Using bow thruster to steer while underway

Something is definitely wrong with this picture. Looks like Dothan Cut, south of Staniel which is a very safe and easy cut even with the current running against the wind. conditions don’t even look bad at all.

He s using a lot of steering so obviously he has steering. He has hydraulics since the thruster is working so the stabs should be up as well

weird.

Are we sure that's not just someone making frozen blender drinks in the galley for the beautiful beach they're approaching?

That would be enough frozen drinks for small cruise ship

You hate second guessing someone without having all the relevant info but sure looks to me like he's oversteering and making it harder than needs to be.

The only time I use my BT for steering is an occasional bump when trolling at slow speeds and if higher winds are pushing my bow off course. And by slow I mean on trolling valves doing 2 kts or less.

Yes, something is not right..
Too slow boat speed for normal steering..?
They lost control of the rudder?
Running on 1 engine on a twin engine boat?
(A bow thruster is an excellent back-up if you loose normal steering of the vessel, otherwise docking and emergency only)

There is another video on that same YouTube channel showing underwater footage. It s a single engine boat with a BIG rudder.

Like most cuts in the exumas, Dotham is pretty deep so That wasn’t a factor. Neither was the APnas he his clearly hand steering. Personally I never run a cut on AP.

Using a bow thruster while underway is a great way to break a sheer pin or spin the hub on the plastic propped bow thrusters.

Guys, this is how A LOT of Asian boats handle when going through cuts with current and wind. "Taiwanese tub"

No, don't put words in my mouth. Have you run several different sized Nordhavns???

I have run dozens of these types of displacement hulled Asian brands of boats. A good number of them have some really scary handling characteristics. I ran a 60' Defeaver that had a hull speed of 8.2 knots. IF you got into a counter current doing 8.2 knots, the boat would do a 180 degree turn within 100' and almost throw you out of the helm chair, if you didn't back the throttles down to idle instantly as soon as it wiggled the first time. SO every inlet with an outgoing current, you'd have to slow down to 3-4 knots SOG. Several others where they'd hunt and veer 40 degrees left and right from your heading going in and out of inlets, just like this one is doing.

Nordhavn has a great name and well in the end are a good boat. NOBODY tells you that the US branch has to spend 4 months fixing all of the factories screw ups before delivery to the customer and that for the first year, owners are having the dealer constantly sorting out all sorts of build/engineering issues under warranty.

Looking at the video once again, it seems to me that the boat was going too fast approaching the cut and surfing the waves. If you look at the video in you tube instead of embedded here, you can zoom in. Overhead on each side of the garmins seems to be digital displays showing depths and GPS speed. Before entering the cut itself, there seem to be 11 to 12 kts surfs. Looking at the waves, the boat is definitely catching them…. While this should provide plenty of flow on the rudder and fins, it also means the boat will be a handful

the ground speed also shows that he was going with the current and wind so conditions should have been manageable. Again, Dotham is a very safe cut and in this case he was not dealing with wind against current. Even in the cut at peak current, the speed wasn’t much higher unlike other cuts.

the sound was a bit choppy that day but pretty typical. Had the conditions been rough, I can’t imagine why he would have gone the extra 20nm to Dotham when Galiot to the south and Conch cut to the north are just as easy. Whenever we run up and down the exumas we always try to minimize our time in the sound since the bank is deep and calm.

finally, I can’t help wondering why he kept the thruster going for long period of times, especially later in the clip, without switching directions while changing direction on the steering wheel. If you need help to from the thruster to steer, wouldn’t you release the joystick when you start steering on the opposite direction?

that boat sure seems to be a handful though.

Only time bow thruster has been used was in new river. Couple of manatees traveling with us against the current. They weren't making much headway, were blocking the channel, making steerage difficult for us in a 73 ft trawler. Couple quick burps from the thruster and they moved to the side rapido!!