Trolling motor for bow thruster?

[Latschm]

Would a trolling motor with an appropriate horse power for your boat function as a bow thruster? My thought is that if you were singlehanded on a smaller cruiser you could use a remote control trolling motor attached to the bow to make docking a bit easier without adding drag to your boat when underway and save yourself the cost of a traditional bow thruster. I could be wrong though, so please educate me. Thanks!

[StuM]

"attached to the bow". That's the big issue. How? Consider the length of a trolling motor leg compared to the freeboard at the bow for a start.

[a64pilot]

It would work on a small boat, certainly look funny, and small boats don’t usually need a bow thruster, but it would work.

[Chotu]

You’ll be on “Qualified Captain “ within a week of doing that. They love those.

[warrior 90]

Well, it´s not like an integrated bow thruster but it might inspire You and as You can see it will do the job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIwuaHIMYuM

There is another solution with adding on an external thruster to the bow but I think its very easy to break because there is no protection and the thing is
$$ EXPENSIVE $$

https://side-power.com/produkt/20481...-12v-thruster/

[gonesail]

pretty silly really. how do you mount it? what do you do with it while you are underway?

[Brewgyver]

Originally Posted by Latschm

Would a trolling motor with an appropriate horse power for your boat function as a bow thruster? My thought is that if you were singlehanded on a smaller cruiser you could use a remote control trolling motor attached to the bow to make docking a bit easier without adding drag to your boat when underway and save yourself the cost of a traditional bow thruster. I could be wrong though, so please educate me. Thanks!

You really have the answer to you question with the "appropriate horsepower" stipulation. Small bow thrusters are in the 3-5 horsepower range, which is already more than any 12 volt trolling motor, not to mention you'd have no way to mount it at the bow and have the prop in the water.

[Fore and Aft]

I have surveyed at least two 35 foot boats that used them for stern thrusters. Both were the biggest model possible and worked well.
Cheers

[Lancerbye]

I watched an owner of a 38 ft sailboat at our docks use a small electric trolling motor with a long square tube shaft extension come into the dock. It worked very well. He had a bracket mounted on his bow sprit and would mount the motor clamped to the bracket just before entering the Marina. He had a long control cable back to the cockpit.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by Lancerbye

I watched an owner of a 38 ft sailboat at our docks use a small electric trolling motor with a long square tube shaft extension come into the dock. It worked very well. He had a bracket mounted on his bow sprit and would mount the motor clamped to the bracket just before entering the Marina. He had a long control cable back to the cockpit.

I like the concept of the mounting can be figured out. Lancerbye, if that owner is still at your marina maybe a photo or two of his setup would be helpful.

[warrior 90]

I could imagine using the wires of the windlass as a power good source.
As this motor is not a permanent installation and only used for docking it does not have to be that visible. The motor that does not have much weight could be stored somewhere around the anchor close to the bow. Of course it might not look that elegant but I think if You have to dock a bigger boat alone and with a lot of wind or have to move around in tight marinas You might not care that much about esthetics.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by warrior 90

I could imagine using the wires of the windlass as a power good source.

Maybe. But don't forget to also imagine stern to / med moor docking where you may want to use both the windlass and the bow thruster at the same time, especially when short handed.

That consideration also runs to the overall amount of amps being used and needing to be supplied at any one time.