Which Bow Thruster?

[slowandsteady]

Ranger42c, my slip is to starboard. I found if i make the turn early to port and keep kicking my stern over a few times, I'm lined up with the slip and I have no need for the thruster. Of course next weekend conditions will be different and I'll have to take a different approach. My bow thruster, BTW, is a Side Power, not sure of the size, but I'll check the documentation next time I'm on the boat. I don't know enough about it yet, but it seems underpowered to me.

 

[markpierce]

Do you feel you compromise your battery life overall from use of the bow thruster?

Do you spend a lot of time on the hook? I'm wondering how long it takes you to recharge the batteries after using the thruster and do you do it from the Genny or shore power most of the time?

I rarely use the thruster more than a total of 10 seconds during any "thruster" occasion. I doubt its use compromises the batteries' lives. I don't often anchor but then have never seen the need to use the thruster on those occasions.

Don't have a genset. The 28-volt, 150-amp alternator runs off the boat's single engine. The boat has dual 24-volt, 200AH AGM house batteries. The refrigerator is the primary user of electricity. At berth, the boat is connected to a 110-volt, 30 amp outlet.

 

[GFC]

Definitely go with 24V if you can. Here are two shots of the install I had done on my boat. The thruster uses a 10" tube and is mounted about as far forward as they could get it.

This shot shows the install from inside. They did a good job of glassing in the tube and mounted that white crossmember to support the weight of the thruster motor. The batteries were installed beneath that crossmember and are charged by the charger that keeps the inverter batteries topped off.

 

[Poach]

I have a 41ft Cheer Men with Twin FL120's. I know many will say if you have twins why do you need a thruster but with a keel starting amidships and a hole Sh#t load of windage forward they are not much help when you've got to dock in a tight slip with a 20 knot wind on the beam, it just blows the bow off.

Anyway, the captain has decreed (and I concur #1) that I buy a bow thruster but I want to get opinions on size, makes, etc.

Never had one before, but the admiral feels more comfortable with one so I put one in. We are 42 LOA. It's a Sidepower SE 100 24v with a dedicated AGM battery and its own charger. Maybe a bit of overkill but I wanted to be able to overcome both strong wind and current when necessary. Cost will vary with where you are and who puts it in. The hard parts were something like $8,000. Does kind of take the sport out of a windy landing though.

 

[Rduval]

Never had one before, but the admiral feels more comfortable with one so I put one in. We are 42 LOA. It's a Sidepower SE 100 24v with a dedicated AGM battery and its own charger. Maybe a bit of overkill but I wanted to be able to overcome both strong wind and current when necessary. Cost will vary with where you are and who puts it in. The hard parts were something like $8,000. Does kind of take the sport out of a windy landing though.

The Admiral gets really nervous in heavy cross winds (which seem to be increasing the last few years) so I'm happy to "take the sport out of it" lol

 

[Billylll]

The Admiral gets really nervous in heavy cross winds (which seem to be increasing the last few years) so I'm happy to "take the sport out of it" lol

Mine does as well but I doubt I'll be installing one on my Gulfstar. I had an over sized 12VDC VETUS on my Mainship 40SB it was great.
Bill

 

[ranger58sb]

Ranger42c, my slip is to starboard. I found if i make the turn early to port and keep kicking my stern over a few times, I'm lined up with the slip and I have no need for the thruster. Of course next weekend conditions will be different and I'll have to take a different approach.

Yep, I thought I had it correctly interpreted. Hint, if it helps: if you turn the boat to port even a bit past being lined up your slip (almost as if you were turning all the way to leave the fairway), then propwalk to port as you give it little shots of reverse will gradually kick the stern into the slip for you.

Once your slightly past that "lined up with the slip" orientation, you'd probably have to straighten the rudder, or even put it to starboard, so your alternating little shots of forward work correctly.

He said, optimistically. And maybe that's what you meant anyway.

-Chris

 

[Happy Thought]

I have a Vetus on a 38 foot boat. I recommend going larger than minimum recommended or will not be enough for the 20 knots of wind. Also dedicated batteries. The problems with using house batteries are:
1. Location requires long wore rub equals less current to thruster net net.
2. When those batteries get older/weaker your electronics like radar/GPS will shut down while using thruster.due to low voltage. This is not good for electronics. I have a separate battery for thruster and if I need short term extra oomph I hit the battery parallel switch which dumps 4 batteries into the thruster. Caution: do not do this for long, fuse or switch may burn up.


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[Happy Thought]

Sorry meant "wire run". Damn spellcheck.


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[Billylll]

I have a Vetus on a 38 foot boat. I recommend going larger than minimum recommended or will not be enough for the 20 knots of wind. Also dedicated batteries. The problems with using house batteries are:
1. Location requires long wore rub equals less current to thruster net net.
2. When those batteries get older/weaker your electronics like radar/GPS will shut down while using thruster.due to low voltage. This is not good for electronics. I have a separate battery for thruster and if I need short term extra oomph I hit the battery parallel switch which dumps 4 batteries into the thruster. Caution: do not do this for long, fuse or switch may burn up.


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I totally agree with not running sensitive electronics off the thruster battery bank. Even though my thruster battery bank is 2 feet away from my current config of (2) Lifeline 31 series AGM's I still ran all #4/0 wiring. Originally I had 3 thruster batteries and I found I didn't need (3) Lifelines so I removed the battery and put it on another center console I own. I also have a dedicated 40 amp smart charger that only charges the thruster bank. I run the windlass, a wash down pump and the thruster off that battery bank. I can parallel it with either starting bank through a pair of BlueSea 500 amp ACR's. At one time I also ran my Spectra Water maker off the thruster bank but I got concerned about voltage sags and spikes getting into my MPC5000 digital controller for the Spectra.
Bill