Bow Thruster

[Larry Robertie]

Hi All,

I want to put a bow thruster on Ruach.  I know, I should just learn to drive the figging boat, but...

Realizing the hull has a very gracious decline from the bow, this is not going to be a normal drill a hole and slap in a tunnel installation. 

I've been looking at Lewmar.  They have two options.  Both are nice in that once retracted there is zero drag. 

One is a vertical retractable.  This is nice in that it come in a 12v model.  The draw back is that the retraction requires a 30" clearance inside the boat.  I think I'd have to lose the V-Berth draw, and maybe then some to fit that.

The other is a swing retractable.  This is one sweet unit, very compact, but they only offer it in hydraulic (read $$$$$!!).




Oh yeah, Stu I did do a search.  just thought there might be some new opinions out there 

Any thoughts?

[Larry Robertie]

As an update - I did some research on the web and came up with the name and email address of guy that had posted on another site about this.  Taking a chance he might have more information I emailed him and got the following reply:


Hi Larry,
Yes I did get that job done. My Catalina is a 2006 model and has a forward water tank. I had a tube cut in just aft of this tank and a SidePower SP55 thruster fitted (www.side-power.com). I was able to keep the drawer which fits under the bunk; just had to make a small notch at the back of its mounting frame.

The tube was faired according to the recommended method, to avoid water hitting the back of the tube. There is plenty of depth at this part of the hull. I was a little worried the thruster might be too far back to be really effective but it is proving really useful. I can now reverse into my berth and expect to dock at the first attempt. I am using just the standard Catalina batteries, with very heavy cable to the motor. I also fitted a KiwiProp which feathers; the main reason being to get control quickly when going astern. This has also been a useful change.

Most UK Catalinas are wing keel because the shipping is cheaper, and they don't grab the water like a deep keel. This means they can be difficult in a cross wind, but equally I suppose, they don't need too much side thrust to move them.

The cost was very reasonable too; I paid £1,320 for the parts and £1,340 for the fitting. Plus of course our Value Added Tax levied at 17.5%. It still came to less than half the cost (to me in the UK) of the factory fit bowthruster available on the Catalina 36.

It's early days yet to be sure, but I am very pleased with the result.

Regards,
Andrew.


I've emailed this to my mechanic for his thoughts and maybe we will be installing this Fall after haul out.