What would you recommend?

You can see in the pic that the cables for the stern thruster were originally connected to the port drive by plastic cable ties. Unfortunately these snapped, enabling a loose cable to wrap around the drive and create chaos in steering just as I was reversing into a slip. No-one died and boat and slip are in shock but survived.

What is the best way to attach the cables to the drive? Will a form of adhesive tape-wrap be effective for long periods underwater? would SS hose clamps work? Any new ideas? Thx in advance

I’ve never seen a stern thruster on an IO before. Since you can turn the whole unit it’s a mystery to me. I’d suggest removing the whole assembly and handing it off to Mr. Neptune.

You might try S/S hose clamps but you probably want to isolate the clamp from the aluminum hydraulic cylinder. Maybe take some of the vinyl chaffing protector off a cushion clamp and put it on the hose clamp to isolate it from the aluminum. Or just get some heavy duty zip ties instead of the cheap white ones and use them. Then proactively change them out once or twice a year. Get them in black so they have some UV protection. Absolutely nothing wrong with the stern thruster, just do a proper job of securing the cables. We just put SideShift thrusters on our boat this winter, bow and stern. Can’t wait to launch to give them a try.

There are much larger and more durable plastic tie-wraps than those.
1" wide Velcro cable wraps would work for a while and adds some adjustability.

If you want to use stainless steel hose clamps I would run the cables through a
thick plastic conduit or pipe to protect them from chafe.

Thanks so much for the replies Good ideas. I could even combine them and attach the wide velcro cable wrap with the SS hose clamp over the top. That would stop the dissimilar metals from joining and give double strength attachment. I think that would work well.

I think i might consider spiral hose protector wrap sized accordingly. wrap cylinder and lines all together.

That's an interesting setup, never seen one done that way. Does it add a lot of drag bolted on like that back there? I'd consider mounting it somewhere else, like possibly on top of the trim tab where it might be mostly out of the water at cruise but all in at idle when you're docking?


For securing the lines on your present setup, I'd wrap it with tarred nylon trotline, the entire length with knots every couple of inches.

It's good to see additional ideas. I have to admit I'd never heard of tarred nylon or spiral protector wrap. I need to investigate those and imagine how they would fit and work. It's nice to have choices

I haven't noticed any drag, but I mostly travel at trawler speeds so it isn't a concern for me. The set up was recommended by the manufacturer and they do have specs on their site. Hmm, installed on the underside of one trim tab? I don't know. It's quite heavy. I'm not sure how that would work, interesting thought though. I do appreciate the thruster value when docking, it is powerful and effective and gives confidence.

It is installed where it should be. If you put it on a trim tab it will cause a huge amount of drag on plane. Where it is mounted now when you are on plane it will be out of the water. At trawler speeds it won’t make a huge difference.

Do the outdrives not turn? It’s hard to imagine that a stern thruster is needed on a boat fitted with twin outdrives. The boat should be very maneuverable on would think. Is there some difficult docking situation which requires absolute sideways motion of the stern?

Yes Comodave, no noticeable drag at trawler speeds, and I haven't noticed any difference in getting up on plane either.

Iwarden, yup, the twin drives turn and maneuver the boat nicely, so you could say the thruster wasn't needed, but damn, I wanted it, so I got it lol. And I like using it.

It isn’t a matter of being able to dock the boat knowledge wise, I taught boat handling for 30 years, it is more a matter of getting older and not being as nimble and strong as we used to be. When we bought our current boat my wife didn’t want it because it is a walkthrough windshield and there isn’t anything to hold onto up on the bow. She has always been a bit clumsy, 50 years of marriage and she has always been that way, and didn’t want to go up on the bow due to that. So I told her if we bought the boat I would put a bow and stern thruster on it so she wouldn’t have to go up on the bow for docking. Can’t wait to try them out when we launch. Unfortunately the canvas work isn’t done on time, canvas guy had Covid, so we won’t be able to launch until mid May, that sucks but can’t be helped.

