American Tug 34 Owner Experiences

Chapter 12 Bow Thruster

The Sidepower thruster is made in Norway, but is fully supported by the importer, Imtra.
Telephone: 508-995-7000 (in MA). Main support person is Phil Whittaker.
Website: www.imtra.com

The bow thruster is a Sidepower model SP75T (SP80T on later boats), mounted upright
under the forward berth. To get to it, lift up the mattress, and remove the 2 rectangular
interlocking access covers. The bow thruster is under yet another cover, in that big
soundproofed box in the middle of that area.
The AT41 has a similar SP95 thruster.
Around 2005 there was a minor change to this thruster to add IPC (Intelligent Power
Control) circuitry. This circuitry compares the low-power joystick signal with the highpower motor draw, to prevent running of the thruster if the solenoid contacts stick on.
(Underneath the black solenoid cover, the IPC thruster has 3 wires on the starboard side,
and the pre-IPC one has only 2). Its hard to see, but the thruster in the photo is a pre-IPC
model.
In 2008 the thruster propellers were changed to 5-bladed, and the model rebranded as an
SP80T (for 80kg thrust).
I believe the (optional) stern thruster is a similar motor, but mated to a different gear case,
and mounted on its side in the stern lazarette. The early ones had water leakage problems,
but later ones use a sealed fuel vapor safe model, and seem to last longer.

In the picture above, a black plastic cover over the solenoid pack has been removed prior
to troubleshooting.
There are 2 little metal pins on the outside of this cover. They are spare shear pins for the
thruster propellers.

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AT41 Bucky Wood (AT41-#33 Undocd" reports

The AT41 has a separate Bow Thruster Battery, charged thru a 50Amp circuit breaker
located on the starboard side in the forward storage. Several owners have had frequent
loss of charge to this battery, due to this breaker opening (Ours had been very quick to
flip, often after only 8 seconds of use). The battery is then no longer charged, and thus the
thruster continues to work until the battery is drained.
When the factory came down to look at it, they discovered that the breaker is only a 50
amp when it should be a 60 amp breaker. After replacement, ours now works great, with
continuous use for up to 20 seconds. Of course it should be used sparingly, but now it
behaves as it should..

In-water maintenance
Check the oil level in the reservoir next to the thruster motor once or twice a year. It
should not vary at all.
Also inspect the clear oil supply tube. If this is milky, water is getting into the mechanism
and you need to schedule a pro to inspect the bow thruster during the next haulout. And
bring money
Top-up the reservoir, if necessary, with EP90 oil (probably the same grade you use in the
dinghy outboard gearbox).

Note that newer boats (after 2008) with the SP80 thruster have a sealed gearleg
and no external oil tank. One less thing to maintain

Out-of-water Maintenance
During the haul-out, the thruster zincs and propellers should be removed and inspected.
Change the drive leg oil by removing the drain bolt (accessible once the propellers have
been removed and all of the barnacles have been scraped off). Use a 19mm socket to
remove the bolts on the props and a 5mm hex wrench to remove the drain bolt. Drain
about 3-4 tablespoons of oil. Inspect the washer and clean or replace as needed. Then topup the reservoir with EP90 oil.
Bottom Paint everything (including the prop blades, but not the zincs), check the shear
pins, grease the shaft and reassemble with new zincs. The bolt holding the zincs is also a
5mm hex-head, and needs Loctite Blue to prevent loosening
More information on annual maintenance for the thruster can be found at the following
Imtra website:
http://www.imtra.com/downloadTypes/SP_Annual_Maintenance.pdf#search=%22imtra
%20thruster%20maintenance%22

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Upgrading to the new Q-Prop

Starting in 2008, Sidepower made a change to the propellers on their thrusters, changing
from a 4-bladed prop to a new 5-bladed Q-prop. The claim is that they provide about 7
percent more thrust and are 20 to 40 percent quieter than the old 4-bladed prop in a
typical installation. They made retrofit kits available SM79999 for the SP75 and SP95
Bow Thrusters, and SM49999 for the SP55S Stern Thruster (if fitted).
The picture below shows the new prop (to the left of the box) and the old prop (to the
right of the box).

