Externally Mounted Bow Thruster vs. Traditional Tunnel Type

[botanybay]

Originally Posted by capngeo

EDIT: CSloop, this is not directed at you, but rather a rant in general about people who run boats in excess of their ability, and the gizmos that let them do it

Well there you go; FLORIDA: the home of the single largest group of inept boat operators in the world!

I have spent the last 35 years on the Florida waterfront. I spent about ten years in the assistance towing business, and can tell you first hand that about 1% of the people plying the waters here have the slightest clue about what they are doing. The other 99% feel that if they have the juice to write the check, they MUST be able to drive the boat perfectly right out of the box! Cute gizmos like thrusters and chart plotters allow the inept to get by….. to some extent… but they all eventually wind up at the end of a towline or in the paint booth. They even have computer-controlled self docking boats for fenders’ sakes!

I’ll go along with the “convenient” argument, as I have an aux diesel in my sailboat… It IS convenient, no doubt, but then again I can do just fine without it. Before someone says it’s because my boat is only 28’.. I have on many occasions sailed much larger vessels (65’+) on to the slip after the aux has gone on vacation. Oh, and back to bow thrusters, I ran push boats with two 110’x50’ head barges up and down the ICW……270’ total….. with no bow thruster and never hit a thing.

So to get back on topic, scrap the idea, expense, loss of performance, and maintenance of a thruster (of any kind), and expand your training and experience. Or admit it is a shortcoming of the operator’s ability and not a “need”.

Sounds like we should all take the aux engine out for more interior space, ditch winches for block and tackle, GPS left at the dock, etc... (humor implied)

If newfangled toys add to ones enjoyment or comfort then go ahead. If someone claims it is unsafe to go without then there is probably an issue.

[botanybay]

An interesting observation about extra help....

A fellow yachtsman in the central pacific pontificated at the local yacht club that sailing off the mooring was better for the engine and anyone who fired up the aux was not a real sailor...

As fate would have it, he called me a few days later having t-boned my boat on the mooring due to choosing to sail off the mooring single handed with a known bad motor.

About 2k in damage done, not repairable locally.

[IdoraKeeper]

Originally Posted by botanybay

An interesting observation about extra help....

A fellow yachtsman in the central pacific pontificated at the local yacht club that sailing off the mooring was better for the engine and anyone who fired up the aux was not a real sailor...

As fate would have it, he called me a few days later having t-boned my boat on the mooring due to choosing to sail off the mooring single handed with a known bad motor.

About 2k in damage done, not repairable locally.

At least he called you. My previous boat was hit 3 times......nobody ever called. Arrrrgh!

[botanybay]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

At least he called you. My previous boat was hit 3 times......nobody ever called. Arrrrgh!

Unfortunately once I got it fixed in the states he was nowhere to be found...