Bow thruster upgrade worth the cost?

[Mr O]

Has anyone taken the plunge to upgrade to proportional control thruster? Is it worth spending $3k?

Why I'm asking? My 17 year old SidePower thruster is being rebuilt and now is the time to decide whether to upgrade or not. FYI, this is for a 39' sailboat that handles just fine docking without using the thruster in calm conditions. But I've not yet had to deal with strong currents or winds.

As I see it, the advantages are precise speed control, low speed hold function, battery conservation and much more quiet operation. Cons, cost!, installation work to thread the necessary wiring to control switch, cutting another hole in my pedestal, etc.

Any thoughts?

[donradcliffe]

For $3K, just give the thruster bursts of power. Biggest problem with a thruster is that it doesn't have enough power in strong winds/current, not that it has too much.

[DDabs]

If you can dock just fine without a thruster, and you already have a thruster, why spend more to upgrade said thruster?

[Frankly]

Assuming that the thruster is not overpowering the bow movement, I would just stick with the on/off control. I have found that it is as much a momentum game as windage and short bursts work just fine. Speed control is just more solid state to go South first time Zeus is in the area.

[CarlF]

+1 short full-power bursts. Easier in the stress of docking than trying to modulate power.

I think the proportional controls make more sense for powerboats with both a bow and stern thruster that are being run at the same time.

I've never seen a sailboat where the skipper thought his bow thruster was too powerful.