Carolena
Guru
Yesterday our bow thruster started acting up as we were leaving a side tie on a tight dock with some wind (with multiple boats rafted behind us, and very shallow water in front). As I was moving the bow out with the thruster and stern with propwalk, the thruster kept running after I let go of the joystick. I tried to shut it off with the button at the helm and also tried switching direction with the joystick, but continued to run at full speed. I made a quick dash to the forward berth to shut off the main thruster switch/breaker. All turned out fine, although i had to do a ton of back and fill to get us turned around (we were facing shore and it was very shallow in front of us). I've spoken with the company (Imtra for our Sidepower unit) and they gave me some very good troubleshooting advice. It will likely be either the main switch at the helm, the control box on the motor or the solenoid (welded contact). I will find out when I'm back at the boat next weekend.
Moral of the story is make certain you have a seperate shutdown/breaker for the thruster and know where it is located. In doing some internet troubleshooting before calling the company, I was supprised to find examples of this happening where there was no seperate shutdown. In one instance, the owner had to shutdown the entire electric system at the main breaker, which meant his engine also shutdown. Talking with some friends later in the day, I was surprised to find that the ones with thrusters had no idea where the the main switch is located on their boats. If I hadn't been able to shut it down right away, it would have probably spun us into the dock or another boat.
Got back to the marina and resorted back to the way we got our old sailboat into the slip - spring line on the end piling. Anyway, just a reminder to make sure you have a main shutoff for your thruster and know where it is located. Probably also a good idea to practice docking without it, particularly at your home slip (something I do on a regular basis).
Moral of the story is make certain you have a seperate shutdown/breaker for the thruster and know where it is located. In doing some internet troubleshooting before calling the company, I was supprised to find examples of this happening where there was no seperate shutdown. In one instance, the owner had to shutdown the entire electric system at the main breaker, which meant his engine also shutdown. Talking with some friends later in the day, I was surprised to find that the ones with thrusters had no idea where the the main switch is located on their boats. If I hadn't been able to shut it down right away, it would have probably spun us into the dock or another boat.
Got back to the marina and resorted back to the way we got our old sailboat into the slip - spring line on the end piling. Anyway, just a reminder to make sure you have a main shutoff for your thruster and know where it is located. Probably also a good idea to practice docking without it, particularly at your home slip (something I do on a regular basis).