Bow Thruster Cavitation

[picardy]

Hi

I have a side Power SE40 BT on my Elan which like many of them tends to cavitate. I have trimmed the boat down at the front using weights which has helped but its still not as good as I would have liked.

It occurred to me that the battery (which is mounted next to it) is quite powerful and I wondered if reducing the voltage to say 11.5volts (through a regulator) might reduce the power and therefore reduce the tendency to cavitate (I would be happy with less power but a more consistent thrust)..

Any comments welcome

 

[pvb]

Assuming it's been correctly fitted (especially distance to waterline), have you asked Side-Power about it?

In view of the current involved, reducing the battery voltage isn't going to be easy. Side-Power do offer a speed controlled thruster kit, and you should be able to upgrade your SE40 to work with that - but I imagine it won't be cheap.

 

[VicS]

Hi

I have a side Power SE40 BT on my Elan which like many of them tends to cavitate. I have trimmed the boat down at the front using weights which has helped but its still not as good as I would have liked.

It occurred to me that the battery (which is mounted next to it) is quite powerful and I wondered if reducing the voltage to say 11.5volts (through a regulator) might reduce the power and therefore reduce the tendency to cavitate (I would be happy with less power but a more consistent thrust)..

Any comments welcome

Do you really mean cavitation, or ventilation?

 

[William_H]

The current drain of the thruster would I imagine be around 100 amps at 12v or 50 amps at 24v. This is serious current to try to control by a regulator. It can be done by switch mode regulator. Here the motor is switched on and off from full power ot zero at a rate of 100s to thousands of times per second. Thus the switching transistor dissipates no power (just a little) compared to a linear regulator which will dissipate say 2 volt drop at 100 amps is 200 watts.
Hence if you buy a regulator you want something like that for a mobility scooter or electric car that will handle the 100 amps. Try ebay from China. Or buy the correct one for the thruster. This might suit at 50 amp capability. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10V-50V-60A...208?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4866d2c480
If it is cavitation you may benefit by finer pitch on the prop blades if that is doable. olewill