bow thruster on CD 27

[gates_cliff]

I agree with O J. I don't have problem with the bow nearly so much as I do with the stern when trying to go astern.

[bobc]

I'm selling my CD27 because I bought a trawler. The first thing I did on the trawler was install a bow thruster. What a difference! Life would have been much easier if I'd had one in the CD27. There were times when the wind was astern (combined with currents in the same direction) that I just couldn't get the bow around, no matter how much backing and filling I did with the engine. Spring lines work, but I didn't like using spring lines when single-handing. Now, a more powerful engine might also be a better solution, but a bow thruster will definitely work.

I would keep the bow thruster and install a flexible water tank behind the engine. My CD27 has just such a tank (installed by the PO). I've never used it, but I suspect it has almost as much capacity as the tank up forward. You can just see the tank behind the engine. It's the black bag with the blue writing on it. Because it's low, and fairly far forward, I never noticed a difference in trim when I did have water in it. It's empty in this picture.



Someone wondered about structural integrity. I don't think there's a difference. If anything it's probably stronger because of the fiberglass tube.

As for speed, there probably is some loss of speed in light winds. One thing that the instructions for my thruster recommended for sailboat installations was to build up a ridge on the front edge of the thruster tube so that the water flow was more laminar to the back edge of the tube which, because of the shape of the hull, is farther out than the front.

Bob
www.cd27.org

[bobc]

If anyone's interested, I was working on the shaft coupler and was close enough to read the labeling on the water bag. It holds 23 gallons, which just about doubles the total fresh water capacity of the boat.

Bob