stern thruster for TE 28

[N4QC]

Scarbo,

With fuse size a concern, I would recommend that an analysis be made of the wire size needed for your system. Length, size, voltage and load requirements can be feed into a calculator such as:

http://genuinedealz.com/voltage-drop.html

Keep the wire size capacity larger than the fuse size. You don’t want the wire burning up…

Good luck with your project,

[AlanD]

Thanks, sadly I am an IEEE by trade, probably why I am over-concerned here. But the engineers did tell me it was meant for 130, 200 is the outside so I should be okay. Worse case, I slap in a 250 if she pops.

Hopefully by next week I will know...

Now I just need to get an Auto-Pilot

[Mariner]

Is blowing fuses that are inexcess of what the motor should be drawing a sign of excessive voltage drop? Such as you would expect to see when there is too much resistance in the line due to corroded terminals or wire, or undersized cables?

I'm no EE here, but it's something to think about.

[AlanD]

No, I think the intent was to pop the fuse before you trip off the over-temp on the motor itself. The over-temp will trip after a straight 5 minutes of thrust, which I can't imagine I would need. So it has been sized to do just that. With the 130 Amp, it was tripping after a few minutes so they raised the size.

Alan

[AlanD]

Well she is installed and I am not blowing 200 amp fuses, so that is good news. Fun to drive the boat sideways.

[RicM]

Electrical thrusters are not meant to move the boat from place to place, the goal is to get the boat pointed in the right direction to use the motor effectively. When backing into a slip with wind or tide against me I set up well upstream/upwind then use the thuster(s) to orient the hull so when reverse power is applied it will be in the direction I wish to go. I have never needed more than 30-60 second bursts to rotate a 28 TE quite effectively on it's axis, usually 4-5 short bursts to port alternated with quick kicks into gear with the helm hard to port will do the trick. If fore & aft space is an issue then a few kicks in reverse will keep you rotating counter clockwise, as the prop walks to starboard in reverse, and the rudder does next to nothing in reverse as you might have noticed.
Running the thruster too long will quickly burn up batteries and thruster motors, that's not what they are made for. The side thrusters used in driving mega-yachts sideways are hydraulic and run off a separate hydraulic pump, usually driven off the engine or their own motor (in the mega-maga yachts).

[RicM]

Alan:

I have just hooked up a Furuno 510 Autopilot system and all the electicals/electronics are a go. I will be attempting the plumbing this weekend. I'll let you know how I do.

[AlanD]

Thanks! I bought the Raymarine kit, hopefully it will be in soon. As for the Stern Thruster and Bow Thruster usage, I know, I was making a quip. I don't use them more for the burst of movement and keeping my aft off the boat next to me in strong current.

Alan

[RicM]

And I was not intending any criticism of anyone's docking procedure. There have been previous threads on handling single screw inboards by new Albin owners (as I was a season ago), especially those who came from twin engine boats or outboards. There is a learning curve to handling these puppies and it can be frustrating at first, and the quick and easy answer is the thruster. I like to think some of the back and forth here helps flatten that curve. Some of the more experienced (than I) tend to look down on excessive use of the bow thruster, but I say "whatever floats your boat". I do have to admit, however, that there is a certain amount of pride that goes with slick boat handling, and I try to challenge myself to use as little thruster as possible, because, as with everything elase on a boat, it WILL stop working at some point when you need it most.