Chartering a 41ft twin rudder with no bow thruster

[Hodders]

We are planning a sailing holiday in the med.

The charter company are suggesting a Sun Odyssey 410 (twin rudder) that has no bow thruster.

My wife and I have about 10 weeks bare boat charter experience with about 3 as skipper, all on single rudder yachts.

Given busy med marinas (and stern to mooring), is the lack of prop wash on twin rudder yachts a issue? Is a bow thruster a must-have or a nice-to-have?

I'm certain that after time we'd get used to twin rudder boat handling, the ability to control the bow more easily would be a nice safety net during a 1 week charter.

Thoughts?

 

[RupertW]

We are planning a sailing holiday in the med.

The charter company are suggesting a Sun Odyssey 410 (twin rudder) that has no bow thruster.

My wife and I have about 10 weeks bare boat charter experience with about 3 as skipper, all on single rudder yachts.

Given busy med marinas (and stern to mooring), is the lack of prop wash on twin rudder yachts a issue? Is a bow thruster a must-have or a nice-to-have?

I'm certain that after time we'd get used to twin rudder boat handling, the ability to control the bow more easily would be a nice safety net during a 1 week charter.

Thoughts?

Not an issue going into a berth as you always make sure you have already gathered sternway and therefore steerage before you do anything complicated. Then don’t slow down too much until your stern fenders touch the quay. But getting out could be a bugger without propwash, so just ask a marinero in advance to push your bow round with their rib. It’s not like the UK where you have to be self-reliant.

 

[MikeBz]

We have twin rudders and no bow thruster, along with shallow draft which makes things a lot worse if there is any wind. Springing off a pontoon is easy (as long as there isn’t too much wind pushing you on). The biggest problem is lack of very low speed manoeuvrability, eg if you get into a tight spot where there simply isn’t room to get enough way on to get steerage, or room is limited and there is a strong crosswind. I guess a lot depends on the type of mooring you are likely to be doing during your charter.

 

[Hodders]

Past experience in the Med with crowded marinas and a very mixed ability crowd makes low speed maneuverability really useful. Especially on an unfamiliar boat with stern-to moorings.

We tend to try to anchor up away from the crowds whenever possible but any help is always useful. Hey, if I had my way, I'd have a stern thruster as well!

I have ABS on my car, sure I should never need it, but I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

 

[geem]

My experience of twin rudders, with a bow thruster, was that a stern thruster was also needed. I wasn't on the helm, but the very experienced skipper was. 72ft boat with wind up the stern blowing the stern off. No way to get the stern back across in the Kiel Canal, manoeuvring in the lock. It really showed up the craziness of twin rudders.
Another experience of friends arriving after us in to the lock at Milford Haven marina. Wind up the stern. Same problem. Stern blown off. Bow thruster no help.
I am sure that you can learn to live with most aspects of twin rudders but wind up the stern is a real problem when manoeuvring at low speeds and restricted space