We love our thruster
We have a Vetus Bow3512, I think, on our Passage 450. I thought hard before having the dealer install this $8000 option, but have never regreted it. Yes, it's a sailboat; yes, we all should have the requisite skills before taking to the water, and yes it is expensive to install and operate. 1. We only use it when the engine is running, so there is no wear and tear on the batteries. 2. It *may* effect sailing performance, but let's acknowledge that the Passage 450 is a floating Winnebago. Windage on this vessel is difficult to underestimate. 3. When the skipper is at the helm and I as first mate am handling the lines, I want all the control possible to be in my wife's hands. 4. Several times we have pushed the bow onto a sandbar and with the engine in reverse and the bow thruster *ounching* (this is the skipper's description of her technique) we have come free. 5. Backing a 14'-0" beam vessel into a 15'-0" slip is a matter of aligning the stern, having the engine in reverse idle and using the bow thruster to move the bow, and hence the stern, port and starboard for precise alignment with tne slip. Every time the skipper has put this 45" vessel exactly up to a dock she has received congradulations. Until they find out we have a bow thruster. Then they say that we "cheat," "have it too easy," and so forth. We just smile. It's supposed to easy, right? I've attached the Vetus website. Good luck.
We have a Vetus Bow3512, I think, on our Passage 450. I thought hard before having the dealer install this $8000 option, but have never regreted it. Yes, it's a sailboat; yes, we all should have the requisite skills before taking to the water, and yes it is expensive to install and operate. 1. We only use it when the engine is running, so there is no wear and tear on the batteries. 2. It *may* effect sailing performance, but let's acknowledge that the Passage 450 is a floating Winnebago. Windage on this vessel is difficult to underestimate. 3. When the skipper is at the helm and I as first mate am handling the lines, I want all the control possible to be in my wife's hands. 4. Several times we have pushed the bow onto a sandbar and with the engine in reverse and the bow thruster *ounching* (this is the skipper's description of her technique) we have come free. 5. Backing a 14'-0" beam vessel into a 15'-0" slip is a matter of aligning the stern, having the engine in reverse idle and using the bow thruster to move the bow, and hence the stern, port and starboard for precise alignment with tne slip. Every time the skipper has put this 45" vessel exactly up to a dock she has received congradulations. Until they find out we have a bow thruster. Then they say that we "cheat," "have it too easy," and so forth. We just smile. It's supposed to easy, right? I've attached the Vetus website. Good luck.