Author Topic: Bow Thruster for B 32 Sail boat  (Read 1722 times)

GeoirgeJJ

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Bow Thruster for B 32 Sail boat
« on: January 01 2020, 16:30 »
Due to my wife's illness I am thinking of fitting a bow thruster to my bavaria32 (2003) sail boat. I would very much appreciate any information as to best size of motor, make, position and if a dedicated battery is necessary.

tiger79

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Re: Bow Thruster for B 32 Sail boat
« Reply #1 on: January 01 2020, 18:21 »
Take a look at Sidepower thrusters - the SE40/125 should be big enough, and has the advantage of a smaller-than-average tunnel (only 125mm diameter).

There's lots of information on their website - https://side-power.com/produkt/38149/se40-tunnel-thruster-12v/

If you download the installation manual, you'll see it has full details of how to position the thruster.  You will find your thruster works best if you put a dedicated battery close to it.

Salty

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Re: Bow Thruster for B 32 Sail boat
« Reply #2 on: January 01 2020, 20:16 »
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If you download the installation manual, you'll see it has full details of how to position the thruster.  You will find your thruster works best if you put a dedicated battery close to it.

Also if you fit a dedicated battery forward next or very near to the thruster you won’t need to buy long lengths of extra thick power cables to carry the current from the battery to the thruster, but you will need to include that battery into the charging system for batteries on your boat. That amongst other things will mean fitting charging leads going forward to that battery. Cost wise there is probably very little difference between the cost of buying and fitting a dedicated bow thruster battery, or buying those long heavy copper cables needed to carry the current from your existing batteries.
One of my sailing friends and I fitted a Vetus bow thruster on his boat some three years ago, and he chose to power the thruster from his leisure batteries located aft of his engine compartment. He is very happy with his choice, but he did spend some time figuring out the pros and cons before going ahead with his choice of how to provide the power for the thruster. It does work very well, and in addition he has used a cheap eBay radio control system (under a tenner) to tell the thruster which way to thrust, and that ridiculously cheap controller works very very well indeed, and from anywhere onboard.

artemis

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Re: Bow Thruster for B 32 Sail boat
« Reply #3 on: January 02 2020, 03:49 »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPewa7bSRSg

Have a look at this its exturn external bowthruster, I fitted one to a Bavaria 34 no issues

Mike
Artemis

IslandAlchemy

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Re: Bow Thruster for B 32 Sail boat
« Reply #4 on: January 02 2020, 09:09 »
Video of an eXtrun on a Bavaria 34

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxtYVLGptb4