Bowthruster Questions

[rsj8028]

Hi Thanks for the pics. I have to remake a hull plate for my retractable. There is none right now.

[waterman46]

This is an old thread but seems like lots of great info here so maybe some of you still might see this - I'm considering getting a bow thruster for my Morgan 462. Looks like most of you have the internal thrusters as opposed to an external pod mounted unit. The salesman at YachtThruster is trying to get me to go with an external unit but I just am not that comfortable with the aesthetics. As far as drag is concerned, he says these external units will have LESS drag than a tunnel unit as they were designed with great care, etc, whatever. That's a bit hard to believe.

So I'm leaning to the retractable thruster as the best of both worlds: low position in water, can be put farther forward for same depth in water, no drag when not being used. Aside from the greatly higher cost of the retractables, I'm concerned with the effect on strength of the bow when you cut a 9" wide by 11" long rectangle out of the boats' keel at that point. Guess I would ask the installer to add about 1" thick extra epoxy/glass all around it, maybe that would make me feel better.

Any thoughts or concerns on the retractable installation or operation issues?