Bow Thruster

[Rbob]

I can see the need for a bow thruster and wish I would have planned for it. The Jet Thruster Micro has my attention, Json was the one who shared it on a previous post.

I know it is expensive but my boat is built and glassing in a tube up front which required glasswork on the inside and out plus the finish work involved is a deterrent.  I requested quote so maybe I will pull the trigger, wait and see.

The big advantage is drill some holes, coat the edges of the exposed plywood with 4-5 coats to be sure and do the install, they install the thruster nozzle with sikaflex that sounds just what I need; something easy to install.

I do not plan on putting the pump up front with another battery so I will check if I have space in the aft to mount the pump assembly and run the hoses to the nozzles up front.

If I go this route I will update.

Suggestions or opinions always welcomed.

Bob 

[Brian.Dixon]

I'd bite the bullet and glass-in a tube.  The 'heel' area of the hull gets blasted with high velocity water.  And if you use glass and epoxy, it gives you the opportunity to build up the leading edge of the hole to help redirect the blast of water over the hole.  Check Chuck Mazzola's installation for more info on how he did this.  Randy Henry might have more info too - he has a bow thruster like Chuck's.

[Rbob]

I will think on that for a while.  I get your point though.

[Grady300]

Here yago.

[Todd j]

I wish I would have installed this In my boat.  I?ll certainly follow if you do

[Grady300]

Since the thruster is well below the water line if you have bottom paint it will be easy to repaint after the install. it's pretty straight forward. I used a program I found on line that will figure out the ecliptic cut, its used for cutting vent holes on a roof. I think there is a link on my build page that was sent to me by someone on this forum