Bow Thruster Installation Costs?

It's been a long time since I've had one installed, but that price sounds fairly reasonable if it's a complete installation.

The $13K you mention is what we were paying six years ago for thruster installations in new DeFever 49s, which brings two thoughts to mind:

1) Either thrusters have remained immune to the effects of inflation or your local labor costs are in the $50 range, not the $80-100 seen elsewhere. Good.

2) That 15 HP DC unit is quite underpowered for that heavy Hat, plus you will inevitably pop the breaker/blow the fuse when you need it the most. Given the likelihood that you have a 20KW genset up forward, you'd be better served with a hydraulic unit powering up a 20+HP thruster. More expensive? Yes, but net the costs of repairing your boat or someone else's in that Special Situation...not really.

Wesmar makes good units. 23hp sounds more appropriate. You could also go hydraulic and run a PTO off of one of your generators which adds installation issues of it's own and might be better to go electric. Hydraulic, you'd need a thru-hull, cooling pump, have to rely on that 1 generator or engine. etc. I like Hydraulic if installed from the factory, or it's in a type of yacht where you'd be using it quite a bit and for longer periods of time. The 74' Hatt is fairly maneuverable and you'd probably be using the thruster for 30 second bursts or less.

There's a guy over at Playboy Marine in Dania who does this stuff in his sleep.

Cable Marine out on 84 knows your Hat inside & out and would be worth a call for a quote.

Norseman in Miami, as well.

Sounds like the cost for DC is getting close to Hydraulic? Go hydraulic.

Bow thruster installations are an everyday thing but this part piqued my curiosity:

"... in drydock getting a new bottom put in ..." Now that is something I would like to see.

If the Hydraulic PTO is run off of one of the main engines then yes. But, in that boat it's a far run, to run the hoses and doing it off of 1 of the generators makes more sense due to them being so close. However, the factory generators in that boat are not powerful enough to power both the PTO for the bow thruster and produce electricity for the whole boat at the same time. So that creates the hassle of either shutting the power generation off in the whole boat, or starting the 2nd generator and running the electricity production off of that 1 when you want to use the bow thruster. But if, you're going to go down the ICW all day and want use of the bow thruster instantly you're then running a generator unloaded the entire day for that priveledge of using the thruster here or there. I ran a 63' Hatteras MY run this way and it was a major PITA, and not worth the hassle.

So, if the Hydraulic pump is run off of 1 of the main engines, then definately go Hydraulic over electric for the bow thruster. If not, I'd go electric over running a Hydraulic pump off of 1 of the generators. Plus trying to run a 23hp bow thruster off of a 20something HP diesel generator engine may not be enough.

"So, if the Hydraulic pump is run off of 1 of the main engines, then definately go Hydraulic over electric for the bow thruster. If not, I'd go electric over running a Hydraulic pump off of 1 of the generators. Plus trying to run a 23hp bow thruster off of a 20something HP diesel generator engine may not be enough. "

In my solar system, an Onan MDKBR 60 Hz 1800RPM 21.5 KW genset's Cummins engine is rated at around 40 HP.

Ok, so say it is 40hp, you still have loss of HP from running the Hydraulic pump and creating 900psi (give or take) or Hydraulic pressure, loss of power from pumping the fluid up to the bowthruster and heat loss etc. I'm not in the bowthruster or Hydraulic business, so I don't know exactly how much HP is lost, or how much is needed to provide full power to a 23hp bow thruster, but experience tells me it might not be enough. I know that when I turn on the stabilizer pump on a 12v71TI, it drops the idle rpm 100 rpms and then come's back up to close to what it was before......maybe 50rpms less.....

Hi,

The engine doesn't know if it is driving an alternator under heavy load or a hydraulic pump, electrical installations also suffer losses from warm cables and increased resistance plus some rejected heat.

I understand that. But, is the engine large enough to produce enough hydraulic pressure and supply for a 23HP bow thruster to make 23hp in the bowthruster, after the pumping losses to it and such. This I do not know and am curious if anyone has the answer. Does a 20kw Onan have enough HP to run a 23hp Bow thruster (hydraulic)? I do agree that Hydraulic is superior, but again sometimes the installation warrants something else.

This still doesn't deal with having to run 2 generators in the ICW with one loaded and one unloaded. Or having to start the Generator when you need the bow thruster, or switching electrical load off of it.,......Or relying on a generator, that has to run for the bowthruster. It's a lot easier to maintain an electric thruster over a hydraulic one as well.......or lets say less things to maintain.

There is room to mount the electric thruster batteries fairly close to the thruster in that boat, with fairly short cables.

Hydraulic Bow thrusters and electric

We have to understand that times are changing, today we can operate a Nissan leaf 100 miles on DC motors before recharging...we just serviced a side power 240 on a Bertram 80 enclosed flybridge, After almost 2 years this unit is doing just fine, but be careful, not all DC thrusters are the same, after 20 years installing and repairing all brands we found out that Comparing brands with the same horsepower the side thrust in the water was much better on some of them, also do not forget that variable speed units with an ajustable constant speed is also very practical and super quiet.