thruster

[bcclew]

i have a 26 ft silverton single screw thinking about stern thruster for easy docking seem real pricey any body have any used you need like 70 lbs thrust also wondered any body useing one?

[Stumble]

Bc,

I have a bow thruster on my 58' boat, and haven't turned it on in 3 years. I think what you really need is just more experience driving, not a piece of expensive gear to break.

[PAR]

Driving a fixed, single water frother can take some practice. A 12 VDC, 55 pounds of thrust motor could be transversely arranged, maybe on a slide to ease some close quarters handling issues.

[Willallison]

Originally Posted by Stumble

Bc,

I have a bow thruster on my 58' boat, and haven't turned it on in 3 years. I think what you really need is just more experience driving, not a piece of expensive gear to break.

No offense intended Stumble, but what a load of BS. I have a set of paddles in my skiboat - do you think I should use them instead of the engine? Thrusters - bow or stern - are there to make docking easier, why on earth wouldn't you use them? And before you tell me to go get some practice too, I don't have a thruster in my current 32 footer and manage just fine - all the same, there are occaisions when I wish I did have one.
My parents 65 footer has hydraulic bow and stern thrusters and they are fantastic... there's simply no way you could do the same sort of maneuvering without them.

bc - does the boat have a bow thruster? I would generally be installing one at the pointy end before considering one at the stern....
And remember, not all thrusters are created equal... buy a good quality one with more than the minimum required thrust and make sure your battery capacity is up to the job.

[michael pierzga]

My experience is that the bow thruster must be powerful...overspec.... and that the stern thruster can be less powerfull. The stern moves easier. I very rarely use my stern thruster at full output.

Oh and Stumble you simply would not be able to dock in my region without thrusters. The high boat density in ports means that you must have the ability to move laterally to dock

[Submarine Tom]

Here's a little tip for you lateral thrust seekers.

Put the nose in to the dock, tie a loose bow or breast line and, with full rudder, ease your way forward to along side.

-Tom

[bcclew]

thanks for the input experience is always a plus but a saftey net is good i got caught in the wind the other day had to use eng to go back and forth as to not hit boats some kind thruster would have b een the answer while the wind blew me down the lagoon when got to the end had some folks hold the stern while it swung around not such a good feeling yesterday tired a 30 lb electric motor i have and it moved the stren quite well i was suprised i think a 70 lb would do the trick thanks to all

[Submarine Tom]

You're welcome.

The above method works well in an off-dock breeze too. If it's really strong, you may want to send a long stern line off the bow too, get a full wrap around the dock where you want the stern to end up and have the line taken in as you swing. DON'T let it get caught in the prop by having your assistant take up the slack as needed.

I find your posts difficult to understand. Some sentence structure would help immensely. You know, commas, periods, etc.

-Tom

[Willallison]

ST - I use that method quite regularly and agree it works well, but there are some situations where a thruster is, if not a must-have, then certainly a bloody god-send. Below is a rough plan of my marina berth, for instance. (Mine is the red boat). With a very light, low draft vessel I can assure you that berthing stern to by any method can be challenging in even the lightest breezes... and trust me... I've tried them all...
As you can see, my boat is longer than the pier to which it ties, so coming in bow 1st is a PITA when it comes to loading and unloading, though I have resorted to doing so on a number of occaisions.
Unfortunately, the low draft also makes the fitting of a thruster difficult, as there is insufficient depth to get the required tunnel clearance. Eventually, I may fit a swing thruster - though even this is marginal.

In all conditions, I like to remember the advice given by a Navy seal instructor that I wonce read: Never approach a dock faster than you are prepared to hit it....

[Stumble]

I think my comment was a little harsh, and for that I apologize.

And you are correct that thrusters make maneuvering easier, but docking a 26' boat just should never require them. I see people all the time having docking problems and almost universally it is people that just don't understand how to use dock lines, and the boat slide to their advantage.

Take Will's situation above for instance, it is a pretty uncomfortable docking maneuver, and I am glad I don't have to deal with it daily, but but using the slip of the boat and the wind to your advantage it isn't that difficult either. Most of the problems I see are people that try to drive a boat like it is a car, and fight what the boat wants to do, instead of learning how the differences can be an advantage.

My favorite example of this is a guy I know who cusses non stop about the prop walk on his sailboat. And swears that it makes it dangerous to drive. On the other hand I know more than one long distance cruiser that by taking advantage of prop walk can spin sailboats in less than 1.5 times their leingth. In fact that was what I had to do before my dad would let me take his old boat out by myself. And I had to be able to do it into and away from the wind.

[michael pierzga]

Many times its expensive overkill to put thrusers on a small boat that you can just push off. But then again I see bow thrusters on RIBS these days.

[Willallison]

No apolgy necessary Stumble... And I have to agree... there's a LOT of folks out there who simply don't know how to operate their boats... period. And I would caution anyone who has a boat with thrusters to learn how to operate the boat without them, coz you can guarantee that at some stage you'll go to push the button and nothing will happen....

A great deal also depends on the boat in question. In the example I cited above, I have used this berth for over 10 years with a variety of boats and it has never caused me any grief. But my current boat, which has quite a bit of windage & almost nothing under the water can be quite a challenge at times.