Stern Thruster

[Marin]

Training wheels (thrusters) are a useful tool for anyone just getting started in boating a larger vessel. Boy did I need those training wheels.
[/B]

I wonder if the skippers and pilots of tankers and container, bulk, and automobile ships consider their bow thrusters to be training wheels?

A long time ago in Hawaii we produced a series of television commercials for Matson Navigation featuring their then-brand-new roll-on, roll-off ships. The "plot" of one of the commercials followed a big farm tractor from the manufacturer in the midwest to Oakland by train, then on the ship to Hilo, and then by road to the ranch it was destined for. I was "volunteered" to shoot the scenes at sea showing the tractor on the ship enroute and other shots depicting the ocean part of the voyage.

This being a state-of-the-art ship for its day, it had a very small crew, and I was given the run of the ship during the voyage. So I spent a lot of time on the bridge and I remember being incredibly impressed when we departed first Oakland and then Honolulu for the last leg to Hilo. While there was a tug standing by, the ship's captain and the pilot didn't need it. With ships moored ahead of and behind us they powered the bow away from the pier with the bow thruster (the first one I had ever encountered) and then simply drove the 600' ship away. Way cool.

So I don't regard thrusters as training wheels at all. They enable a skipper--- be it of a 36' toy recreational boat or an 800' container ship---- to do things he otherwise couldn't do, be it dispense with the aid of a tug or slip a boat into a tight spot on the marina dock in the face of an adverse wind and/or current.

Carey, I think, has the smart approach to using a thruster. If he doesn't need it he doesn't use it. If it will make a docking or departure easier, or reduce the potential for damaging something on his boat or someone else's, he uses it.

 

[rwidman]

To me, thrusters are somewhat like our propulsion engines except that it moves a vessel sideways as opposed to forward and backward. I wonder how the "set-in-their-ways" type people felt when engines were first introduced into boating. Did they say that it was a crutch, and that one will not sail or paddle very well when the engine fails? Just wondering.

Yes, the engine is a "crutch". So is a chart plotter. Sextants and compasses do the job so why a chart plotter?

Again, you can do it the hard way and brag about your skills or you can use available tools to make the job easier and enjoy your time on the water.

 

[psneeld]

My post was not directed at you but all the participants of this thread. And I do understand your point very clearly.

By the way, what kind of boats have you been delivering? Considering the number of boats you've delivered it is amazing that none of them had both bow and stern thrusters. Any other delivery captains here with the same experience? Yachtbrokerguy? Anyone?

Everything but trawlers...and none of the trawlers I looked at to buy had both...many had bow thrusters which I can see...even and maybe even more so on some big twin motor yachts. I'm sure glad the 54 Sea Rays had them..several I delivered wound up long range on one engine due to engine failures and without a thruster going into unfamiliar marinas late at night, whooped after a long day...you bet I was thankful for them....

I'm my next door neighbors hero because I've backed his 55 Viking out of places that others dare not tread because I understand the use of a thruster and opposire engine backing to overcome a stiff crosswind...they ARE great...don't keep taking me wrong.

This is not I'm more macho because I don't have one....I already know the difference between many of the posters who have them, use them because they feel better docking with them and the complete hammerheads who don't have a clue...it's actually fun to pick out the different boating personalities...

One more time...I think thrusters are great...I just wonder about the skill level of people who need BOTH bow and stern thrusters. Sure it makes it easier...but it's hard to believe both are ever needed for the same situation....if they are...all I'm saying is in those cases...I wait or it can easily be done with a spring line or some other simple technique.

 

[expat]

good point mahal, times they are a changing and if something is avaiable to make life easier then use it.

 

[Moonstruck]

Yes, the engine is a "crutch". So is a chart plotter. Sextants and compasses do the job so why a chart plotter?

Again, you can do it the hard way and brag about your skills or you can use available tools to make the job easier and enjoy your time on the water.

Ron, I bet you have paper charts, and know how to plot a course. You probably know how to run a compass course, and convert to true or magnetic. I have twins with a bow thruster, GPS, chart plotter, and auto pilot. If I lose them, I can still operate the boat just fine. It just is a little more inconvenient. There are certain skill sets that should be learned. They can be learned as you get familiar with your boat. However, the fear is that the easy way is so convenient that the need to develop the skill sets may not be realized. Also, many will say "someday". You know how that goes.

You can bet that POD drives help sell boats. When a dealer demonstrates the ease of handling, the potential "captain" thinks, "I can do that". He can, but he could be one electronics failure away from disaster. Dealers love them because it takes away the fear of handling the boat.

A capt. has the right to damage his boat anyway he wants. Just leave mine alone.

 

[Adelaide]

I wonder if the skippers and pilots of tankers and container, bulk, and automobile ships consider their bow thrusters to be training wheels?

Marin, I like you. You're a very logical poster on this forum. The 'training wheels' comment is what he wanted to hear..... so I gave it to him....

My thruster, in a way, gives me what twins give you. Twins would be ideal...but in my world they are not available, so on went the Stern Thruster. An important tool in the very heavy prone currents of La Conner. It also allows me to single handle my boat, something that I was unable to do before. So, really it should be called an 'aid' or a 'tool'.

 

[psneeld]

Ron, I bet you have paper charts, and know how to plot a course. You probably know how to run a compass course, and convert to true or magnetic. I have twins with a bow thruster, GPS, chart plotter, and auto pilot. If I lose them, I can still operate the boat just fine. It just is a little more inconvenient. There are certain skill sets that should be learned. They can be learned as you get familiar with your boat. However, the fear is that the easy way is so convenient that the need to develop the skill sets may not be realized. Also, many will say "someday". You know how that goes.

You can bet that POD drives help sell boats. When a dealer demonstrates the ease of handling, the potential "captain" thinks, "I can do that". He can, but he could be one electronics failure away from disaster. Dealers love them because it takes away the fear of handling the boat.

A capt. has the right to damage his boat anyway he wants. Just leave mine alone.

.....................

 

[Marin]

My thruster, in a way, gives me what twins give you. Twins would be ideal...but in my world they are not available, so on went the Stern Thruster. An important tool in the very heavy prone currents of La Conner. It also allows me to single handle my boat, something that I was unable to do before. So, really it should be called an 'aid' or a 'tool'.

Actually a thruster will let you do something you can't do with a twin and that is to move one end of the boat or the other straight sideways without moving the other end of the boat at all. If I set opposing thrust with our shifters the boat pivots very nicely but it pivots around some point slightly aft of the center of the hull. If I add rudder I can make the boat pivot faster and tighter for the same power setting, but the stern still swings one way while the bow swings the other way.

Most of the time this gives us all the control we need but there are times when it would be nice to move the stern or bow straight sideways while leaving the other end of the boat exactly where it is. The only way I know to do this is with a thruster.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Mahal,
Loved your comments.
When I was very young I owned and operated several inboard boats that had no reverse gear or no clutch and gear. Some had a moveable idler pulley on a lever as a clutch. I had a sailboat that I sailed into it's slip. More equipment on all would have been nice but they were all great boats and I didn't have trouble w any but on occasion paddled a bit w the sailboat. There was probably a time when sailors thought real sailors rowed their boats and sails were but training wheels. Wars changed all that I'm sure.

 

[BaltimoreLurker]

It was the best $2,815.00 I have ever spent. My wife and I (Weekend boaters) now won't be getting a divorce.

Which brand/model do you have? At less than $3k I might just consider going for it.

 

[Moonstruck]

Actually a thruster will let you do something you can't do with a twin and that is to move one end of the boat or the other straight sideways without moving the other end of the boat at all. .

That is what I use my thruster for. We back into the slip. So, I will use it to move the bow easily over to an outer piling to get a line on. Then move it to the other. Makes for an easy tie up.

 

[Adelaide]

Which brand/model do you have? At less than $3k I might just consider going for it.

It's a Sideshift made in Ontario Canada. There are deals out there, so look around. It's a do it yourself kit...... You don't have to remove the boat from the water. Buy the Lbracket and no one will ever know you have it. Unlike a bow thruster, it's almost silent (you do hear the water swishing). Good luck.

 

[MT Nest]

Well, I've enjoyed the banter and comments over the past few days but I'd still like some comments on my orginal question, "Has anyone had any experience with the "Sideshift" stern thruster.". I think there's only been one. Again thanks for the comments. Didn't mean to stir a hornets nest.

 

[Nave]

I have a Stern Thruster on my Tolly 26 single screw. It was on the boat when I bought it. Mine is a hydraulic unit from Dickson and works well. I have never used one before but now when docking in a crosswind , it does come in handy. I don't NEED it but I use it. If its there, use it........

 

[sunchaser]

Most if not all new Nordhavns and Selenes come with both bow and stern thrusters. Ditto Fleming. On new well thought vessels made today it is "expected."

My heavy twin engined trawler has a bow thruster but no stern unit. I can walk it sideways - easily - into or out of a tight docking space by using rudder hard over and slipping in and out of gear to keep forward and reverse motion in check.

If I had a single engine vessel I'd insist on both bow and stern thrusters, why not? Boating is supposed to fun. Go for it MT, don't let the "purists" talk you out of it. A stern thruster is cheap in comparison to a damaging docking. 75 years ago the debate was "Should I have an auxiliary motor in my sail boat?"

On a separate note, thrusters revolutionized the cruise industry. In some places the unions have the muscle to still insist on tugs or the port is shut down, go figure.

 

[Chrisjs]

We have both bow and stern thrusters on our 47ft Selene (65,000lb, single screw). Especially if there is nobody ready to catch a line on the dock they are quite helpful when docking -- even more so when the wind is blowing the boat away from the dock.
Yes, I know about some of the "tricks' with spring lines etc but the practical reality is that often they can not be applied effectively at the time they are needed. If we had twins we probably would feel less inclined toward the thrusters.
Specifically on the question of stern thrusters, ours is significantly less useful when docking than the bow thruster. It is helpful for turning (spinning) the boat in a small space by using both bow and stern thrusters together, and it is helpful for bringing the stern into the dock when lines are already attached. But if the wind is blowing it really can not do much to help correct a bad docking situation.