Bow Thruster

[mike66]

Everyone here seems hung up on voltage/charging, etc. My Albin 40 has a 12V Vetus 55? thruster ( not at the boat, so not sure of the model). It is wired to my 4D starting battery which in turn in wired to my alternator. The conductors are heavy, and it's about a 7 foot run one way. My thruster is only used when the engine is running, so there is plenty of power available. Very simple setup, and is more than adequate unless it's blowing 30+ in the marina.

 

[tpbrady]

Why not use something like this? https://www.texasindustrialelectric.com/T_114_12_series_parallel_switch.asp

Side power uses something similar on 24v thrusters. Seems a lot easier than playing with a separate charger. The only other part needed is an ACR from another battery bank.

Tom

 

[mbdana]

Cigatoo, we had a vetus 75 installed in our GB 36 by East Coast Bow Thuster Company he came to our boat in Maine from New York, fully mobile, and did it in one day at several thousand $ less than at least three local yards. It is a great installation, works great and is a God send when needed. Moves this big boat amazingly.

I inquired prior to install about upsizing, Joe said 75 is the one, no upside needed. I asked about 12V vice 24V...12V was the answer and he said, because the main engine start 8d battery is close enough to the thruster, I wouldn't need an additional separate battery. Ours is connected to the engine start battery, therefore is always charged....it has worked flawlessly for 4 years.

In the short spurts of run times for now thrusters the 8d has always been more than adequate even before I replaced the 10 year old one this spring.

I would call Joe Molinaro at East Coast Bow Thruster 845-551-1975 or email: JoeMo1954@ hotmail.com

Completely satisfied, recommended to many, no financial connection other than happy customer

 

[mbdana]

Cigatoo, sorry meant to attach pic of our GB with Bow Thruster. You won't regret one of these.
Best of luck.
Mike Dana
Third Reef
36'Grand Banks Classic
Potts Harbor Maine

 

[Cigatoo]

Cigatoo, sorry meant to attach pic of our GB with Bow Thruster. You won't regret one of these.
Best of luck.
Mike Dana
Third Reef
36'Grand Banks Classic
Potts Harbor Maine

Thanks Mike,
I spoke with Joe earlier in the season. I liked his style and also his pricing, comparatively speaking. However he could not get thrusters at that time. Things may have changed by now. I will give him another call. Thanks for reminding me of him.

Boat looks nice!

 

[Phyrcooler]

We had a DockStar Smart Thruster on both bow and stern of our CHB 34 - easy to install yourself, no extra batteries or wiring and all the power we needed to spin the boat on a dime. It will hold you up against the slip while you tie off as well. Recommend highly!

https://www.dockstarthrusters.com/

Interesting. I briefly looked at their website, and could not find any technical specifications - specifically rated thrust output. Definitely ugly if left tacked on the bow. However, being removable as an option, I would consider for our sailboat as I would only have a small track left showing on the bow 99.9% of the time. Definitely a fraction of the $15K I was quoted to do a full bow thruster install in today’s market.

 

[Andy G]

My dock neighbour installed hydraulic bow & stern thrusters. They are very impressive, if a little more expensive.

However, they can be run for much longer continuous periods,& are quieter and according to my neighbour, more powerful than the comparative 12/24 volt units.

 

[Comodave]

Hydraulic thrusters aren’t a bit more expensive they are a lot more expensive. Yes they can be run continuously but they may not put out as much thrust as you need at engine idle. They aren’t more powerful than a comparable electric unit, horsepower is horsepower. A 8 HP electric thruster will be very much the same in power as an 8 HP hydraulic thruster. But they are much more expensive if you are starting from scratch, however if you already have a hydraulic windlass then a lot of the expense will not be there. If they were more powerful and not much more expensive than electric thrusters then electric thrusters would be a small fraction of the market not the vast majority of the market.

 

[Andy G]

Hydraulic thrusters aren’t a bit more expensive they are a lot more expensive. UOTE]


Point taken. My neighbour has a tendency to downplay costs, sizes, distances etc. So I guess his "bit more expensive" may in fact turn out to be my" bloody hell, how much?" He didn't put a dollar figure on it and I didn't ask.

 

[Laurie]

The DockStar pushed my 25,000+ lbs CHB very easily. There are quite a number of sailboats up here with DockStars now, being removeable is a real advantage!

 

[FF]

HYD power is a great solution , however the hyd. power source is better if it is driven by the gen set, so low main engine RPM is never a consideration.