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Vetus Bow Thruster


Ketro

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Our Vetus 55KGF/150 bow thruster seems to be quite an expensive item to run. It has cost us £992.80 in service and repairs in the period from June 2011 to January 2012. One of the biggest expenses was the SOLENOID which cost in excess of £400 plus a SERVICE at near the same. At one stage the BRUSHES were replaced because they were damp. Is this a good reason to change them? Another question I have is this:- Is £409.48 too much to pay for a solenoid?

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Our Vetus 55KGF/150 bow thruster seems to be quite an expensive item to run. It has cost us £992.80 in service and repairs in the period from June 2011 to January 2012. One of the biggest expenses was the SOLENOID which cost in excess of £400 plus a SERVICE at near the same. At one stage the BRUSHES were replaced because they were damp. Is this a good reason to change them? Another question I have is this:- Is £409.48 too much to pay for a solenoid?

 

Sounds outrageously expensive to me - but then I have no comparator to go on.

 

Damp brushes? - was the source of the dampness identified? - seems like a strange thing to occur to me.

 

I guess it all comes down to how much you value/feel you need it, I know what I would do and I reckon it would cost much less and it would solve the problem.

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Our Vetus 55KGF/150 bow thruster seems to be quite an expensive item to run. It has cost us £992.80 in service and repairs in the period from June 2011 to January 2012. One of the biggest expenses was the SOLENOID which cost in excess of £400 plus a SERVICE at near the same. At one stage the BRUSHES were replaced because they were damp. Is this a good reason to change them? Another question I have is this:- Is £409.48 too much to pay for a solenoid?

How much is it getting used?

The solenoid is expensive because of the current handling capability, but that said why did it fail (because of damp brushes)?

Yep, damp brushes are not good, lead to arcing and premature wear, but why are they damp? Seals replaced?

The motor and electrics should be in a dry area protected from water splashes, is it becuase of condensation in the bow area?

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contactor (solenoid) parts and brushes can be purchased for a few pounds once you suss out their specifications and source them from the original suppliers. For example my failed contactor was fixed for a tenner after I spoke to a helpful lady at Allbright International. She refused to sell me the £110 replacement unit (as fitted by Vetus and sold by them for £275) and sold me the contact point strips only. Easy to fit.

 

My contacts failed because of inadequate voltage under load, which caused the contacts to chatter. Maybe you need to look at your cables and battery arrangements.

Edited by ChrisPy
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Bow thrusters......work of the devil, anything Vetus even more so and mind numbingly expensive. I recently enquired why a head gasket replacement on a 2 cyl Vetus was going to cost nearly £900 pounds. Answer, gasket set £360!!!!!!!! and no there was not one available from ebay or the local plant hire firm. Utter madness.

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Bow thrusters......work of the devil, anything Vetus even more so and mind numbingly expensive. I recently enquired why a head gasket replacement on a 2 cyl Vetus was going to cost nearly £900 pounds. Answer, gasket set £360!!!!!!!! and no there was not one available from ebay or the local plant hire firm. Utter madness.

 

Seconded PB (well the bit about Vetus anyway). I was once told by the Vetus agent at Crick that I was a complete idiot and shouldn't be walking the planet - maybe he was right but it wasn't very effective salesmanship to tell me. What was worse was that my suggestion to him about something to do with cable sizes turned out to be entirely in line with Vetus own tech spec documents when I looked at them later!

 

I'm afraid I've avoided anything to do with Vetus ever since!

 

I also agree with ChrisPy that if you are able to "go behind" the badge engineering of anything to source the original parts it really does bring the price down. The downside is that it can take a little time and understanding of the technical features of whatever it is.

 

Richard

  • Greenie 1
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Our Vetus 55KGF/150 bow thruster seems to be quite an expensive item to run. It has cost us £992.80 in service and repairs in the period from June 2011 to January 2012. One of the biggest expenses was the SOLENOID which cost in excess of £400 plus a SERVICE at near the same. At one stage the BRUSHES were replaced because they were damp. Is this a good reason to change them? Another question I have is this:- Is £409.48 too much to pay for a solenoid?

 

 

Two things to mention here. The first being narrowboats are not built long enough to need bowthrusters they are simply never needed. I am asuming of course you have a narrowboat. Secondly I recently bought this boat I am on now and it has said vetus bowthrusters fitted as yours. They work well but will probably stop working as I will not use them enough and would I repair them..........Not a chance. Vetus equipment is not very good and massively expensive.

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Thanks to all who replied, I'm beginning to wish I'd never seen the BT. It was part of the package when I bought shares in NB Tranquility. Last year The BT stopped working when we were on the R. Nene and I decided to take a look to see if there was anything I could do to get them going. They've been weak for a long time and we've seen frequent brush replacements. I then discovered the wrong brushes were fitted, 24 volt type (single bonded braid) instead of 12 volt. (Twin bonded braid). I managed to clamp what was left of the burnt out braid between the leaf spring and the brush, and that got it going again for a short while. Since then the BT has been removed for a professional service and within a month of that new brushes were fitted again, because they were damp - probably from condensation. I've spoken to a couple of electrical engineers and they both said the brushes would only need replacement if the unit had been immersed and there was evidence of corrosion or degradation inhibiting the performance.

