Bow thruster etiquette

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scottie

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Further to the ongoing thread regarding bow thrusters this is not a critism of have them but I have been a bit peeved when people use them in every lock in a canal to position their boat regardless of the effect on the boat along side rather than adjust their lines the noise is accentuated in empty locks just to add insult to injury
Ps crinan canal has 14? Locks
 
Not sure I understand. Is the "problem" solely the noise, or does the water flow also shove your boat around? If the former, then I'm firmly in the "diddums" camp - if the latter then you might have a (small) point.

I don't often do locks, so I don't know.

Pete
 
The thrust can affect other boats quite dramatically at times especially if tight packed and a smooths boat next to a powerful thruster

Interested to hear quandaries take on this

Have you tried to find your dummy in a wet day at ardrishaig?
 
scottie said:
... Have you tried to find your dummy in a wet day at ardrishaig?
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There is never a wet day in Ardrishaig. It is a joyful place.

Seriously though I see your point, especially about the effects on tightly packed boats. However, you should be prepared for that as the back wash from the gates can be quite strong as well.
 
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I find the noise irritating occasionally when used excessively, but hey, lots of things in life can be. :D

My main concern is the absolute faith the users have that they will work, without thought for what can happen if they don't.

We watched a moderately large racing yacht entering Titchmarsh marina a couple of years ago, there was a fair cross wind but his entry plan depended totally on the bowthruster operating correctly.

Needless to say it didn't, and it didn't more than once causing some damage to the other yachts he hit.

I gathered from the very audible and colourful discussion of what had gone wrong that the *****ing thing had not been switched on.

A similar situation to yachts you see entering a berth at a fair speed with absolute faith that reverse will operate when required. Again this year a fellow club member found that it did not. When he went astern the engine speed slowed and then increased again but still in ahead gear. :eek: Again serious damage but fortunately only to his own yacht. (The shift cable had become detached but not the throttle.)

I can well remember being told that if you carry out your manoeuvres at the lowest practicable speed at least then if it goes wrong the crash will be much less. I have always tried to do that.
 
sailorman said:
Its all
"Look Plebs" i have a bow thruster
as i cant control my boat with out it, coz i am a pratt
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I just don't understand the emotion that a bow thruster brings out in others?

Fair point about locks, but in Heybridge Basin lock this summer it may have been loud but it didn't move other boats. Contrast that with the thrust from The Kipper's monstrous prop at even slow revs and I pity the poor dears behind us.
 
Leighb said:
My main concern is the absolute faith the users have that they will work, without thought for what can happen if they don't.
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+1


also, an excessive faith in the power of the bow thruster: in quite a few of major mooring crashes I have witnessed the BT was kept going on and on even when it was obvious the boat could not obey due to stronger outside forces, and then of course the (in)evitable happened

Apart from neighbouring boats, my thoughts are with the poor joystick lever, violently pushed over to one side with angry eyes "why can't this bloody thing go any farther" :D
 
Leighb said:
I find the noise irritating occasionally when used excessively, but hey, lots of things in life can be. :D

My main concern is the absolute faith the users have that they will work, without thought for what can happen if they don't.

We watched a moderately large racing yacht entering Titchmarsh marina a couple of years ago, there was a fair cross wind but his entry plan depended totally on the bowthruster operating correctly.

Needless to say it didn't, and it didn't more than once causing some damage to the other yachts he hit.

I gathered from the very audible and colourful discussion of what had gone wrong that the *****ing thing had not been switched on.

A similar situation to yachts you see entering a berth at a fair speed with absolute faith that reverse will operate when required. Again this year a fellow club member found that it did not. When he went astern the engine speed slowed and then increased again but still in ahead gear. :eek: Again serious damage but fortunately only to his own yacht. (The shift cable had become detached but not the throttle.)

I can well remember being told that if you carry out your manoeuvres at the lowest practicable speed at least then if it goes wrong the crash will be much less. I have always tried to do that.
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I'm not sure how I could plan any maneuvers at all, if the plan had to work even if mechanical aids suddenly don't work -- i.e. reverse gear, bow thruster, and even engine. For that matter, halyards, sheets, blocks . . . Then we would just have to stay in dock and never go out :)

Seriously, of course, it's a good idea to plan maneuvers so that you've got a chance to do it another way, in case something goes wrong, but practically speaking if you've got an engine, you're going to dock in a way which really counts on the engine working; likewise with a thruster. It's a good idea to start the engine far enough ahead so that you know it's not going to start, in time to do something else. Likewise, it's a good idea to switch on the thruster and give it a test blip, while you're still well clear of the lock entrance, in case your thruster is at all dodgy :)
 
Roberto said:
+1


also, an excessive faith in the power of the bow thruster: in quite a few of major mooring crashes I have witnessed the BT was kept going on and on even when it was obvious the boat could not obey due to stronger outside forces, and then of course the (in)evitable happened

Apart from neighbouring boats, my thoughts are with the poor joystick lever, violently pushed over to one side with angry eyes "why can't this bloody thing go any farther" :D
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That's not excessive faith in the thruster's working or not; that's ignorance of its capabilities and limitations, and finally, poor seamanship.
 
