Another mobo question please

Robin

Robin

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Still not sold up and back yet and every day a possible contender boat gets sold or withdrawn, or somebody beats me to it by double guessing what/where. In the meantime a couple or four more questions please:-

I have avoided considering some boats with vertical access ladders to their flybridge, on account of our potential dodderability at sea. Am I being paranoid?

Are bow thrusters really needed? Our twin engined trawler we lived on here in the USA did not have one and we managed OK but SWMBO is once again reinforcing the 'I DO NOT JUMP, EVER' rule

How useful is a stern thruster as well as a bow one?

A final one relates to a Princess 360. Mr google says MBY had one as a staff boat call 'Predator', anyone know if it was loved or hated?

HOw good (or bad) are the bigger Volvo engines like TAMD73s or the bigger horsepower versions of CAT 3208s

Sorry to be a pain again but nowhere else has the combined knowledge base and helpful folk!

TIA

Robin.
 
Down here in South East France the berths are tight, stern and bow thrusters can really help to get inch perfect. Sunday in Porquerolles during a bit of a blow was like dodgems so get as powerful thrusters as possible, probably hydraulic.
 
rafiki_ said:
Bow thruster is a must have for me on a 40' boat. Stern thruster a luxury.
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SWMBO just blew you a kiss.;) We managed well enough without with a 47 ft slab sided trawler yacht but berths ( slips) in the USA are wider, generally also with piles in between also and the gap between adjacent pontoon docks much wider . I'm thinking again about tight spots and narrow alleys as well as more wind back home. I know we can always install after purchase but cost and time to do enters the equation 'bigly'
 
i am now on my second twin shaft power boat, both ~ 25 years old, neither with a thruster.

OK so you have to think about the parking, but its not that big a deal. With or without a thruster you have to learn to park the things, and apparently the only sales advantage of IPS is that no experience is necessary to park in difficult places for novices, and as an ex raggie you are hardly that.

Would I fit a thruster to either boat - Turbo 36 and now a Corvette 32 - no, nor a stern thruster.

Vertical ladder to Fly - definitely not (sorry Paul - Rafiki).

My only experience of VP engines is one TMD40A then two TAMD60Cs which were lovely, although I do prefer my current Cummins 6BT5.9Ms

One of the TAMD70 series engines had a bad reputation for something breaking.
 
Whether or not you need a bow thruster depends almost entirely on the boat.

I could park the previous S28 in all conditions without a thruster, because the boat was short enough, less windage, and the drives were far enough to be able to spin the boat at the drop of a hat.

The current SC35 doesn't work that way at all. Although engines fore/aft will cause a spin (which appears to be more about the centre point), you can't just nudge around a tight corner with the outside engine: Mr Fibreglass Repair Man will be sending you a quote.

Net result is that the bow thruster is used more often, and in a tight marina such as Sparkes, where clearances are minimal, I would say it was essential.

With 520hp of vectored thrust available at the rear, I've not yet found the need for a stern thruster.
 
We have both a bow and stern thruster on our forty one footer with twin shafts. Wouldn't describe either as essential but both very helpful on occasion - bow probably more than stern.
 
Hi Robin.
Rumour is that the budget market is starting to move a teeny weeny bit but with bigger divide between semi modern stuff which merely needs lots of superficial love and care and tired worn out old heaps which still languish on the brokers listings.
The asking prices of semi derelict old boats usually lagging several years behind what they would actually be able to sell for in todays market.
As for the BT and ST debate far better a boat with decent running gear and no thrusters ?
Regards the flybridge ladder business ( for those of us with a limited budget ) would much prefer a boat with ladder that actually handles at sea, rather than a floating caravan with a staircase. :)
Mrs and Mrs OG. 67 (ish) and 70 summers respectively)
 
We have both, also with the hold system. Find the hold alongside excellent. At the end of the day you don't need to use them but good to know the help is there if required.
 
A stair – with adequate hand rails is always going to be safer than a ladder. Also stairs can be climbed by children while a ladder must be pretty useless. Stairs also better for bringing drinks up to the flybridge .
A bow thruster is a useful accessory. I did not have one on my previous boat . On my present boat I did go without the bow thruster a few months when the propeller failed. We came to no harm but on one occasion in windy conditions its absence was missed. I use the bow thruster most trips out – if nothing else to test it is working. Using it to help the bow around or to nudge off a lock wall is very useful.
I do not feel a need for a stern thruster as can obtain adequate control of the stern using the engines.
 
Also stairs can be climbed by children while a ladder must be pretty useless.
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Must mention this to my twin grand children who now at the the ripe old age of 4 were up and down our fly bridge ladder like a couple of demented monkeys probably before they learned to walk..
..... and usually clutching at least one teddy bear and/or a drink.......The wife however is different matter, a marine Stanna stairlift might persuade her ........:):):)
 
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oldgit said:
Must mention this to my twin grand children who now at the the ripe old age of 4 were up and down our fly bridge ladder like a couple of demented monkeys probably before they learned to walk..
..... and usually clutching at least one teddy bear and/or a drink......QUOTE]

I am surprised you should let your precious grandchildren put themselves at risk by doing such a thing.
Also I expect they were walking at the age of around 1 year .

My two are aged 3 and 1 - they are not allowed to climb the stairs without assistance . If I had a ladder it would be out of bounds.
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Many thanks all, plenty of useful opinions on thrusters and ladders but apparently nobody remembers my question re the princess 360 supposedly owned by Motor Boat and Yachting as a staff boat. It has a ladder to the flybridge in it's pics but was fitted with Perkins Sabre engines at supposedly 300HP plus electronic controls, I'm still wondering what the opinion of that was back in it's day, there are a few about in the med so had some kind of following.

I'm only considering shaft drive boats BTW on personal paranoia of stern drives having seen so many with money eating problems here in the USA.
 
Robin said:
I'm only considering shaft drive boats BTW on personal paranoia of stern drives having seen so many with money eating problems here in the USA.
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Blimey never heard that mentioned anywhere before in UK ....thats put me right off then..... You absolutely sure :)
 
oldgit said:
Blimey never heard that mentioned anywhere before in UK ....thats put me right off then..... You absolutely sure :)
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When our boat (B.O.A.T= break out another thousand) guys here in Florida are walking around with wall to wall grins and sporting new tool boxes, you can bet they won the stern drive lottery bonus prize, They don't even need to crawl into deep dark bruise creating, tool losing corners either. I even saw one guy working away on one whilst sitting on a padded chair.:biggrin-new::biggrin-new:
 
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