58YF stern thruster

[meteor64]

Just wondering if someone had a stern thruster on a 58 yacht fish? The water tank is set right against the stern so could not figure out what could be installed. There seems to be some space below the water tank, but I don't think it would be enough for the electric motor. Possibly a hydraulic thruster might fit. There are some situations where a stern thruster would be nice to have.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Why? A stern thruster is redundant. You can push the stern from side to side with the props. I don't have either bow or stern thruster but I can understand that a bow thruster may come in handy on a rare occasion. But a stern thruster is completely unnecessary

 

[Pascal]

I can see how a bow thruster can come in handy in some tricky conditions but a stern thruster is useless on twin screw boat. Spitting the gears is a lot easier and the boat respond faster. I don’t even remember the last time I ran a boat with stern thruster. Most big boats don’t even have them

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Stern thrusters are for single screw boats.

 

[meteor64]

Well. I see that you guys are not keen on stern thruster for sure! Still, from what I have seen on Yachtworld, Youtube and other web sites, quite a few boats in the 45-65 ' range do come with stern thrusters. Fleming comes to mind. Also, of course, the are all the newerboats with joystick controls. All kinds of computerized gizmos to maneuver the boat. I was asking mostly because my wife does not feel comfortable docking on her own with what we have presently. Difficult to coordinate shift, bow thruster and boat movement in tight quarters. I usually don't have problems docking, but I always find it a stressful situation. So, I figured adding a stern thruster would help reduce that stress a bit.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I agree with Sky and Pascal. It won't add much, but it will subtract quite a bit from your wallet. I don't know how much experience she has at docking, but maybe hiring an instructor to spend time with her, helping her practice might help? I'll tell you that if I can dock a twin-screw boat, any human being on this earth can do it.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I think thrusters add to the stress. Its one more thing to think about and to operate. The joystick takes all of the different levers and makes them one. That makes sense. But adding a stern thruster will probably make it worse. I see most people that get into trouble using the thruster instead of their engines.

 

[Freeebird]

First, stern thrusters, for the most part, are external and much easier to install than a bow thruster. They are also less expensive than a bow thruster for that reason. In no case would you want just a stern thruster, but a bow thruster alone will get you in and out of pretty much anything you might find yourself in.

The only boats I run that routinely have both bow and stern thrusters are larger houseboats, and I must say they work great. You can literally make the boat move sideways with zero forward or backward motion which is not going to be the case with just using the transmissions. I'm talking about being able to walk a boat into a spot with a foot or less fore and aft.

Bottom line is, if you want the ultimate in maneuverability, go for both.

 

[Pascal]

I had a stern thruster on a 70 I used to run years ago. Never used it. Splitting the gears is much easier and generates better effect. Don’t have one on the 116 I run now and don’t need it. Hydraulic bow thruster? Yes. Boat that size are too heavy to spring. But zero need for stern.

 

[cww]

I have never been in a situation where I feel I would have needed a stern thruster in a twin engine boat. There’s nothing it does that put one engine in forward and one in reverse won’t do. The hatt especially doesn’t need one. It’s got large propellers for its size and is bow heavy. It will rotate in a perfect circle in its own length and you can move the stern in and out without creating forward motion. I have gotten pretty good at all of these things because I dock in a covered slip that’s about 2’ wider than the boat and requires a 90 degree turn in a section of the marina that’s maybe 10’ longer than the boat to get her into. It’s the easiest boat I’ve ever owned to dock. Do you have a 58 with the props at the back, or one of the ones where the cockpit was added later?

 

[rsmith]

All these things are just crutches. You need to understand wind current and physics and how it effects movement of the boat. Add line handling also to spring off a dock. I’ve seen plenty of incidents where people are over reliant on thrusters and end up in a worse position than if they didn’t have them and relied on their brain and not a joystick