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- *Pricing varies depending on the installation rod selected, any design modifications, and the options chosen.
Our Hinckley Yawl Sailboat Weathervane is designed in three dimensional style, though not precisely to high detailed scale. This is a very effective technique our designers and artisans have perfected for producing the satisfying eye appeal of a specific vessel, while creating a sculpture piece that functions well without the added time and expense of exacting precision. The yawl pictured was fabricated with a copper hull, brass sails, and copper rigging. The customer requested optional gold leafing to create details reflecting their personal yacht.
A fun historical note is found in the definition of yawl. Though today yawls are considered to be sailing yachts, the word originally referenced the small boat of a larger ship, with six to eight oars.
West Coast Weather Vanes specializes in custom copper weather vanes and many of our sailboat weather vane designs represent actual sailboats. Customers often want the sailboat weathervane we make for them to reflect their boat. You can see a number of examples in the sailboat category on our website where we have done precisely that. In addition to creating weathervanes based on specific sailboats, we often gold leaf the name of the sailboat right onto the weathervane. Sails can also be personalized to look like those on the actual sailboat.
There are several factors that affect the price of our boat weathervanes. If our customers are able to provide us with schematic drawings of their boat, we can often reduce our standard custom design fee accordingly. Some of our customers have even lent us models of their boat to help us make their weathervane as realistic as possible. Because the pricing is based on the time required for our master artisans to make them, another consideration is the level of detail requested. Some of our sailboat weathervanes have cockpits, steering wheels and detailed sheets. Some don’t. Normally, you look up at your weathervane from the ground and details like the cockpit and steering wheel may not be visible from this angle. If we eliminate these features, or reduce them in complexity, we can reduce the cost of the weathervane accordingly. If you mount your weather vane at eye level, or even on the water surface of a pond, these details are always in view.
Keep in mind that hand made copper weathervanes can last a very long time, even a century or more, and your weathervane may not spend its entire life in its original location up on the roof or on a cupola. Someone in the future may want to take this beautiful sculpture down off the roof and display it indoors as a piece of American Folk Art. If this is the case, details like the cockpit and steering wheel would be visible. These details add value from the collectible viewpoint.
Either way, since each vane is made to individual order, we can add or eliminate details based on our customer’s preference.
Custom sailboat weathervanes make wonderful gifts. Probably more than half the sailboat weathervanes we’ve made were given as gifts, either for a birthday, or other special occasion, or by a grateful crew to its skipper.
If you are interested in one of our custom sailboat weathervanes, or in personalizing an existing design, we would love to discuss it with you.