Reverse Thruster assist

[jmoore15]

I consider myself pretty experienced navigating my Z3,which can beast on windy days, and I would love to have the option. However, no way am I paying anywhere near $10k for the option. I have heard many say that if you need this option you shouldn't own a wake boat. Personally, I think that is a ridiculous statement and am all for progress and making things easier. Plus the easier it is the better chance I can take some time off behind the wheel.

[BlackoutATX]

I consider myself pretty experienced navigating my Z3,which can beast on windy days, and I would love to have the option. However, no way am I paying anywhere near $10k for the option. I have heard many say that if you need this option you shouldn't own a wake boat. Personally, I think that is a ridiculous statement and am all for progress and making things easier. Plus the easier it is the better chance I can take some time off behind the wheel.

This. The biggest incentive here is being able to let someone else take the wheel sometimes.


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[IDBoating]

Here is an aftermarket options for $4200
https://sideshift.com/monohull-bow-stern-thrusters/

More detailed
https://sideshift.com/monohull-bow-s...tern-thruster/

550 AMPERES OF CURRENT?!? Even the smallest model is 400 amps!

That's more than most starters pull to start your engine.

[ironpeddler]

the $10k price is list price, it is probably more like $6500-$7500 in reality which kind of brings it closer to the thrusters being posted on here...lol

[chpthril]

550 AMPERES OF CURRENT?!? Even the smallest model is 400 amps!

That's more than most starters pull to start your engine.

If its anything like MC's dockstar, it has its own group 24 battery.

[freeheel4life]

Just took a Regal 2800 out last week that had a bow thruster. Was actually really cool to basically parallel park. Come up next to dock with a little reverse and wheel turned away from dock, throw a little into bow thruster at same time and boat just walks straight sideways. Cool stuff.

Boat showed up and left with customer pretty quickly and isn't want we normally carry in the Regal line, so don't have much info on it, but can say that amp draw was super high on the bow thruster it had. If you ran it sustained it would drop voltage to 11.9 while running the engine. Would also cause any other finction in boat to underperform when it was in use. All LED courtesy light and many other things would underperform when in use. Can't imagine how a poor little 80-90 amp alternator is going to do with that. Gotta be fielding like a SOB

[Z3 LKG]

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

My rzx drives circles around the z3

Agreed! The RZX3 is MUCH easier to maneuver both at the dock and turning to pick up downed surfers, than our '14 Z3

[IDBoating]

If its anything like MC's dockstar, it has its own group 24 battery.

Great, but how long can even a dedicated Group 24 sustain hundreds of amps?

[chpthril]

Great, but how long can even a dedicated Group 24 sustain hundreds of amps?

With the engine running, maybe about 12 minutes of run time. Should be enough to dock up or leave slip. I worry more about the charging system keeping pace with all the other loads AND having to recharge a depleted battery. This is especially true when making the last dock maneuvering of the day or loading up on trailer. No time to top battery off, so shore charging is almost a must.

[UNSTUCK]

Never mind the battery, what's the duty cycle of the motor they are using? Can't be a big motor, which tells me you probably can't run it long at all.

[Dandy]

Anyone know if they may have a secondary alternator on the MC/Nautique with factory systems that would be a dedicated charge to that circuit?

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[IDBoating]

Let's run some numbers here. 400 amps at 12VDC is 4800 watts, which is around five horsepower. Does it really take 5HP to impart rotation to a wakeboat hull? I suppose if you want it to spin really fast, but for docking purposes?

I have an old trolling motor lying around. It has a 6 inch prop (just measured it) and connects to a battery via what appear to be ~14 gauge wires so it probably maxes out around 15-20 amps. I bet if I hang that off the transom it will spin the boat. Not very fast, but I bet it will move. 20A at 12V is 240 watts, which is about 1/3 HP. Do you really need 15X that much power?

[IDBoating]

Anyone know if they may have a secondary alternator on the MC/Nautique with factory systems that would be a dedicated charge to that circuit?

Not sure about PCM (which is where Nautique gets their engines, they own PCM) or Ilmor (MC), but Indmar made provision for a second alternator on some of their marinized engines. I presumed it was intended to handle ever-larger ballast pumps for today's ever-larger ballast compartments, but who knows. And even then, you're "only" going to get another 100A or so... paltry compared to a motor that draws 400-550+ amps. Wow.

[trace]

I got to drive a G23 last weekend with the thruster on it. Let's just say it was cool, really cool. Especially how Nautique has it integrated. I agree it's still too expensive, but it works and nicely so. Nautique has it tied into the shifter and steering. It's not an on-off, it's thrust is proportional to how far you have the wheel turned. When engaged, it only comes on when in FWD or REV below 5mph. When in Neutral, there are buttons on the dash to run it either direction. G's are big heavy boats, this thruster can spin it in its own length and at a pretty quick rotation speed too.

[IDBoating]

Welcome to the world of driving a jetboat! We used to have a Seadoo Challenger 2000, powered by a Mercury V6 with a Mercury jetdrive, and nothing beats a thrust reverser for maneuverability. As you said, you can turn such a boat in its own length. I still miss that little 20 footer....