Well said Dr John F.
Valid and prudent observations made relevant to the original question 👍
Regards Bill.

Hi Steven T,

I see that your original question was quickly taken over by my learned friends' discussion. This was firstly on differential thrust on twin-shaft models; and then the various pros and cons of bow thrusters!

Although very interesting, such diversions ignore the fact that almost all fast marine models have just one prop not two - and they certainly have no bow thrusters!

I think you will find that most owners of fast electric models make full use of their transmitter's " dual rate" switch. Hence full rudder travel is selected for tight turning around the harbour - while fine rate is used for fast running. This is as full rudder would be over-sensitive at high speed and could easily cause a catastrophic somersault or crash!!

I hope this helps and with best wishes. Dr. John F. Leeds and Bradford. BBC. 😑😑😑😑😑😑

Sweet dreams Chris😴💤💤

Phew, I can sleep tonight now Doug!

Chris

Oh NO Doug. Now I am totally disillusioned.🤣🤣
I agree with the interlock idea. That said, the new computer radios, like FrSky, Spectrum and others, allow for scripts and virtual switches to be activated. I would think that this would be a perfect place to try such a thing.
Unfortunately, none of my fleet uses bow thrusters,, otherwise I would try programing one, as soon as I figure out how to.😁

À now thruster and Stear are put into à Boat or à yacht to increase manoevrebility when mooring. Or in modelyachting to help when there‘s à competition and you have to navigatie between the bows. There à bowthruster linkes to an esc helps to het through.

Don't panic chaps, stand by your beds😉
My musings on bow thrusters and rudder mixers had absolutely nothing to do with power boats or fast electrics of any kind.
I like my boats/ships to be nippy when in character with the type; e.g. my 4.5ft destroyer used to make RTR toy speed boats look velly silly😁 Much to the disgruntlement of their proud owners. But I have no interest whatsoever in belting round in circles until I crash or the battery runs out😉
No! I was only considering low speed harbour manoeuvring, as Colin described.
Reading his experience it is clear that there needs to be an interlock between speed (i.e. ESC) and the bow thruster. Should work with a simple pulse decoder and threshold switch.

My throw away remark (which should have been thrown away on conception😁) about 'might get a bit violent' was conjured up from a mental image of what might happen to a power boat in a fast turn if a bow thruster did suddenly cut in!💥
Sleep easy folks👍
Cheers, Doug 😎

Yeah, I read somewhere that bow thrusters are ineffective at other than very slow speeds i.e. when manoeuvring. Also at higher speeds the rudder provides plenty of turning unlike at low speeds.

Even if bow thrusters did work at higher speeds they wouldn't be used in full sized craft as that would require additional power and make them less economical.

If I can butt in here, and I am probably poking a hornet's nest,, but here goes anyhow. Bow thrusters are designed to work and really only have an effect at low speed. In fact, if you look at Queen Mary or her sister, I may have dropped the #'s here, they both have doors that close off the thrusters above a certain speed, 10 because the thrusters don't work above that speed, and 2) because the thruster tunnels create a huge amount of drag and turbulence.

Mike, the way I use bow thrusters is for maneuvering in tight spaces or if I need to overcome the wind pushing the bow. I only have them on my large tugs.
I guess someone will give the technical details.
Cheers Colin.

Question for Doug and Colin:
Explain to a landlubber what advantage this would have? The bow thrusters need bigger ships like sailors to get off the dock. .or am I seeing something wrong??
Thanks Michel-Cl.

Correct Doug, I was just giving the basic idea.
And yes a bow thruster can be mixed with steering, I tried it in one of my models, but had to add a switched circuit so it was only used at low speed for maneuvering, but dumped the idea as I kept forgetting the switch.
Cheers Colin.

Or quicker and easy to handle at high speed-
A mixer which links the two motors to the rudder control.
Can be pre-programmed to either slow down, stop or even reverse the motor on the inside of the turn.😮 All done with one stick.
I've recently been pondering that the same principle could be used to activate a bow thruster to assist in turns!? Might get a bit violent though😮
Tank steering needs coordination of two sticks🤔
Cheers, Doug 😎

Tank steering, one prop slows to create drag on the inside of the turn.
Cheers Colin.