HOW TO INSTALL A BOWTHRUSTER

[@31tresor31]

I like your humble way of reminding watchers that you are not professionnals! Some other blogs on youtube (rigging doctor) make so many technical mistakes and make people beleive that he's been doing this for a lifetime. Another German skipper has just completed his yacht Master coastal... Je describes himself as a 'very skilled captain'!!!

[@OverlandSea]

Thank you, there’s no point telling people that I’m something that I’m not, I’ll give most things a go but only when I feel confident to do so, KZbin is one of the first places I go when studying how to do something, hence the reason I try to make these videos to hopefully help somebody. I remember some of their earlier videos so know where you are coming from. Doubt they’d be experts if things when wrong from bad advice 😬 cheers Gav

[@OverlandSea]

Want to see the bowthruster in action skip to 15:50 in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2WVaoF6fpesm68 Some of our regular subscribers will have seen some of this footage from our recent refit videos. We kept getting asked about the whole bowthruster install process, hence this dedicated video.

[@OverlandSea]

John Shaw Hi John We don't have a plotter, we ran out of budget. That'd be fantastic and extremely kind of you, thank you very much.

[@OverlandSea]

John Shaw We are in Newlyn Harbour John, just waiting for a weather window to cross the channel to Brest. Should be back in Doncaster in a fortnight. [e-mail] Very good of you, speak soon.

[@robertbradley921]

Great video and very inspiring. I am considering installing a bowthruster on my own boat and was feeling a bit nervous about doing so. After watching your video, the task seems much less intimidating. I watched a few videos of the pros doing it, but it is reassuring to see someone who doesn't install them for a living do such a good job installing their own. I greatly appreciate the video and tips.

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks Robert, I too watched lots of videos of the professional companies installing them. One thing that came to mind was how little they glasses the tunnels in (obviously know what they are doing) I wanted to beef the fibreglass up so maybe went slightly over the top with it, however I'd rather know it's solid. Once you get over the shock of drilling large holes in your hull, it's quite an enjoyable process. Good luck with your install and if you need anything, feel free to ask or email us. Thanks again Gav

[@vitorusso1542]

Big Cohones to you! Great job and inspiring that someone with a little bit of knowledge can tackle big project. Thank you for sharing.

[@shortwidgets]

Excellent video... Well done and very informative. Thank you!

[@DawnHunters]

Great video. Very detailed and from your install I am sure your system is as good if not better than most Professional’s install. Keep up the good work Capt W

[@OverlandSea]

Thank you very much.

[@stephenwebb9167]

Impressive, I've been a surfboard builder for 30yrs and I think you did a great job. Aloha

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks for the kind words. Bet surfboard building is an enjoyable process.

[@seau2007]

Nice job...complete with in water test. Bravo

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks Steve

[@sergiyivanov984]

Many thanks Guys! Great video guide!

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks Sergiy

[@ksavierkrajewski716]

Great job

[@thedrllama]

Great work and video. Thanks!

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks James

[@telluride4017]

Good show

[@almath9987]

Thanks as you said have seen but this is a good over view of the job 👍

[@davidclarke7728]

Very impressed, I’m sure this will help future installers.

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks David, I did the video to help future installers, so your comment makes me very happy.

[@zackkasey]

Great vid! I like how you used the steel rod through the hull to mark out the holes

[@OverlandSea]

Thank you very much

[@esling77]

You work to high standards. Great job. Ty for sharing.

[@OverlandSea]

Thank you

[@brettkramer]

Brilliant install video, thank you so much for posting :)

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks Brett

[@philsogood2455]

Excellent vid and informative. Thank you!

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks

[@stevemuskett9553]

Great illustration of the install! I need to install one and I appreciate the vid.

[@OverlandSea]

Thanks Steve, give us a shout if you need to know anything and good luck with the install.

[@mariemorrissey9378]

Take a "bow" Gavin!👏👏 👍👍⛵⚓⛵🇬🇧

[@OverlandSea]

Haha love it!

[@randypopperwell2183]

what a great job

[@johnboone2581]

Job very well done 👍

[@SVImpavidus]

Well explained and edited. 👍👍 Sail safe guys. Ant & Cid xx

[@OverlandSea]

Cheers A&C x

[@willemduitemeijer1683]

Something tell me I had seen (some of) this before. Fair winds!

[@jimnormand5756]

You have done well "Grasshopper" like your channel a lot,keep up the good work and wish you and the family well,keep the dry side up and good sailing my friends,be good and do good......just an Ole man he in the states...... Just was wandering if they make Variable speed controller for the unit,DC voltage is easy to control,might make the thruster more "handy" just a thought!

[@OverlandSea]

That would be very handy Jim a great idea and thank you for the kind words.

[@gilbab287]

Thank you...

[@OverlandSea]

You're welcome!

[@mccharmcouture]

What is the name of the bow thruster you bought? Where did you buy it?

[@jw6246]

nice job for a big job...

[@OverlandSea]

Thank you

[@westcountry_sailing]

Billy big balls! Very impressed, I can't imagine ever taking that project on. Will filmed too. I wonder what the cost is for a pro bow thruster job?

[@OverlandSea]

Cheers Alex, the quotes were ranging between £5.5-£7k installed and the jet thruster system was £9.8k

[@westcountry_sailing]

@@OverlandSea good saving then. Bravo

[@OverlandSea]

Yeh a good saving definitely. Apart from grinding the bilge paint off, it was an enjoyable job to do.

[@jukkalaara5913]

Excellent video, thank you. Is that boat Bavaria 38 Cr ?

[@OverlandSea]

Thank you, yeh she's is a 38 Cruiser 👍🏼

[@jukkalaara7457]

I have the same boat. Very useful video for me.

