Bow Thruster location, Lewmar 110TT in Albin 25

[tribologist]

3/8”. Should be 9mm based on lamination drawing but they went 15 um over 3/8”

[WillieC]

9.54, according to the caliper. Prolly mms. A tad over 3/8". Sounds about right.

I watched the wide open part of the starboard hull just above the waterline bash a too sharp corner of the dock at Hoodsport in challenging wind a few years back, fully expecting an opportunity to install my own thruster, only a little higher. Nada, zip, zilch. That was the same day I learned why one avoids jumping from the boat to the dock. So much knowledge, so little time.

[tribologist]

https://ronco-plastics.com/product/wate ... ding-tank/

Look for B103. Then there is a cad drawing on onshape.

Its a tad to high. Im going to have to shift it back just a tad or re-form the corners. Not sure how Jim O did his

Ulf

[tribologist]

Glassed and blended outside. I sanded down the rear portion of the hole and radiused it quite heavily. It makes a big difference in flow resistance vs corners. I also got the inside nearly finished. Slobbbered some waxed gelcoat on to to make it sandable.

[ssrig]

Doing some nice work there! That’s a complex project you are working on so kudos to you!

[tribologist]

Making supports. By removing the doubler under the rear cross beam I’m just about low enough. I put two 1” by 1-1/2 to support it in the rear. I will tab them in with glass and then im thinking of making a big blob of fairing compound and make corner supports for the front corners. They rest on the hull with a point contact right now. I also had an issue with it sitting a tad high so I slivered off about 1/8 of the bottom of the cross beam. There was a sister beam under this that I removed.

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This will be the main support

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After a encounter with the band saw I got the beam low enough...

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[tribologist]

This corner has kept me thinking... I don't like the point load.

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Slobbered some deck and hull first, then added fairing compound on top. I'm running low of the deck and hull putty and I expect some serious sanding to make it look ok and the deck and hull is nasty to sand. The polyester fairing compound Merton sell is super easy to work with. Its like Bondo.

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After pulling the tank out I had a nice imprint. I then filled the void in the blob and the area around it with a 50-50 mix of deck and hull and fairing compound and seated the tank back in. We will see how that look tomorrow. I might have to do one more layer tomorrow.

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Got some pretty big voids in the left blob but that can be fixed!

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More is better!

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The support beam tabbed in and gel coated so I can sand it tomorrow. I don't use "boaryard resin" I buy the unwaxed and whenever I need to sand I coat it over with gelcoat, PVA or fairing compound after it has set.

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[tribologist]

Looked pretty awful since its hard to get to that place and i overcatalyzed the fairing compound. I thing one should use less than the 1% by volume since the microballoons are such large part of it. Its impossible to get it nice after it start to gel but thats when Mr. Makita Beltosando can do wonders later.... “ find the bracket within”

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[tribologist]

Herr Dr. Ing. Fein is also a good helper. Had the Horror Freight one for years and got this for my wife originally when she was cutting out bathtubs and showers when redoing the bathrooms and it’s amazing. Almost no vibrations.

[tribologist]

Coated it up with waxed gelcoat and put the wood back. Im going to rely on supporting the corners in the front and the full rear bottom edge.

Took the opportunity to clean and put gelcoat in the “ Bow thruster machine room” too

[tribologist]

Allmost done! Just terminating the power cables left.

[tribologist]

Its done! Not a terrible amount of work but quite involved at times. If i would do it over i woukd have left the water tank, got a 140 TT instead and installed it in the compartment behind the tank. It would have been harder on the outside but its quite easy to block up the boat over the trailer. Many thanks to Jim for sharing his instructions and hopefully it might help someone else in the future.

[tribologist]

Got to try the thruster for real today. Loved it!

We were at Essex Marina in A-Dock with all the shiny $250 k + boat and a $50M across the dock...We were tucked between a boat in slip 5 and one in 6. When were were heading out they were all chatting about how we would get out of there. It was a weak south current so we were pushed to the dock. I would have to either throw a line or turn the stern out and try to back out. There were great anticipation on the other boats. one lady even had her camera out... I felt really bad for making them disappointed. Bzzzzzzz and the bow just turned up in the current and out we went..

[SkipRocks]

I took a slightly different direction. I went with the Lewmar 140TT, but I mounted it on the stern. Works like a charm and I couldn't be happier.

[tribologist]

Weee!! Fancy!!! Do you have a stern thruster but no bow thruster???