Ed Ruff from EC Ruff Marine gave Skipper’s Review the low down on bow thrusters at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2018.
1. What is a bow thruster?
2. What size boat can you start thinking about installing bow thrusters?
3. Would a bow_thruster remote control come in useful? Dockmate USA
4. What kind of bow thrusters are there?
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: Hi Sarah O’Kelly here with Skipper’s Review T.V and I am with Ed Ruff from EC Ruff Marine at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2018. Ed and ECRuff Marine have been around since 2000 and cover a lot of areas in the marine industry.
What can EC Ruff Marine help you with?
All things boating electrical, generators, dock boxes to name a few but today we are going to focus on bow thrusters. The little bit I know about bow thrusters is you put them on the bow and the stern of your boat to prevent an embarrassing docking experience when you pull up to a restaurant. Now there is a bow thruster remote control, right? Tell me a little bit about the remote control.
EC RUFF MARINE: The remote control will allow you to have motor control functions bow and stern thruster functions, windlass or two windlasses and allow you to blow the horn!
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: You don’t have to be actually at the helm in order to operate the bow thruster, you can stand all the way over on the port-side or wherever it is you want to be…
EC RUFF MARINE: You can be 100ft away if you want.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: There are a few different remote controls out there for bow thrusters? Is there anything in particular that stands out? What is the name of the one that you sell right now?
EC RUFF MARINE: Dockmate, it has a water proof handset. So you don’t get any condensation or have any issues with communication from point A to point B. Licensed with a lot of different a shifter companies. It’s basically a plug in and play system you don’t have to cut wires or control harnesses, devoid warranty, transmissions, or gear shifter capabilities.
How much will this set me back?
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: And what about price range, is it like a high price range?
EC RUFF MARINE: It’s about half the price or the cost of our competitors.
Dockmate has more features, one of the features that’s nice is it has a button that you can blow your horn. You have another button with dual communication for one or two windlasses and you can have a control function for a single or twin engine function, bow and a stern, it’s no add on’s it’s already in that new technology of the equipment.
SKIPPER’SREVIEW: How big should your boat be, how many engines do You need to have, will it work on a single engine 20 footer or is there even any point in putting it on a single engine?
EC RUFF MARINE: We have put the thrusters in a twenty one foot boat, ski boats, center console, single engine, or midship motorboat those are very difficult to maneuver when docking or drive at slow speeds when you’re waiting for a bridge. All the manufacturers, have their own specific needs and functions there is retractable, there is bolt on units…
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: So let’s say I have a thirty two foot boat or no let’s make it bigger. I have a forty two footer, twin engines, what kind of bow thruster do you think I need on that to make it pretty manageable for a knowledgeable captain?
EC RUFF MARINE: On that size boat, side power has an SCE one hundred and twelve or twenty four volt that should gave you adequate maneuver ability and pounds of thrust to move the boat in twenty knot winds with current.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: Awesome, Okay. Thank you very much Ed.
EC RUFF MARINE: Thank you.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: You’re welcome. Sarah O’ Kelly, Skipper’s Review T.V at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2018
https://skippersreview.com/blog/2018/10/31/skippers-review-is-new-and-improved/