[@OverlandSea]

Great boats aren't they

[@douglasthompson2740]

Hello, Several years ago I was going to install a bow thruster on my 26' powerboat. However the different manufacturers all had a minimum distance below the waterline that the top of the tunnel had to be. My boat was not able to meet that requirement and I therefore scrapped the plan. With a single inboard engine it would have been very handy in tight quarters. Yours looked to be very near the waterline causing me to wonder if the specs have changed and/or did you ignore them? In any case how is it working for you? My understanding of the minimum spec was to prevent cavitation and the resulting loss of thrust. Thanks. Take care. Doug

[@OverlandSea]

Hello Doug I fitted the tunnel as low in the water as physically possible because like you you mentioned it would just cavitate and have no to very little effect on moving the bow. When researching bow thruster we walked around boat yards and noticed that some factory fitted thruster were quite higher in the water line than ours would be. It works really well and we couldn’t be happier. If you skip to 16:00 in this video link you’ll see it in action. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2WVaoF6fpesm68 Thanks Gav

[@douglasthompson2740]

@@OverlandSea I did watch the entire video but just throwing a wash isn't indicative of effectiveness thus I was interested in how it handled under actual maneuvering in your experience? Thanks. Doug.

[@OverlandSea]

Hi Doug It works really well as you can see in the video kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2WVaoF6fpesm68 at 16mins in. Thanks

[@plakeplays6420]

I could never see my dad doing this on his boat lol

[@philipfreeman72]

Would it be much easier to install a bowthruster that doesn't require the holes ?

[@OverlandSea]

Philip Freeman They are really expensive and from the reviews we looked at, they are vulnerable to getting snagged in fishing lines or nets. We did look into them and we also looked at jet thrusters.

[@shunkmyboot5440]

I want a big sailboat and add bow thrusters

[@bolivershagnasty2014]

I just watched a Jet Thruster video, which seems to be a better idea, because each opening is smaller and independent of the other openings (inlet and other opposite side jet), so no need to reinforce the entire front end. Much smaller openings. Just my thought.

[@OverlandSea]

The jet thruster is a great idea but three times the price, we got a few quotes. Another thing is you wouldn’t want a pipe to burst or a fitting to fail with a jet thruster, it’s a bit scary pumping extremely high pressure water through your boat. Having said that, if they came in around the same price we probably would have gone down the jet thruster route. Thanks for watching and sharing your opinion.

[@bolivershagnasty2014]

@@OverlandSea can I ask your total cost on the bow thruster after full install? I've got a 34' Hunter, and would really like a thruster myself.

[@OverlandSea]

Hi watch the video to the end, all the costings are there 👍🏼

[@donpetrey8007]

What brand of thruster was that and what’s the approx cost and is it 12 or 24 volt. Just so you know you should have added more layers of glass seams like you only added 1 inner and 1 outer complete layer of glass. Why didn’t you add a couple more layers inside and outside just to be sure sense if something goes wrong that’s a very big moon hole

[@donpetrey8007]

Also another thing to look at is the cable size that’s a long run for that diameter copper cable the larger the cable the easier it is able to push the electricity far lengths

[@OverlandSea]

Don Petrey Hi Don it’s a Lewmar 12v system and it may be my accent but I explain how many layers of fibreglass I used, there’s 3 layers on the outside and around 6-7 on the inside, most of which is 600g combination glass. The tunnel to the support tube must almost 30 layers. There’s no worries about it’s strength. The full costings are in the video near the end. The cables are sized correctly, this is something I seeked advice on before ordering them, I had to give the dimensions of the boat.

[@donpetrey8007]

Sailing SV Compromise yes I seen all that at the end lol 30 layers wow nice job I’m thinking of adding 1 bow and 1 stern possibly

[@OverlandSea]

A stern thruster would be lovely, majority of the modern boats are going down the bow & stern thruster route.

[@mulespur4806]

Man that rod on inside was angle of the support

[@OverlandSea]

Your right it does and that's the reason we took lots of reference points to position the tunnel. It's actually that bulkhead that isn't square to the one aft of it.

[@iainlyall6475]

ok no wonder i was confused, more so than usual. so where are you? last time i watched you said you were going to greece.

[@OverlandSea]

iain lyall Hehe We have made it down to the Douth of Englsnd(Newlyn Harbour) and just waiting for a weather window to cross the English Channel to France.

[@iainlyall6475]

@@OverlandSea great. thanks :-)

[@SpyridonMouroutsos]

:)

[@CSJiGSaW08]

I don't like that shinny light coming through the thinned out fiberglass. Oh hell no... I would never do this...

[@OverlandSea]

Fibreglass is a translucent material, and that section you refer to is 3/4” thick handlayed fibreglass. Any fibreglass without bilge paint or gelcoat will be translucent.

[@moonshine3333]

Deja vu all over again? 🤔

[@OverlandSea]

S Jay Kept getting asked for a video of the install alone, what you've already seen was spread over a few videos and hard for people to dissect the bowthruster install from all the other jobs we were doing.

[@moonshine3333]

Sailing SV Compromise Good idea. Chris Britaly is doing the same. Odd to think that people could be watching what you did in 20 years time 👍

[@OverlandSea]

S Jay Funny you say that, I were talking to Chris a while ago about creating catalogues/playlists of helpful videos that should help others for years to come. As a creator they should help the channel in the long term. I appreciate it's a bit crap for our regular subscribers who've already seen most of the footage. We will have some new and exciting videos coming when we start heading South in a few weeks time.

[@gregoryp2859]

Cutting a hole in a perfectly healthy boat is not a natural act.

[@OverlandSea]

I agree