Bow thruster on a 23 foot

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Mike L

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Anyone here ever see or hear of adding a bow thruster to a 2320? Sounds like an awesome idea, I was told cost is about $3k.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
 
3k can be spent else where and be a lot more beneficial. A 23 ft but shouldnt need a bow thruster just my oppinion
 
Fairly major below the waterline upgrade. I would think that there could be trouble ahead if not done completely right. Like stated above, unless you have fifties falling out of your pockets I would use the money on something a little more practical on a 23 footer. Just my humble opinion. Cr
 
crbrown126":14erjbrr said:
Fairly major below the waterline upgrade. I would think that there could be trouble ahead if not done completely right. Like stated above, unless you have fifties falling out of your pockets I would use the money on something a little more practical on a 23 footer. Just my humble opinion. Cr
Click to expand...
Thanks for an intelligent response...
Someone I know does these for Steiger, offered his services. I never gave it thought for a small boat, but when it was brought up I wondered if anyone had this done.
 
Maybe Dale was having a bad day :?: Not the kind of response you'd expect from the site moderator........ At least not on this site ;-)
 
Brad 21se":pr8lflzu said:
Maybe Dale was having a bad day :?: Not the kind of response you'd expect from the site moderator........ At least not on this site ;-)
Click to expand...

Agreed..

A fellow and co worker told me his friend does the thrusters for Steiger, he said "why don't you get one", I said on a 23 ft boat?? He said "yeah, why the hell not".... They are awesome on larger boats, and I figured I would simply ask the Parker audience...Never about being able to handle a boat....Just a simple question.
 
I would get on if it wasn't so expensive.... Y not? I fish alone most of the time and trying to tie up to a dock on a windy day against current single handed is not easy... I have had many occasions where I wished I had one... But thats me... I'm not on the water everyday and dont have the experience that some do..
 
Wind is free, use it to your advantage.

Biggest thing I learned with my Parker is the house is the sail. Plan for that and you look like a docking god.
 
And open the PH windows, works for me on my 2320, let the wind pass through instead of grabbing the PH , also my 23 with a bracket does not like reverse, plan for that give yourself stopping distance and trim the motor up for better response in reverse.
 
I had been running twin inboards with nice big props for years, I could dock it on a dime. Then I went into my 2520 3 years ago. Love the boat, but if you would have seen me try to dock that parker with a single outboard on my first windy day you would have thought I had never been on a boat before, I wore a red face going into the restaurant that day. It just takes a little getting use to, I see your point
 
My 2520 SC with a straight inboard is real tricky to dock! Lot's of backin' and fillin'! Thruster would be nice but I really like the challenge. I run a lot of different boats, big ones, where I work and purposely don't use thrusters when available. it makes you a better boat handler. Thrusters are definitely a great selling point later on but for a 23 I'd use the dough to trick it out with nice elex, tunes, fish gear etc.
 
I'm with TWOBOATER.
My 2520 with a single outboard on a bracket can be stubborn to land sometimes, but with practice I've gotten pretty good with her.

I get to drive boats bigger than my 2520 from time-to-time.
Many of those boats have bow thrusters (some of them even have stern thrusters).
As a rule, I generally don't use the thrusters on those boats.
I'd rather develop the skills needed to land at a dock using the transmissions and without all the grinding noise. :)

They are popular though. We even have sailboats in my marina with thrusters.
 
As a kid (14-18) I ran the gas dock at a fairly large local marina. More often than not, lots of the guys with the 'big' (30-40') boats would throw me the keys and ask me to bring them over to fuel up and then put them back in their slips. Got pretty good at handling twin inboards...and this was in the days when bow thrusters weren't around. Like most things, it takes some practice to develop a feel for the boat and the conditions. My rule of thumb is always S-L-O-W with plenty of popping into neutral, basically just enough speed to maintain headway. Also always trying to anticipate what's about to happen. Sometimes things can get out of hand (my former boat, a full keel sailboat was a bear to handle when the current was running strong and couldn't back a straight line to save my life) but when I see something at the dock going a little crazy it more often than not has to do with a bit of panic setting in by the captain.
 
If you want it....Buy it...Have it installed. It's your boat.

I've had our's in a spot that was crowded and embarrassed myself before. Strong wind tight quarters.
 
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