Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Model Boating => Topic started by: boatmadman on May 12, 2013, 08:29:50 am
-
Can anyone who has fitted pumps to work as bow thrusters please comment on how they perform? what size/type of pump used and some info on the exit nozzle would also be useful.
Thanks in advance
Ian
-
im getting some detailed drawings from a chap who is using them on his large tugs
he says they are better than bow thrusters ??
ill pass on the info when i get it
-
A bow (or stern) thruster IS a pump. It pumps water from one side to t'other. There are many different types of pump each designed to do a specific job to the best of its ability. The thruster is just that. I know of one dredger (Westminster) that uses one or both of its main dredge pumps through a system of flaps as a bow thruster. The dredge engines are similar or larger in size than the main propulsion engines. Ok, they are very good thrusters but terribly inefficient and probably only used because they can and not because they are better. You may be trying to reinvent the wheel.
Jerry.
-
Just looked it up in my discharge book. The dredger was WD Resolution which spent a lot of her life in Townsville and Cairnes in Oz. A very old girl.
Jerry.
-
Jerry......... :} ...is WD for Westham Dredging?......................Derek
-
Ian
Quite a few bait boats use pumps for main thrusters; specifically the 12v non-automatic ones made by Rule. The 1100gph model seems favourite, but you would need a pretty large model to fit two of these in the bows. http://www.asap-supplies.com/brands/rule/rule-27d-1100-504182 (http://www.asap-supplies.com/brands/rule/rule-27d-1100-504182) They do make lower flow ones - maybe they are smaller?
How about just one pump with a servo-operated valve or flap to direct the flow to one side or the other?
Dave M
-
Hi Derek. WD = Westminster Dredging.
Jerry.
-
I used 2 caravan in line water pressure booster pumps in mine. work extremely well. in fact as, if not more effective than the rudder. pumps are 12v and about 80mm long by 30 diameter. outlet size is small but who cares. its underwater.
-
I have been using two marine bilge pumps as bow thrusters in a square rigged sailing ship for the last ten years, very effective, also about 125mm tall, so not the smallest things. This particular type allow me to remove the upper pump from the lower piping for maintenance and feather removal, with nothing more than a quarter turn.
We will say its based on the replica ship Grand Turk....also fitted with bow thrusters, so totally scale for a sailing ship :}
-
Hi good morning everyone.
A newbie here based in sunny? Somerset.
Interesting thread about pumps because I have a similar question.
First of all may I say that I spent some years in the N sea and elsewhere as an engineer on anchor handling/rig support ships.
Most of the ships had White gill jet thrusters which were not the most efficient but were powerful and effective.
On more than one occasion brought the ship crawling home safely when main propulsion had died.
Anyway, enough of that, my query is:
I am sure a lot of you are familiar with the scale thruster marketed in various places from a firm beginning with R.
These are quite powerful units and adaptable but appear to last about five minutes before the fit between the motor shaft and paddle become u/s.
I have resin them in position to try to hold them but to limited success.
As a keen scale steering comp. man I find it very frustrating.
Any ideas.
-
Dump it and put a Marx Ludder bow thruster in or have a word with the Blane moor guys , (minni steve) about what they use.
daz
Ps. this is my own oppinion and not reflected by all Mayhemers.
-
Some can be very noisy, hear it before you but it if you can. :-)
-
Having a pop at my Northsider Martin?, yes i have to agree it's noisy(very noisy) why did you think i only used it the other side of the lake??right outside your tent!lol.
Paul.
-
Thanks for that. Certainly the present thrusters are going to be ripped out.
-
I'm using a Citroen pi casa washer pump in a 35" narrow boat. There is one big inlet which I have built in to the bottom of the hull, and two outlets which I have taken out one to each side via silicone tube and 1/8" I'd copper tubing. The pump feeds either outlet depending on the polarity of the battery connection so I'm using a servo with two micro switches to select the desired direction of thrust.