Reply To: Bow thruster

Has anyone done any measurements of the windage forces on the HT26 in different wind strengths? It would be useful in determining the size of thruster required. My guess is that the CdA of the HT26 side-on can't exceed 12sq.m which would give a total side force of about 72kgf in a 10m/s surface wind. Assuming the bow thruster needs to generate somewhat over half of this (assuming about an equal split of the windage between bow and stern) it looks as if a 2kW thruster should be more than up to the job although the ones with a 5 inch tunnel seem marginal. A thruster on a drop-down strut could easily use an 8 inch prop which would be much more effective (a rough sum suggests over 55kgf for a 2.2kW motor driving an 8 inch prop)