Cruiser 36 avantgarde (Farr-design) - Bow thruster installation.

[J.B.]

Hello to all members,

First of all, what a great forum !

We have decided to add a bow-thruster to our cruiser 36 avantgarde, when I correctly understood it has the same hull as the "new" cruiser 37 series. To keep it short, we do not want to install a retractable thruster, so our options are limited to A.) a tunnel thruster, or B.) an external thruster (e.g. sleipner SX50 hydro-pod). The installation of an external thruster is relatively strait forward, the sx50 seem to be quite solid, low drag, does not take up a lot of space, it can be installed very far upfront (= optimal angle of force). But the sx50 hydro-pod is limited in power 50-62kgf, which is based on my calculation a viable option up to +/-20-22kn side-wind. On the other hand tunnel thrusters are available in much more powerful models (e.g. 80-95kgf / Tunnel 185mm), after some measuring I found that the installation of a tunnel thruster on this boat will be very tricky because of the relativeately flatt hull shape, there is not a lot of water-depth to work with. Therefore I am quite doubtful that such a tunnel thruster will have enough water-column to efficiently convert the available power into the needed water-force.....

Okay, so basically my question is, are there memebers in the forum that actually have one of these thrusters installed on their cruiser 36/37 (model 2013 on wards) who could share their experience & tips from first hand. I would greatly appreciate it.

N.b. This is a 100% technical matter, please do not turn this in to an "you don't need a thruster....." or a price discussion.

Thank you very much, and have a great day !

J.B.

[tiger79]

I have a 2014 Cruiser 37 with a factory-fitted SidePower SE60/185 thruster.  It works well.  I'm attaching a couple of pics, one of the hull before it was commissioned, showing the position of the thruster, and one of the installation.  As you can see, it has its own battery immediately adjacent.

[symphony2]

I had a 2015 B33 essentially the same hull design with the factory installation SE60 - same layout as the 36/7 with dedicated battery.. Worked very well. I also added a Sidepower wireless remote that also worked the windlass as I sailed it mostly on my own and found it really useful when berthing.

[J.B.]

Thank you Tiger79 & Symphony2 for the feedback and the images, really helpful !

I will have a look at the variable speed tunnel thrusters with 185mm tunnel diameter from Vetus as they where one of the first brands to offer these kind of (small) thrusters (since 2018?), they should be well tested by now.

Have a nice weekend,

J.B.

[tiger79]

Sidepower also offer speed controlled thrusters, about double the cost though.  I think the best use of speed controlled thrusters is when you have both bow and stern thrusters, and can hold the boat against a pontoon using the thrusters, allowing easy shorthanded mooring.

[David Gray]

Hi I have a  2003 Bavaria 36 and fitted a Lewmar 3KW  bow thurster with tunnel fitted just behind the forward water tank and works very well, you can view all spec and prices on Catus Marine, David