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Old 04-29-2013, 02:41 PM   #4
DavidM
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City: Litchfield, Ct
Join Date: Aug 2012
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Hey, we are all pros on this forum ;-). So here is my two cents:

At displacement speeds you probably cannot measure the difference with or without a bow thruster.

Hydraulic will be very expensive and not justified IMO for less than a 50' boat.

There is no hydraulically assisted steering needed on a 41' trawler. Hydraulic steering for this size boat is passive. Passive in the sense that the helm wheel is connected to a hydraulic pump that supplies hydraulic pressure that drives a ram to move the rudder back and forth. There is no external power normally. An autopilot does drive an electric hydraulic pump that is in parallel with the helm pump that drives the rudder. But this pump is very low power, maybe 200 watts and DC power works fine for this application.

I would only consider a central hydraulic system to run thrusters, windlasses and stabilizers on 50'+ boats.

David
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