New way of fitting bow thruster

From what I understand the fairings of your tunnel installation are correct. A straight ,unfaired tunnel, adds something like 5 percent to the fuel bill . You only ever see tunnel fairings on high quality builds. almost all production installations that I see are unfaired.

 

Some interesting opinions on this thread;I can't remember when I last saw a new boat in the leisure market above 25 feet that didn't have a bow thruster.Above 40 feet,stern thrusters seeem to be near universal now and the advent of joystick controls that allow all the control of the direction of the boat to be managed with one hand is only likely to accelerate this trend.
Its been a while since I updated myself on the recommendations for fairing a tunnel but I seem to recall a blend radius of 10% of the tunnel diameter being advocated.Is this still current thinking?

 

25 feet is a toy , Ive had bigger ski boats. Bow thrusters take away or replace skills of handling a boat with tide and wind and that supposed to be the fun bit..

A stern thruster is pointless,-- thats were the prop and rudders is.

I can hear it now" Oh I cant move her, I have no crew and she has no thrusters and shes over 25 feet long you know and a handful"

When I hear the ":whirrr" of the bow thruster its time to get up and get some fenders out,---- we got a thruster .

Might as well fly a mickey mouse flag.

 

Iceboater - I think we should look at the phenomena as being weed caught in the thruster or growth on the hull, even well designed boats attract rubbish

 

I have to agree that learning to handle a boat without thrusters leads to competence.It also helps to have a good deal of space in the marina where ones boat is berthed.Given the way that berths are crammed in to satisfy the requirements of the marina shareholders,or those of the bank,it takes a lot of confidence to venture into the typical European marina.
Specifying a new hull without a thruster may save a few thousand on initial cost and clearly declares to the world that here is a competent boat handler.On the other hand it does dramatically reduce the pool of potential purchasers when the time comes to part with the boat.To see what the joystick controllers can do take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NAWjc9c8QI.

 

My yacht doesn't have a thruster and because she's a real ***** going astern unless committed to full throttle I don't bother trying to park in a marina.

I've driven several of the motoryachts and the ketch in Dubai Creek and Dubai Marina - with the combination of local winds and crowded mooring trying to park 40m plus boats is difficult without thruster assist.

 

Yes, I have to agree that sometimes it is nice to have a thruster. I had to deliver a very high wooded, flybridge design motorboat, on a windy side breeze, to a very cramped berth one day (no thruster), and it was not funny. Managed to get her in safely, but certainly the thruster would have made life easy.

Just because you have a thruster, you can still learn to manouvre a boat with skill, just a matter of learning it.

(I do agree with Frosty though, I come on deck too every time I hear that sound from below, cos it does often mean "watch out"......)

 

With modern sail handling systems like two roller furlers...staysail and headsail .... very much windage is forward. To maneuver them in close quarters at slow speed is nearly impossible.

When my thruster is fouled I can only maneuver , hold the bow into the wind....with an anchor. It works, but requires a skilled foredeck crew for the drop and drag . Drop and drag is prone to fouling other anchors and ground tackle in a harbor. When you depart you could be in for a surprise.

Drop and drag maneuvering with the anchor is one reason why a well fit out boat needs a very long anchor chain.

 

I have 120m 10mm galv chain with 85lb CQR and 150m 20mm nylon with 90lb Delta as back up or in bridle.

 

Thats a long chain. I carry one hundred meters rigged, plus a 50 meter link in a separate chain locker.

Many times I wish I had one kilometer of chain !

 

Drop and drag> that called kedging, The Thames sailors used it all the time.

You drop a few metere out more that thee depth, why a long chain is needed is confusing and you would never kedge in an achorage.

With kedging you could back down in the tide keeping bow to tide.

But if you prefer an electric button and thats fun for you Ok?

 

I think this is the correct link.

Greek ferry boat, drop and drag, Lemnos during Meltemi.

Fantastic boat handling .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms0XcxHHgEs

 

Not quite correct, if you watch every Turk gulet skipper they kedge every time they tie up in port because its the only way to get a fisherman to hold.

They come in, turn to stern to to berth 100m out hit the throttles, drop the pick and slot right in between boats with just bag space both P&S. First time I tried in open water with CQR I just kept going, tried again with Delta, just kept going so it was either buy a 100lb fisherman or sit on the pick. Nothing but fisherman at speed will bite so I choose latter.

 

The fisherman works because it drags thru the soft bottom. The last time I tried an anchor drag, handbrake turn with an 50 kg bruce I broke the 12mm chain.

 

I doubt that very much --was it a plastic garden chain.

Ive explained how its done. Its a controlled drag.