aries Vane Gear company over to the Danish Peter Matthiesen in 1994. after which Aries moved to mainland Europe and the process of converting


14 www.engineerlive.com


from imperial to metric was finalised. Boating aficionado Roy McBride


had always been interested in the Aries Wind Vane Series and decided to develop a repair kit for its specific requirements - he chose Vesconite Hilube for the bearings. The Aries Wind Vane self-operating


steering systems can operate for 30,000 miles from purchase. When they need to be repaired, however, it is often only the PTFE bearings


that need to be replaced - they have sometimes become immovable as a result of being fitted to stainless steel components that have seized up due to sun damage, corrosion or a lack of lubrication.


SELF LUBRICATING BEARINGS As a result, McBride decided to choose a premier self-lubricating low-friction material, known as Vesconite Hilube,


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