WaterWings
Super Administrator
Posts: 8206
Registered: 2-3-2006
Location: Lexington KY (CB)
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If your bow thruster is missing, this is were it went.
Boats.com April 12, 2012
Missing: Bow Thruster
Where did it go? A reader hauled his boat after storing in the water over the winter, only to find his bow thruster gone.
Question: I decided to leave my boat in the water over the winter this year and just had it hauled so we could check the anodes and reapply
anti-fouling paint. I am now in total shock! The photo you see here is what is left of my bow thruster after sitting in the water all winter. What is
going on?
Answer: Oh my, you had an expensive winter indeed.
What you see here is the net result of electrolytic corrosion, otherwise known as DC stray current corrosion. This is quite unfortunate because it is
so easily prevented. The DC positive cable that goes to your bow thruster motor has somehow short-circuited to the motor case, and I’ll bet it
completely discharged the battery supplying the bow thruster over the winter. This is one of many reasons why I always recommend a battery master
switch shut off for all battery installations, regardless of the power output of the battery. This gives you a way to shut electrical power down
completely when you are away from the boat, whether for a day, or all winter.
Bow thrusters are almost always mounted under forward V-berth areas of the boat. This area typically makes a great “catch-all” storage area for things
you don’t need to access too often. I’ll bet that in your case something bumped into the positive battery lug where it connects to your thruster motor
and bent it into the motor housing. This causes a low level short circuit that unfortunately didn’t provide a good enough electrical connection to
blow a fuse or trip a circuit breaker. But it did allow enough electrical current to leak out through the drive leg and electrically eat away the bow
thruster. This is a really expensive way to learn the following lesson: keep that locker empty!
The good news is that drive makers these days are starting to electrically isolate the motors from the in the water sections of their drives so that
this can’t happen. This is definitely worth looking into, since you are going to have to replace this gear anyhow.
Read more about Storage around Bow Thrusters
—Ed Sherman
Read more: http://www.boats.com/blog/2012/04/missing-bow-thruster/#ixzz...
WHATEVER floats your boat Dude!
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RedneckYachtClub
Master Member
Posts: 567
Registered: 1-13-2006
Location: Westerville, Ohio
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Mood: D@#* Dam!!!!!
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OUCH... that is not cheap!
Get me to the dam lake ASAFP!
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WaterWings
Super Administrator
Posts: 8206
Registered: 2-3-2006
Location: Lexington KY (CB)
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| Quote: | Originally posted by RedneckYachtClub
OUCH... that is not cheap! |
Nope and neither was my little mis-adventure with electroloysis Redneck! I'm not sure if that's what happened to the bow thruster or something similar
but stray current can cause some serious damage.
This prop came off my houseboat several years ago now. I had to replace both of them with the help of some friends.
Of course it ate the props off first and that's all the damage we could find. Stardust examined it out of the water couple of years later and
confirmed no other damage.
Folks, electroloysis is kind of like Carbon Monoxide...its silent, sneaky, orderless, and colorless. Electroloysys is one of those things you don't
know is happening until its too late.
I wish there was a good/easy/cheap way to test for it. Anybody???
WHATEVER floats your boat Dude!
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FireEscape
Master Member
Posts: 821
Registered: 1-30-2008
Location: Northern Kentucky
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Mood: Hold my beer... Watch This!!!
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This solution does not really solve the issue of where the stray current is coming from and why it is there but this would at least let you know if
you are protected.
First, read here - http://assets.fluke.com/appnotes/electricalpower/B0269b_u.pd...
And here is the electrode they are talking about in the article - http://www.reliabilitydirectstore.com/RDI-CRE-Corrosion-Refe...
\"If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there\'d be a shortage of fishing poles.\"
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