Retractable bow thruster

[KevB]

Saw this on a yacht at the weekend. Not seen one before an by the time I got my phone out and camera on it had be retracted so only got a picture of what it looks like 'in' rather than 'out'. Pretty impressive. I imagine that where drag makes a lot of difference it's a God send to yotties?

Sorry for the lack of quality in the picture but you can see the part of the hull that is fixed to the thruster and lowers with the thruster.

 

[FWB]

Yes I saw one in the yard the other day on a 50ft something or other. The flat bottoms of these modern boats allow for this sort of thing. I guess a standard thruster would be out of the water.
Video here...

 

[KevB]

Here's another picture to give a better idea of where it was mounted.

 

[Stork_III]

HR will sell you a boat with retractable bow and stern thruster See on their 412. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjJZtnL7Zqs

 

[Frankie-H]

https://www.google.fr/search?q=retr...Sd0AXj7YCoBg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1252&bih=546

They have been around for a long, long time. Several different sorts but rather more common on larger boats.

 

[Javelin]

I delivered a Andre Hoek 52 to Suffolk Yacht Harbour on Sunday, "Josephine".
She is fitted with a retractable bow thruster which just as we entered the marina channel refused to move.
This and other early models were fitted with a worm drive to raise and lower but the drives have been notoriously unreliable so on this one it had been removed.
Gravity is usually all that is needed to lower and a little block and tackle to raise.
However after a winter in fully raised position it had just got itself stuck.
Lesson learn't will test it after a longish lay-up in future.
Sorry to the couple of yachts that were following us in as we decided to bail out of entry and reverse back out into the main channel so I could leap up and down on it.
Which worked eventually.
The Hoek has a very high bow and acts like a sail and without a current to help you the thruster really helps in marinas.

Josephine will be lifted out at SYH later this week for a scrub and antifoul and also now so we can check correct operation of the thruster, so anyone interested she'll be on view for a week or so.

 

[Sybarite]

Saw this on a yacht at the weekend. Not seen one before an by the time I got my phone out and camera on it had be retracted so only got a picture of what it looks like 'in' rather than 'out'. Pretty impressive. I imagine that where drag makes a lot of difference it's a God send to yotties?

Sorry for the lack of quality in the picture but you can see the part of the hull that is fixed to the thruster and lowers with the thruster.

View attachment 40940

They are standard on Amels. A prospective purchasor asked Henri Amel how long they were guaranteed for. "Would a life time do?" he replied.

 

[dunedin]

On my wish list for next boat. Would not want a conventional bow thruster with tunnel - huge drag and equally significant turbulence at the start of the water flow. Fine for a mobo which raises the tunnel out of the water.