Bow Thrusters

[Bill_Giles]

I am toying with the idea of putting a bow thruster on my Bavaria 36. I am getting rather less agile these days and need a bit more berthing assistance. Here seem to be three main types (apart from the jet pump thing). There is the traditional tunnel which appears to require major surgery and has a space consuming motor internally. There is the slide in and out job which has the same down sides. Then there is a new thing which is an external pod which merely needs small holes in the hull (!) for mounting and wiring. This makes the latter seem an attractive option with the price near either of the others. Has anyone used any of these, particularly the pod thing? Any other views?

[model 10]

How many crab pots or mooring lines will one of those catch? I can even picture the anchor chain ripping it off. They just don't look like a cruising item.

[Davo1404]

Sounds like you need a jet thruster
https://www.hambleyachtservices.co.u.../jet-thruster/

[apirate]

Next week we’re having an external bow thruster installed while the boat is getting a bottom job. All the research and talking to others I’ve done points to them being pretty awesome.

I’ll report back once we get to use it.

[Time2Go]

I have a friend who had a traditional tunnel
Bow Thruster installed on his Bavaria 36.
Didn’t use it much but he was happy to have it.
I will PM you his email address
Cheers
Neil

[Chotu]

My 50' monohull has Vetus bow and stern thrusters in tunnels.

They seem to work flawlessly.