Reverse Thruster assist

[Thegerman618]

The RZX line to me drives the best on comparison with the big boats.

My rzx drives circles around the z3

HA...Challenge accepted!!

[Germaine Marine]

Oh pal I love you but as far as maneuverability it isn't close.


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[Thegerman618]

Honestly all the boats can be handled quite well, I have driven many models and brands of boats. All of them, under the hand of a driver that knows how the boat will react to specific inputs can drive them beyond what an I/O is capable of and do it much smoother. A V-Drive is one of the few boats that you can literally spin in place with. I have driven ALMOST every boat model that Tige offers at some point (2100v, 24Ve, Z1, Z3, RZX2, RZX3) along with (Axis, M/C, Sanger, and Mobius different models) none of them had bow or stern thrusters obviously and all of them drive a little a different, but all of them have similarities.

If just one brand could come out with a "Trailer Button". This button could be placed on the dash or next to the throttle, and when you push the button the boat goes into gear (no additional power, just in gear). When I push the button its in gear, when I release it its in neutral so I can just bump the boat in and out of gear onto the trailer. I do this now, but the throttle on these new boats is ULTRA sensitive to any power input.

[Thegerman618]

Oh pal I love you but as far as maneuverability it isn't close.


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Are we talking high speed cornering or in the marina?

High speed...Ill concede
Marina....Tight, Controlled Maneuvers, GAME ON!!

[CarFanatic]

great idea.... reverse and putting on a trailer \ boat slip in wind is horrible in vdrives.

[chpthril]

Hope someone packed a ruler for judging ya'lls boat driving contest

[bsreid]

I’m curious on these results too. It also comes down to the drivers skills.

Setup a camera and have it in the same position looking at the dock and see which can turn sharper into it.

[Bad05]

NICE!

Hope someone packed a ruler for judging ya'lls boat driving contest

[ericinmich]

Being able to have the prop push/pull at angles vs only having a rudder divert the prop wash... I/O or OB wins for maneuverability every time. IBs are fine in most conditions, but in a strong side current or wind, it's a bitch (nearly impossible) to pull the stern to port unless you rely on a spring line. I've owned them all up to a twin diesel IB, which is just fun to dock in all conditions.

This summer took the Tige through a lock which drops 20 feet or so. I've done it in all of my boats, and previously in the Tige without issue. This time, there was gate on the upstream that wouldn't close, and the water was rushing/boiling under the boat while driving into the lock. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the stern in with the moving water (boat not moving). On my old I/O, that would of been a piece of cake...

[Hammertime]

This looks amazing. I would pay extra for this feature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61O9ncodbd0

[david.osborne24]

Bumping this forum up again. Anybody seen a stern thruster installed on a Tige? My 2019 RZX3 is getting some upgrades this winter. The folks over at The Boat Locker in Nashville are installing the 12” REVO 12 PSE subwoofer in the big port compartment next to the factory amps just like what is being offered from the factory on the 2020’s. My wife just informed me she’s picking up the tab on that for me as my Christmas present so now I’m looking to add a stern thruster while the good folks at The Boat Locker have her in the shop. Now before everybody starts hounding me. Yes, I’m experienced with V-Drives so don’t hit me with “learn how to drive your boat and you won’t need it”. I’m shooting for convenience here and I realize I don’t “need” it but none of us “need” wake boats yet here we all are [emoji2957]. This feature would be awesome to have, especially since our lake is usually very windy.

[hcooperrn]

I've been trying to come up with a way to add this to our Z3 as well, without the steep price tag. I can handle the boat just fine around the dock, even in some wind, as long as everyone else around me stays predictable. It's when I'm in a tight spot and can only go one direction, and a pontoon decides to park in that direction, that I would really love to have some control over the back end.

As rigged as it may be, I've even thought about having someone stand at the back with a trolling motor and I'll give them directions, it gets that annoying at our ramp some time and I'd really like to be able to snake my way in/out.

I'll volunteer my boat for testing if anyone wants to play with concepts in the Dallas area...surely we can come up with a way to hook up some smallish pumps as jets, or a blade/motor with just enough thrust to get the job done?

[david.osborne24]

I’m attending the Nashville Boat Show today and I am meeting with the folks that manufacturer the EZ Drive Thruster. I’ll let you all know what info I gather

[UNSTUCK]

I thought a lot about this when this thread first came out. A small child can hold onto the swim deck and push the boat in a circle. This tells me it would require very little thrust to move the boat. I thought about taping a ballast pump output hose onto my transom to see what would happen. Then playing with different size nozzles to see what kind of pressure would be generated. These are flow pumps, not pressure pumps, but it may work. You certainly wouldn't get the speed of the real ones, but I bet you could get decent parallel parking out of it. I imagined having 4 "thruster" ballast pumps, one running to each corner of the boat just below the water line and two momentary switches to power left and right or one of each. The whole system for a few hundred bucks.

[MikeB313]

I can see where a thruster would be nice if you were in some tight situations for docking and such but for myself it would never be required. I rarely even touch a dock. Picking up or dropping off my truck driver I'll either nose in or back in so they can step on/off the swim platform on to the dock. Once you have a good understanding of how our types of boats reverse you position yourself (when possible) differently so you can still have that back to the right work effectively. Ie, you do left hand turns

I'd also agree that 10k seems a bit much for something attached on the back.

This is correct. I've been in the new G23 with it and it was cool, but not needed and as others have said, way too expensive.