Since we were heading for a haul-out in the near future and are always happy to have
more power when maneuvering in close quarters, we decided to give the new props a try.
As promised, they were easily installed with the supplied adaptor boss. The kit includes
the two props, adaptors, 2 new zincs, prop nuts and shear pins. The picture below shows
the new props installed.
We had the yard bead-blast the props before applying a couple of coats of bottom paint.
The bead-blasting prepares the surface so that the bottom paint would adhere better.

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After we dropped the boat back in the water, we gave the thruster a try, figuring that we
would now be able to use our new stealth thruster and appear REALLY impressive
maneuvering around the dock. Bow thruster??? What bow thruster
We have to report that we honestly did not notice any marked reduction in the sound. It
may be a little quieter, but we did not see the 20-40 percent reduction in noise as
promised in a typical installation.
We did, however, notice a marked improvement in the amount of power. I guess one out
of two aint bad and to be honest, Ill take the increase in power over the reduction in
noise any day

Problems
After about 3 and a half years, 1400 engine hours, and approximately 200 locks, my bow
thruster began to malfunction. It would occasionally (maybe 10% of the time) fail to
operate. That added a little excitement to the docking or locking experience The
control panel turned on, but the motor would not run. This gradually got worse, until it
was pretty unreliable failing to run close to 50% of the time. Of course this happened
right in the middle of the Rideau canal in Canada.
I called the nice people at IMTRA (the Importers) in MA (508-995-7000
[email protected]) and talked to Phil Whittaker, who does tech support for
Sidepower. Theyre ready to help, and emailed me a troubleshooting guide, which I
followed. That guide, and the owners manual (if you dont have a hardcopy) are available
on their website www.imtra.com. Look for the Support area and select downloads.
Then select the Category Thrusters then Sidepower thrusters and a long list of
documents appears. You can also email or call them and theyll send or fax you copies.

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Dont mess with this expensive device without talking to them and having all the
information you need..

Measure the voltage between the Red and Yellow wires at the thruster, or closely observe
the voltmeter on the dash. It should be at least 12V at rest. Then measure it when the
thruster is run (if it runs). If it drops below 10.5V the thruster is not designed to operate,
and it indicates that the engine start battery is probably failing.
The problem in my case turned-out to be bad brushes. Richard Gray (AT34 #087 Gray
Dawn) had similar symptoms, which turned-out to be the solenoids.
Eventually, I had to send my thruster back to Imtra in MA and have it rebuilt. There were
high spots on the commutator that were chipping and wearing the brushes prematurely.
You can remove the motor while the boat is in the water. This can be done quite safely,
without leaving a big hole in the bottom of the boat - which is never a good idea
1. Youll need an 8mm hex wrench for this. Invest in one from Sears that attaches to
a socket drive to make it easiest. You will also need a long extension bar 10 or
15in to reach down into the thruster well. A torque wrench is handy, too.
2. Turn the Engine Start Battery switch (under the helm seat) OFF.
3. Check that the thick red and yellow wires are no longer live with a voltmeter.
Remove them (there are 2 thick wires on each post, and insulate the red ones, just
to be sure
4. Pull the white plastic low-current connector apart.
5. Remove the four 8mm hex-head screws that hold the motor in place. Do this like
a cylinder head loosen gradually them in sequence.
6. Pull the motor straight upwards. It weighs 25-30 lbs, so have your wife do that
no sense in throwing your own back out. There is a rubber Lovejoy coupling
underneath dont lose it. Thats a black rubber donut-shaped thing that absorbs
any shocks between the thruster motor and the propellers. Newer thrusters (since
2008) use a slightly different coupling.
7. Reassembly (as they say) is the reverse of disassembly.

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