Upgrading from the stock Vetus 3 blade to 6 blade

[Paddy]

Just read the For Sale ad that RobS posted for his boat and I noticed he went ahead and upgraded to the new 6 blade prop from Vetus. My question to Rob and others who have done the swap...is it worth it??? Was the thrust more powerful and the draw on the batteries less taxing as Vetus claims?

Looking for some real world experiences before I spend the cash.

Thanks

[johnmurray]

I made the change and I think there is a modest improvement...a little less noisy and a little more thrust, but not a dramatic difference. I can't tell if there is a difference in battery draw.

[DougSea]

I swapped out the prop on the thruster on our 35. Seems to have increased thrust, but i didn't do any kind of test to verify it. It certainly gives a decent push. I had wanted to swap it on our 28 but we had the 23Kg model, which was discontinued, and the new prop is made for the 25. (That is in the later model 28's)

[Nancy]

Having our bow thruster motor reconditioned was an enormous improvement. Night and day really. And no more power cut-outs. If your bow thruster is old, you might want to consider having the motor looked at first. Sort of a low-tech approach.

[Paddy]

Thanks all for your responses. I will be dropping the thruster off at the shop for a 'freshening up," then I guess I will go ahead and pick up the 6 blade prop. The reduced noise and extra thrust is worth it...maybe I can convince the admiral to get the prop as a late Christmas present????

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year