Vetus Bow Thruster

gcmarshall · Post by **gcmarshall** » Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:05 am

My bow thruster stopped working a few months back, and I am now getting around to it. It is a Vetus 55 unit.

The propeller had broken, so I initially just figured it got caught, broke, and the motor blew a fuse. Now I am looking at it, the wiring had corroded and broken in several places (the 4 small wires going to the thruster), the 20 amp fuse in the thruster was corroded, etc..
I removed the thruster, and rewired it. I took out the brushes, and they appeared fine.

I thought I should be able to turn the shaft by hand in either direction, but I was unable to do that...

When I put it back together, it actually works fine in one direction, but nothing in the other direction. I swapped the control wires going to the thruster (to ensure it wasn't a wiring issue) and that didn't work....so I think the issue is with the thruster. I can carry it to a local starting motor place, but thought I would check here first...

Any ideas?

Post by **Jeremyvmd** » Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:34 pm

Did you check the solenoids? Before I had it rebuilt I would look at them and make sure they are opening an closing correctly given the amount of corrosion you were dealing with

Post by **catalina_mike** » Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:30 pm

If the motor turns one direction the motor might be fine. I just googled the brand and here is the typical wiring.

Post by **Sisu22** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:10 pm

Agreed on the motor maybe being OK. I had a bad solenoid AND a bad switch.

gcmarshall · Post by **gcmarshall** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:07 am

Sisu22 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:10 pm Agreed on the motor maybe being OK. I had a bad solenoid AND a bad switch.

Is the replacement solenoid something you sourced from Vetus directly? or is it more of a generic part that your local "starting motor place" replaced?

Post by **Sisu22** » Wed Sep 27, 2017 2:35 pm

Oh man. It was a pain to find. I didn't even try to go with Vetus - I found an NOS switch off of eBay based on the part number I found on the side of the solenoid. Can you post pictures of yours?

gcmarshall · Post by **gcmarshall** » Thu Sep 28, 2017 7:43 am

Hmmm..... I guess it might be easier, but more expensive to contact Vetus for one.

Here is the pic.

Post by **Sisu22** » Thu Sep 28, 2017 6:27 pm

That looks a bit different from mine, but the solenoid is similar. Mine was Curtis Albright SW822-50P reversing contactor relay switch

gcmarshall · Post by **gcmarshall** » Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:59 am

Sisu22 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 28, 2017 6:27 pm That looks a bit different from mine, but the solenoid is similar. Mine was Curtis Albright SW822-50P reversing contactor relay switch

Thanks! Will look it up.

Albin Owners Group

Albin Owners Group

Vetus Bow Thruster

Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster

Re: Vetus Bow Thruster