bow thruster

[Ray Morley]

My Albin is now 11 years old. I have 535 hours on the engine. Yesterday my bow thruster stopped working. I don't use it a lot and perhaps that's what's wrong. Maybe if I used it often it would work longer.

I looked at it and finally read the manual and discovered the brushes need to be cleaned annually. I didn't know I had brushes, you can understand where I am going with this. Can I take the electric motor off the mount that it is on and send it out to be re done? Any suggestions from anyone would be helpful

Thanks
Ray Morley
Sea Inn

[DougSea]

Hi Ray,

A quick search reveals this post -> viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5608

I think you'll find what you need there!

Good luck!

[Ray Morley]

Good News someone told me I might need a new bow thruster, however others suggested it could be a fuse, and it was. Total repair cost me about 5.00. Here is what happened! My bow thruster just stopped working in the middle of trying to dock. I finally managed to dock minus the thruster and started my inquires. Some one suggested a fuse and I tell you I searched all over the thruster and all of the electrical to and from the thruster motor. After giving up more than once finally I found a u shaped fuse a small fuse with two u shaped leads that plugged into the fuse holder attached to the bow thruster motor. One of the leads was broken. I tried to get the fuse box loose from the motor but to no avail. I finally bypassed the fuse and put in a "jumper" with a fuse and that has been working well. My question to all now is can or does the bow thruster or can the motor be detached from the pole that it sits on (which I suspect is a long shaft with gears) can it be detached and sent out to rebuild?
Thanks
Ray Morley
Sea Inn

[RobS]

What model thruster do you have?
Is this the fuse you are referring to?

[DougSea]

What model thruster do you have?
Is this the fuse you are referring to?

Based on his description of the layout (and of the "jumper") I'm thinking it's in the control circuit, not the primary power feed.

[RobS]

...My question to all now is can or does the bow thruster or can the motor be detached from the pole that it sits on (which I suspect is a long shaft with gears) can it be detached and sent out to rebuild?
Thanks
Ray Morley
Sea Inn

Yes, the shafts stay in thier respective housing (the electric motor housing and the gearbox/tailpiece) The separation of the two is at the shearpin coupling.

Doug, his explanation of the "u"shaped ends prompted me to post that photo. I do agree, sounds like the control circuit, not the motor power supply.

[Ray Morley]

you are correct it is the control circuit. Mine is very rusted and I could not identify the fuse box or the fuse. But when I did figure it out I discovered the broken lead link on the fuse. The picture looks exactly like the fuse I pulled. So I just by passed the fuse with a jumper and added a new inline fuse. My model is a T-28 2001
Thanks for you help
Ray Morley Sea Inn

[jruesr]

Well folks, I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about my Bow thruster. My boat is a 1990 sportsfish, and the thruster is a Bow 45. My lower water seals failed and the lower unit took on some water. I noticed that it was using some lube from the reservoir. (My unit has a reservoir in the bow compartment that you are suppose to keep full of gear lube). It was also becoming noisy. To make a long story short I found that the failed seals caused the bearings to go and the failed bearings caused a gear to be damaged. My efforts to remove and repair the unit revealed that the seals and bearings were available but the gear was not.

In retrospect, had I known more about the unit, I could have removed the two screws that attach the lower unit front plate and replaced the bearings and the seals without removing the tail piece from the boat. This would have put it in good shape and possible it would have lived longer than I will.

I had to replace the entire unit with a new Bow 60 from Vetus. They were very helpful and assisted with advice. The unit was easy to swap out. Only drilled one added hole in the tube.

I have attached a parts breakdown and one photo of my lower unit shaft assemble. It came out of the drive leg and fits back in easily. If I could get a new gear then the unit would be fine.

I now have a good motor and lots of parts of a Bow 45 if anyone is interested. I will keep them for a short while in case someone needs a good motor etc.

[RobS]

Well atleast you got an upgrade as an end result but I am sure it did not come cheap. I have the Vetus 50 and my first off-season I pulled the prop and noticed some slight weepage of gear oil from the shaft seal. I pulled the face plate to find no obvious signs of water intrusion so I replaced the seal and flushed the tail pc all has been good since '07. I do check it each season. I too have the reservoir and check that regularly too and the only time it has dropped is when I had a leak at the threaded barbed fitting where the reservoir tube connects to the thruster base, it simply needed tightening.

How did the gear fail?

Also, I don't "need" any parts now but if it's all gonna get chucked let me know first.

[jruesr]

My thruster sheared its shear pin twice.

The Bow 45 has a shear pin that fits in the motor shaft slot. The Bow 50 is different. See the PDF attached to my previous post.

[jruesr]

They shipped me a bow 50 drive leg, thinking it was right for me, so I have a photo of both. I do not know for sure but would guess that the gears are the same.

The Bow 45 has a shear pin that goes in the drive leg slot.

I am not sure that the Bow 60 is an upgrade. It has no reservoir. To check the oil level you have to take the motor off, remove a screw and use a tooth pick to check it. This is done while standing on your head in the bow compartment. Hopefully by the time this becomes an issue, my boat will be a working antique and I will not be worrying about boats.

DSCN1498.JPG

[RobS]

Thanks for the follow-up and photos. That didn't by chance say "oh, just keep the BOW50 drive leg" did they ?

[jruesr]

No they did not. It was almost $1000.00.