Stern Thruster advice wanted

[Jim Spencer]

I am thinking of installing a stern thruster in my Nauticat 331. Does anyone have any experience of doing this? I would welcome any advice or suggestions.

[Paul Jepson]

Dreamcatcher had a stern thruster fitted in Lymington 2 years ago. Ownership has subsequently changed and the new owners are based in Plymouth Yacht Haven. They are Association members.

[mikeindevon]

Wow, I would definitely be interested to see how you achieve this, as I have thought about more control at the stern on my 331.

The location of the bow thruster is at a point were the hull is about 50cm or 70cm wide (just a guess), but with the stern we are talking about up to 2m depending on the position you chose. Also there is a lot of gear to take into account; underwater the prop and rudder, in the rear locker the rudder linkage, hydraulics etc.

How about a long shaft electric outboard engine with assistance from one of your crew. If you find a solution please let me know. Mike

[Steve Chafer]

It might be better to install a jet thruster? These have separate outlets each side of the hull all run from a central pump.

[Nick Le Messurier]

I am the new owner of Dreamcatcher as mentioned above. The stern thruster was, as mentioned fitted at Lymington, before my ownership. I will send a message to the previous owner to see if I can provide more information.

[Nicholas Muir]

A NC33 is not easy to take astern, I agree. I found that, with practice, it became quite easy to use the bow thruster to control the vessel when going astern. This became evident when I kept telling myself that the boat will ‘pivot’ around a centrer point – the keel. You have an NC331, which has a fin keel so it will be easier to manage than the older models. I would save the money/effort and learn how to manage the boat better using just the bow thruster and always plan and take it slowly.

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by Nicholas Muir.

[Paul Jepson]

I agree with Nicholas. A stern thrust might be (very) useful but for most it is an expensive luxury. The 331 is slow to respond to the helm when going astern. I have an Autoprop so there is no prop walk effect to help move the stern in one direction. The trick is to use the bow thruster to point the stern in the direction it needs to go. That said, the ability to go sideways combining bow and stern thruster can save a lot of stress.

[Nick Le Messurier]

I have heard back from the previous owner of Dreamcatcher. The stern thruster was fitted by Cooks Maritime of Lymington, their website cooks maritime.co.uk
The fitting of the thruster has been complimented on by different engineers who said it was a job well done, in a tricky situation.

[Jim Spencer]

Thank you for the Cooks Marine details: really helpful. I will reach out to them. Thanks also for reaching out to the previous owner.

[Jim Spencer]

Many thanks to everyone for their responses to this thread. I agree with a lot of what you have said. I have lots of experience manoeuvring long keel boats, but as I am getting less agile, the stern thruster will give me more control as I come alongside, especially if I’m short-handed.

As well as talking to Cooks Maritime, I’m going to have a look at the electric outboard too.

[Jim Spencer]

On the electric long-shaft outboard, if anyone else has done this, it would be good to hear how well it worked.

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