 

The way I see it is this:-

 

24 volt brushes = twice the resistance = half the performance = over heating of the braid - and a bill fast approaching £1000.

 

Thanks again,

K

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Our Vetus 55KGF/150 bow thruster seems to be quite an expensive item to run. It has cost us £992.80 in service and repairs in the period from June 2011 to January 2012. One of the biggest expenses was the SOLENOID which cost in excess of £400 plus a SERVICE at near the same. At one stage the BRUSHES were replaced because they were damp. Is this a good reason to change them? Another question I have is this:- Is £409.48 too much to pay for a solenoid?

 

I obviously don't use my Vetus 95kgf/185 enough because since I bought the boat 7 years ago it's only cost 35 quid for a new prop and that's it.

 

What are you doing with it exactly? Do you have heavy fingers? On the other hand it may not have been installed very well - what happened to the solenoid?

Edited by blackrose
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A bow thruster is not an alternative to proper boating skills. But, if I had a bow thruster on my boat I would expect it to work. I must admit I would find a reliable unit useful ( as a frequently single-handed old fart).

 

Sadly they are usually a waste of money as the reliability is questionable.

 

Good luck - and I can empathise with anyone who has parted with a load of cash for something which doesn't do the job.

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A bow thruster is not an alternative to proper boating skills. But, if I had a bow thruster on my boat I would expect it to work. I must admit I would find a reliable unit useful ( as a frequently single-handed old fart).

 

Sadly they are usually a waste of money as the reliability is questionable.

 

Good luck - and I can empathise with anyone who has parted with a load of cash for something which doesn't do the job.

 

That's not been my experience. My BT certainly hasn't been a waste of money. Over the past 7 years it's been extremely reliable & useful for single-handling my widebeam.

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That's not been my experience. My BT certainly hasn't been a waste of money. Over the past 7 years it's been extremely reliable & useful for single-handling my widebeam.

 

It is good to hear some positive feedback. What unit have you got?

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That's not been my experience. My BT certainly hasn't been a waste of money. Over the past 7 years it's been extremely reliable & useful for single-handling my widebeam.

 

 

Vetus 95Kgf/185mm dia. I use it sparingly.

 

And I can also confirm that with the same bit of kit (also used sparingly) it is (so far) extremely reliable on our widebeam

(it's normally only used when reversing into our pontoon mooring when there's the inevitable crosswind taking the bow)

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I had some trouble with my Vetus 55kg BT after 5 years use, speed was very erratic in one direction. The problem was a bad contact on the brush leads under the securing screw. These units are quite robust but are likely to misbehave sometimes. It is a DIY job to remove the motor, remove and clean the brushes, clean the comm, strip down the contactor and clean the contacts then replace. A good fettle up like this will usually solve most problems and it really is not difficult.

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Vetus 95Kgf/185mm dia. I use it sparingly.

 

 

That's heartening to know.

 

Thanks to all who replied, I'm beginning to wish I'd never seen the BT. It was part of the package when I bought shares in NB Tranquility. Last year The BT stopped working when we were on the R. Nene and I decided to take a look to see if there was anything I could do to get them going. They've been weak for a long time and we've seen frequent brush replacements. I then discovered the wrong brushes were fitted, 24 volt type (single bonded braid) instead of 12 volt. (Twin bonded braid). I managed to clamp what was left of the burnt out braid between the leaf spring and the brush, and that got it going again for a short while. Since then the BT has been removed for a professional service and within a month of that new brushes were fitted again, because they were damp - probably from condensation. I've spoken to a couple of electrical engineers and they both said the brushes would only need replacement if the unit had been immersed and there was evidence of corrosion or degradation inhibiting the performance.

 

The way I see it is this:-

 

24 volt brushes = twice the resistance = half the performance = over heating of the braid - and a bill fast approaching £1000.

 

Thanks again,

 

 

 

I wonder if as its a shared boat that the BT is getting some overuse and or rough treatment. Are all the useers fully briefed on the correct use. Would premature brush wear be caused by not letting the BT stop between oppersite rotation. Would a delay unit be worth fitting?

Edited by Biggles
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I had some trouble with my Vetus 55kg BT after 5 years use, speed was very erratic in one direction. The problem was a bad contact on the brush leads under the securing screw. These units are quite robust but are likely to misbehave sometimes. It is a DIY job to remove the motor, remove and clean the brushes, clean the comm, strip down the contactor and clean the contacts then replace. A good fettle up like this will usually solve most problems and it really is not difficult.

be careful when you clean the contacts. They are plated and abrasive will make them worse in a short time.

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be careful when you clean the contacts. They are plated and abrasive will make them worse in a short time.

 

Yes indeed, I used my wife's nail polishing card to to dress up the contacts, the smoothest one she had, then just rubbed up with a cloth. Worked fine but will have to see how long they last.

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