Vetus Bow23 shear pin

[Robb]

Jumped into figuring out why Bow23 on my 96 TE28 does not work recently. Took motor to rebuild shop and now spins up perfect but does not turn the prop.

There is no shear pin between the motor and the drive like most mention when I search posts as most other boats have larger thrusters.

From doing some web searching it looks like this model has a shear pin behind the prop. Before I put the boat onto the tide grid and start removing things, has anyone else done this? Any advise is appreciated.

Thanks.

[DougSea]

Our 1997 also had the Bow23 and there was a pin behind the prop. I never replaced it but I would remove it when I pulled the prop to paint the thruster tunnel. It would be the first thing I'd check.

[RobS]

...a shear pin behind the prop

That is referred to as a drive pin, not shear pin. That pin is much heavier than a shear pin. Your issue could be with the drive collar.

[Robb]

OK. Had the boat out of the water today. Took the prop off and noticed the drive pin was intact, but the previous owner had put the prop on without engaging the pin into the keyway. The drive pin was just spinning in front of the keyway. I was able to clean up the prop and get a positive engagement.

Tide came up and took boat off grid. Ran the thruster 5sec to port, 5 sec delay and then 5 sec to stbd. All is good and I patted myself on the back. Two hours later leave the dock and apply thruster for 15 sec to port. Thruster is not the most powerful unit but it moves the bow.

Drive 5 minutes across the bay to my boathouse. Try thruster and nothing. Just the clicking off relays. Engine is running.

Any ideas from here?

[Joe/Fran]

Bad electical connections?

[joe.baar]

Robb,
We have a Vetus "23kgf" in our 1995 28TE. Believing this is a model similar to your "Bow23" I will say it has always operated intermittently so I'm now out of practice using it, because I don't.

We've had a DC electrician look at all the wiring and connections, we've replaced the fuse, we've shined up all the terminals and waxed them with Boeshield T-9, we've taken the solenoid apart and cleaned and waxed all its terminals, and we've taken the whole motor into the DC shop here for testing. The brushes are good, the motor works fine.

I scraped all the bottom paint off the (plastic 4-blade) prop so it's all smooth now. I religiously paint the pitted bronze gear housing with transducer paint. I add a small conical zinc to the head end of the screw that holds the prop on.

The magic works only about 60% of the time, and mostly only with the Yanmar lit off. And yes, the solenoid clicks like crazy through it all. Anyway the unit is really too small for this boat but I'm too cheap and unskilled to try replacing it.

Someone suggested attaching the unit to a remote battery, up in the forepeak next to the Vetus, but I never investigated how big that battery should really be, and how to charge it remotely - which isn't supposed to be a big deal, I hear. Again, I'm just lazy in my old age.

[Tom Alby]

Rob If you have a manual Vetus recommends cleaning the brushes on the motor on a yearly basis. Had the same problem with mine replaced the brushes now its fine. Ordered the brushes from Jamestown Distributers. Good Luck Tom Alby

[Robb]

Thanks for the replies all. The brushes are brand new as the motor was just rebuilt and works great.

For now I'm going to take Joe's approach and just not use it. I see a bigger Sidepower unit in my future...

Joe, I'll wave as I head by Ballard today. Off to Port Townsend tonight, then Neah and up the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Hoping the good weather holds...

Robb