I think they are great because the sound they make can be heard a long way off. This gives you ample time to go on deck and prepare for a collision. :D
 
Roberto said:
+1


also, an excessive faith in the power of the bow thruster: in quite a few of major mooring crashes I have witnessed the BT was kept going on and on even when it was obvious the boat could not obey due to stronger outside forces, and then of course the (in)evitable happened

D
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Good grief what marina are you in? I've never seen a single major mooring crash never mind "quite a few", with or without a bow thruster. We need to know so we can avoid the place!

I've hit a wooden pile coming toward a marina, I've seen someone break a GPS mushroom thingy with a mooring rope, but neither of those were on boats with bow thrusters. Maybe they should have them fitted :D
 
Lazy Kipper said:
Good grief what marina are you in? I've never seen a single major mooring crash never mind "quite a few", with or without a bow thruster. We need to know so we can avoid the place!
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Not sure if it counts as major, but I did once ram a charter boat into the pontoon at the end of the berth when the gear/throttle lever came off in my hand. No harm done, fortunately, but that's probably the biggest mooring "crash" I've ever had.

On the Army boats in Kiel we did once wipe out three stanchions on another boat together with all the teak and GRP gunwale underneath them - but that was at sea (racing!) rather than mooring. Fortunately it was a fellow Kiel boat, and the in-house REME shipwrights swiftly put her right.

Only sailing vessel I've been on with a bow thruster was a 600 ton square-rigger - no crashes there!

Pete
 
Leighb said:
I.....

We watched a moderately large racing yacht entering Titchmarsh marina a couple of years ago, there was a fair cross wind but his entry plan depended totally on the bowthruster operating correctly.

....
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I don't think 'proper' racing yachts have bowthrusters?

Regarding the OP's point of them shoving other boats around, we get that a lot, but the thrusters are on the Wightlink ferries.
I suspect the kind of boat owner who is inconsiderate with his bow thruster could cause you just as much grief using more traditional methods.
 
prv said:
Not sure if it counts as major, but I did once ram a charter boat into the pontoon at the end of the berth when the gear/throttle lever came off in my hand. No harm done, fortunately, but that's probably the biggest mooring "crash" I've ever had.

On the Army boats in Kiel we did once wipe out three stanchions on another boat together with all the teak and GRP gunwale underneath them - but that was at sea (racing!) rather than mooring. Fortunately it was a fellow Kiel boat, and the in-house REME shipwrights swiftly put her right.

Only sailing vessel I've been on with a bow thruster was a 600 ton square-rigger - no crashes there!

Pete
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I've never seen a major or even minor mooring crash involving a sailing yacht with a thruster, other than my own :)

The only mooring crash I had was not thruster related -- I whacked a pile in Poole Quay Boat Haven with my anchor coming around for a second pass after a failed attempt to moor to an upwind pontoon against a strong wind. It was at night and I was tired and more stupid than usual. That was last year and the only mooring crash in decades of sailing. Fortunately it was my spare anchor and the only damage was a slightly bent shank.

I saw a spectacular mooring crash last summer in Tregueir when a French boat tried to come into the marina with the tide ripping. He must have hit 6 or 7 boats. He had no thruster, but that would not have been a factor, as a thruster would not have helped him.

I have seen mobos crash with thrusters whining. In fact one crashed into me, ruining two davit arms. But you have to feel sorry for those guys -- all that freeboard -- like having a sail up. On big high-sided mobos one needs to know at what wind speed the thruster cannot overcome the force imparted on all that freeboard by the wind.
 
Lazy Kipper said:
Good grief what marina are you in? I've never seen a single major mooring crash never mind "quite a few", with or without a bow thruster. We need to know so we can avoid the place!
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St Peter Port is a good spot.

I have rarely been in there without seeing one clash.

The finger berths are the worst. One chap got me on the way in and recorded a near miss on the way out.
 
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