This week I will be spending some time on the boat. Firstly, I am very curious to see all the improvements that have been made by the yard in the last three months, secondly, I will be working on getting her ready for the 2020 season which, for me, starting in late March.
One new feature is the bow thruster which is used to maneuver the bow perpendicular to the long axis of the boat to starboard (right) or port (left). Thirty years pleasure sailboats did not have bow thrusters and the maneuvers were carried out using lines and crew instead. These days the crews tend to be smaller (sometimes one) and so a bow thruster comes in handy when navigating in small marinas and/or under strong winds.
The first picture shows the bow (boat is on a trailer) before the thruster was installed.
Below we see how a scary (!) hole has been cut into the hull and the tunnel is soldered in (the bow is to the right):
Here we see the final tunnnel with the prop:
The prop is driven by an electric motor (the tunel can be seen from the inside below the motor):
The motor needs high power but not for very long. Therefore a set of two starter batteries are the ideal choice.
And in this instructional video you see the bow thruster in operation.
That is it for today.
BTW: Which better categories than life and sailing could I have chosen for this post?
