External Bow/Stern Thrusters

Saw this on Ship Shape TV tonight. As a go fast trawler (I know) I have a few questions for the company. But these sound pretty cool.

https://sideshift.com/


I have no financial interest in this company.

We went with Exturn/Yachtthruster. Photos of the install on Pau Hana:

Yacht Thruster Powerboat Installations

I was thinking about an external pod bow thruster. Don’t have room inside to install a traditional thruster without loosing the larger water tank. Do you have any problems with weeds catching on the thruster?

Comodave said:

I was thinking about an external pod bow thruster. Don’t have room inside to install a traditional thruster without loosing the larger water tank. Do you have any problems with weeds catching on the thruster?

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I have the same question. Thanks Peter for sharing. nice job.

I have the SideShift stern thruster. Easy to install with the boat in the water. Works like a charm. Wireless controls. Saved my marriage!

Comodave said:

I was thinking about an external pod bow thruster. Don’t have room inside to install a traditional thruster without loosing the larger water tank. Do you have any problems with weeds catching on the thruster?

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Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

I have the same question. Thanks Peter for sharing. nice job.

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No problem with weeds or logs- the thruster is deep on the forefoot of the vessel, well out of the way of logs. I’ve noticed no loss in speed or increase in fuel consumption.

The install is extremely easy- 2 2” main holes for the support/cable runs, and 4 3/4” holes for the locating dowels. Lift and bolt in, then wire at your leisure.

We started on a Friday, and the boat was back in the water on Monday afternoon. This included painting the bottom.

Interesting. Do you know if they will work with a Side Power controller? I have a SP stern thruster and would like to integrate it into the same controller and remote.

I believe SidePower has an interest in the company, as I picked up a SidePower control pad and it attached to the system perfectly.

Great. Thanks for the info. Did you do the install yourself? Where did you buy the unit?

We bought it off Amazon in one of those "right place, right time" moments.

I did the install myself. The work was very simple in that I tackled it in stages:

• Electrical- Before the unit arrived, I selected the battery location, then installed the batteries, On/Off switch, charger, and cabling. Once the unit arrived, I ran the cabling and installed the relays and control cabling.
  
• Bench test- I ran the unit on the bench prior the the physical install. This was a fortuitous thing, as the unit had an issue with the thermal switching cable (shuts the unit down after 10 minutes of run time or when hot). I called Amazon to complain, and they overnighted us the only other one they had in stock, because we were due to haul out the next day. This made me an Amazon fan for life!
  
• Thruster Install- After the successful bench test, we laid out all the components in order of install and simply followed the directions to complete the install. After the unit was securely bolted in place, I connected the wiring to the relays and had a perfect test.

This is so easy to install that it can be done while hanging in the slings.

Thanks for the info. My problem is going access under the forward cabin deck to bolt the unit on and run the electrical. Glad to hear that it was as easy an install at I thought it would be.

Thrusters are just one more piece of equipment that needs care and will eventually fail. Especially 12 vold DC motors. Learn boat handling and you won't need thrusters.

Lepke said:

Thrusters are just one more piece of equipment that needs care and will eventually fail. Especially 12 vold DC motors. Learn boat handling and you won't need thrusters.

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I'm very good at shiphandling, and hold a USCG 100 ton license. Still, I enjoy having the thruster onboard as another tool in my arsenal.

Sure, things can fail- and we repair as they fail. No biggie.

Yes, I do know how to handle a boat. I have 50 years of boat handling. As we get older is isn’t as easy to handle lines. My wife is scheduled for her 4th surgery on her shoulder in the last 3 years. She struggles with lines at times. If we want thrusters, why do people have to cast aspersions about someones boating skills. I am a Coxswain in the Coast Guard Auxiliary and also a Qualifications Examiner. I teach boat handling and am pretty good at it. If someone else doesn’t want thrusters, that is fine, but really why judge?

Following up on this older thread-

When we were considering our thruster, I had put the thruster unit into our Amazon Basket as a placeholder (price around $12k).

One day, I received an email from Amazon stating “I left things in my basket”. So, I looked, and the thruster price had dropped from $12k to $7k! I bought it right away.

Well, it’s happened again- the Exturn thruster has once again dropped from $12k to $8k- with free Prime delivery!

It’d be a great time to pick it up!

Nice!! See what happens when you visit "other TF" members......just say'in