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Old 11-30-2014, 06:23 PM   #48
dannc
Guru
 
City: NC
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,350
To stern thrust or not to stern thrust, that is the question...

Boats are all about compromises....

I think there is only one DD 462 built with a stern thruster. The problem with the stern thruster is that that it forces you to make some compromises....

Bill Kimley, the coowner of SHM, had the idea of adding the swim step to Buehler's designs and it is a great design change. Not only do you get a swim step, you can get an extra 400 gallons of fuel tankage and a collision zone in the stern.

The problem with the stern thruster on the DD 462, is that it takes up space in the swim step which then removes fuel storage and takes out the stern collision zone. Extra fuel tankage was added forward to replace the "missing" fuel storage but that slightly impacts the boat's trim and uses up some storage space.

So, are the compromises required to add the stern thruster worth having the stern thruster?

This is what the thruster looks like from inside the DD. You can see the split fuel tanks. Below, the thruster is the steering mechanisms. I could have sworn I took several photos of the steering setup but I will be danged if I can find them or missing image numbers. It is one of the things I really wanted to photograph.



This is what the stern thruster looks like from the stern.



I don't like the thruster configuration per say but I will be danged if I can figure out a better solution.

I suspect we would order the stern thruster since its usefulness to a short handed crew has a higher priority than the design compromises.

Later,
Dan
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