Bow thruster

[getaweigh]

We are new Albin (32 Sportfisher) owners. We have been told by some people to be wary of overusing, and tiring or wearing out, our bow thruster. People have said we should limit our use of the bow thruster to avoid having it fail from overuse. This seems like it is, or might be, good advice. Our question is, what constitutes overuse? We use our thruster to operate in tight conditions, primarily in leaving our slip and getting out of our marina, and coming back in; also in raftup situations. Anybody have any knowledge of what constitutes good use of a bow thruster and what constitutes overuse?
Thanks very much for your help to the newbies.
Bob and Kathy Fortenbaugh
Get Aweigh

[DougSea]

On the Vetus website most of the thrusters are spec'd as 4-5 minutes, continuous, per hour. The longest I can recall ever using mine (in our 28) was about 90 seconds while using it to do a 180 turn after a soft grounding.

It's unlikely you'd overuse it in normal maneuvering.

[mike66]

Agreed. You have it to use when you need it. Learn to maneuver without it as much as possible in case it doesn't work, but use it if you need it.

[kjg1951]

Make sure you know where the fuse is located and get a spare... Had to order through Vetrus... I was out on a cruise and the fuse blew ,looked for an hour for the fuse and finally found it tucked up and out of the way !!!
Kevin Guilfoyle
New Bern N.C.

[slimjim]

I don't use mine much and if I do its no more than 10 seconds at a time or as little as possible. I keep my electronics off when using my thruster.

[Mariner]

What they mean by over use is continuous running. Just avoid running it for longer than a few seconds at a time, unless you're in some difficult situation that warrants it. Also, don't use it instead of the rudder to steer the boat. You laugh, but I've seen people do that.

Regular use is actually good for it, just like everything else on your boat.

[whwells]

The limited use has worked for me as well. In fact lack of use may lead to issues as well. As the comments suggest it is not the frequency of the use as it is the length and short burst are better.
Be aware they have a need for service as well.
whwells "Howard"

[jruesr]

Swabby, I have a sports fisher 32 like you. My bow thruster gave out and I had to replace it with a Vetus model 60. The weak part is the lower unit. I found that some parts are available for the old unit and some are not. On my thruster the seals went bad and then the bearings went bad and then the gears failed. The seals and bearings were cheap and fairly easy to replace for a good mechanic. If I had changed these parts I would still have the old unit. It was much more powerful than the new one. I took my perfectly good motor the the recycle deposit.

If you are loosing oil from the reservoir change the seals and bearings.

Good luck
John
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