Hi Tod, Your thoughts about keeping the vane as light as possible are correct. When I built mine using 1/4" marine plywood - and my vane was about 3' high; I needed heavy lead weights to balance the vane, and at this pont I'd guess and say each weighted about 5 lbs! (I used two weights): remember you are balancing the weight of the vane weight/lever arm against the balance weigh/lever arm; and to keep the weight swinging radius small, the weight has to go up. You have a fun project, and will learn a lot; though it will cause lots of head scratching and beer drinking while you sort out the problems. But, hey, ..... when it is done, you designed it; you built it; and it works! That's a source of tremendous satisfaction. You'll be the envy of everyone in every harbor when you pull in with a wind vane on the stern, and can tell them how well it hold course. Connie ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.