Bow thrusters

[Ford Reese]

I have a 1995 Albin 28TE. Did Albin ever increase the size of the bow thruster in the Albin 28TE? My Vetus Bow Thruster 2512 is barely up to the job. If they did increase the size or change suppliers, do you know what year it was done?

Thanks.........Ford Reese

[chiefrcd]

My 99 has a Sidepower Thruster at 55lbs. of thrust I think, I'll check. The new model is a SE-60 which has 60 lbs of thrust. This seems more than enough to control my boat even in pretty stiff winds. It does take a lot of juice to run it and all the connections need to be clean and free of corrosion.

[RicM]

My '03 28 TE has a 55KG Vetus bowthruster. At some earlier point the 28 was made with, I believe, a 25 or 35 KG Vetus thruster. Upgrading is not a simple swap as the diameter of the thruster tunnel and prop is larger on the 55KG. I will not argue that that the smaller one was light for the job,but many similar sized boats are built with no thruster at all and people manage to handle them quite well. Spending a couple of hours some weekday afternoon working out the handling without the thruster will also help when the inevitable failure occurs. In two seasons with the Albin 28 I have spun the prop twice. The second time I had practiced docking without the thruster sufficiently so that I could gracefully put it on the dock without incident. Back and fill, baby, back and fill.

[chiefrcd]

Good recommendations..... and also, for us not so good backers. In the event of a failure of the bow thruster, just pull the boat in bow first......

[Pitou]

Good recommendations..... and also, for us not so good backers. In the event of a failure of the bow thruster, just pull the boat in bow first......

I'm with you .... pointy end in!!! Unfortunately for those with pilings and a main float ... back and fill.

An '02 here with the 55kg.

[Cape Codder]

On Santosha this past season I changed to the Vetus 6 blade prop. Still darn noisy, but I think it is more powerful.

Whomever installed the bow thuster at Albin got it ever so slightly cantered off center. So I had to trim 1 millimeter off each blade on my grinding wheel to get it to spin freely before final installation. Works better than the 3 blade IMHO.

[JackK]

On Santosha this past season I changed to the Vetus 6 blade prop. Still darn noisy, but I think it is more powerful.

Whomever installed the bow thuster at Albin got it ever so slightly cantered off center. So I had to trim 1 millimeter off each blade on my grinding wheel to get it to spin freely before final installation. Works better than the 3 blade IMHO.

Bob - the same is true on my '03 flush deck. They used an undersized tunnel and turned down the blades on the prop. Not the brightest modification I've ever seen. I'm going to order the 6 blade and turn it down as well. I ordered one and returned it because it didn't fit the tunnel - now I'll have to make it fit.

Jack

[Ford Reese]

Thanks everyone for your useful information. The good news is that it appears the Albin 28 did go to a larger thruster on their later models. As for the new 6 blade prop, when I last checked with Vetus, it wasn't available for my older model 2512 thruster. Also, as an additional safety precautuion, I've had a battery cut off switch installed on the main power source for the thruster. This is just incase the solenoids in the motor get hot an lock up and keeps the motor running. This will let me cut off all power to the thruster.

Ford Reese - 1995 Albin 28 TE "Chambornay"