Wind-Vane Self-Steering on Momo: Balancing the Machine

I began writing this description of how we set up the wind-vane self-steering gear on our boat primarily as a response to somebody from the Mason Sailboat Owners group. But I figure it might be worth sharing more broadly. In the perennial debate regarding the virtues of autopilots versus those of wind-vane self-steering units (ours is a servo-pendulum device), we find ourselves firmly on the side of wind-vanes, at least for boats more or less like ours – not too fast, moderate size, aft cockpit, tiller or cable steering, etc.