Just when I thought I had seen it all.
For the OP see at 2:30

I saw that video back when the thruster was originally installed, but totally missed the few seconds on securing the cables. Thx for pointing it out. After the chaos caused by the ties snapping, I'm going to use the suggestions above - belt and braces - for peace of mind.

There is nothing wrong , to me, with Tyraps. Just there were to few and to light duty

#1 Ditch the white tyraps. They will NOT stand up to sunlight. Even warehouse lighting will ruin them.
I use only the BLACK NYLON and from a good mfgr. Cheapies should not be used any where outside or in a critical application. Thomas and Betts, Burndy, and there are others. Go to a proper electrical supply house or serious building supply somewhere PRO electricians get their supplies.

#2 THere are far more heavily built Tyraps. The straps are wider and thicker. Use them. THe ones shown are fine, except they are white, only for light loads and out of sunlight where no harm is going to come if one decides it has had enough.

#3 Do not use two tyraps to make the length needed. Get wraps that are long enough to go fully around in one length and long enough to get past the feed in tail by an inch.

#4 The weak point in all of them is the latch. Good ones are HIGHLY unlikely to let go untill cut off.
The cheapies often fail at the latch.

#5 Use two complete Tywraps at each end, not just the one.

THese last two are up to you as , to me at least, of far lesser importance but worth consideration.

#6 Maybe add one in the middle. Stop/reduce any hose whipping back and forth. May not be a problem but unless you can watch and see you won't know.

#7 Keep the latch heads either fully up or fully down so they are less likely to be hit by debris.

I recommend throwing that thing in the trash and learn to drive the boat

Tingum said:

I recommend throwing that thing in the trash and learn to drive the boat

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We actually have a be nice rule here on TF. Maybe learn too drive by the rules. He wasn’t asking how to drive the boat but how ro secure the cables.

TorronaPwr said:

You can see in the pic that the cables for the stern thruster were originally connected to the port drive by plastic cable ties. Unfortunately these snapped, enabling a loose cable to wrap around the drive and create chaos in steering just as I was reversing into a slip. No-one died and boat and slip are in shock but survived.

What is the best way to attach the cables to the drive? Will a form of adhesive tape-wrap be effective for long periods underwater? would SS hose clamps work? Any new ideas? Thx in advance

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I would recommend not trying to remount on the IO I believe These units are normally installed on the transom not on the IO I would purchase the original mounting bracket and install it firmly on the transom.

Actually they are meant to be mounted to the stern drive. You can’t mount them on the transom with a stern drive since the water flow would hit the stern drive. Look on SideShift’s website and you can see photos of the installation.

Comodave said:

Actually they are meant to be mounted to the stern drive. You can’t mount them on the transom with a stern drive since the water flow would hit the stern drive. Look on SideShift’s website and you can see photos of the installation.

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Thanks for the heads up Dave Never to old to learn Side shift is just up the road form us here in Kingston and he had a boat at CBM when he was getting started, and had the units firmly mounted to the transom of his boat but I see the product has Morphed, however not quite sure I see the merit in having a Side thruster flexible to move a boat other than in or out, looks like it is trying to be competition for the Volvo Units,

To follow up on all the excellent suggestions, I taped the cables to the cylinders with Flex underwater tape, then added extra security with SS ties. The ties were a useful discovery, never knew you could get them in SS before.

The ones that mount on the transom are for inboard engine powered boats. We just installed bow and stern SideShift thrusters on our boat this winter. They seem to be very nicely made. I have not launched yet so I can’t say how well they work but at 7.5HP each they should move the boat easily.

TorronaPwr said:

To follow up on all the excellent suggestions, I taped the cables to the cylinders with Flex underwater tape, then added extra security with SS ties. The ties were a useful discovery, never knew you could get them in SS before.

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I have been using them for years. I first found them when putting exhaust wrap on the turbo exhaust on our last boat.