mikey
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by mikey on Oct 20, 2015 19:49:00 GMT
My factory fitted bowthruster propeller disintegrated 2 weeks after delivery. I presumed something had entered the tunnel and I put the situation down to bad luck. However, when the boat was lifted there was not even a scratch in the tunnel and all 4 blades had come off at their root! Faulty moulding? I've since discovered that this has happened to several other owners. The parts are not expensive but the lift out/in is!
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Post by Tigidal on Oct 20, 2015 19:54:56 GMT
My factory fitted bowthruster propeller disintegrated 2 weeks after delivery. I presumed something had entered the tunnel and I put the situation down to bad luck. However, when the boat was lifted there was not even a scratch in the tunnel and all 4 blades had come off at their root! Faulty moulding? I've since discovered that this has happened to several other owners. The parts are not expensive but the lift out/in is! Haven't heard of this yet, but am interested in hearing if others have. Our 379 factory thruster has been well-used this our first season, but we've had no issues. The blades and zinc looked fine during inspection at mid-season haul-out.
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Post by abgreenbank on Oct 20, 2015 21:35:17 GMT
Bad luck, normally the Jeanneau warranty will not cover haul out cost, but I would still try and force the issue.
regards ab
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bunky
New Member
Posts: 1
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Post by bunky on Apr 4, 2016 9:12:07 GMT
This has now happened twice on "Jeannie"(New August 2015)with a Factory fitted bowthruster, is there a alternative propeller? as all confidence is being lost in the plastic one supplied, total use time wise less then 10mins has cost £400 a time haul out to remove & replace a £25 blade !! Any suggestions? I also was told this has now happened to other 379's so it appears to be a common problem.
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Post by MalcolmP on Apr 4, 2016 11:02:59 GMT
Frustrating to say the least. I would suspect a faulty batch of mouldings. We have plastic blades on our Max power thruster from 2008 and touch wood not had any problem. Dealer/Jeanneau should be picking up cost of haul outs in my view. The blades are easy to remove - any competent diver should be able to do in water and at a lower cost than a travel lift - not that you should have the cost...
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Post by Kashmir on Apr 4, 2016 14:05:20 GMT
We have had the same problem with our factory fitted bow thruster. When we put a new blade on it actually touched the tunnel on one side with a much larger gap on the other side, as the blades are only plastic it's no wonder they shatter if they're catching. The brokers are currently taking it up with Jeanneau.
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Post by quixotic on Apr 7, 2016 14:45:27 GMT
This is the same situation we have. The blades had to be reduced by about 3mm to allow clearance in the tunnel. I can't imagine that this was the case on the original fitting. The surface of the antifoul in the tube looks as new with no marks or scuffs.
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Post by quixotic on Apr 30, 2016 17:41:53 GMT
We've now fitted a third bow thruster prop to our 379. I'm also working on the theory that the fault is due to a bad batch of props. I believe two examples on the East Coast had new props fitted with successful results. It seems likely that I had just replaced my broken prop with another bad one. Our plan was to procure the latest parts available from various sources. I ended up with 3 props. The label on the plastic bags showed manufacturing dates of week 29-2015, week 04-2016 and week 19-2016. The props themselves show identical markings apart from the 19-2016 part that has an added ident mark (50) moulded into it. On further inspection, the blades of the 29-2015 prop were considerably more flexible to the others. The later parts were very rigid in comparison. Irrespective of which is correct, their (Quick) quality control must be very poor. A couple of mm were shaved off the blades to compensate for the non-central position of the hub. The clearance between the blades and the tunnel was my initial concern but subsequent tours around a couple of marinas revealed that the majority of props weren't fitting centrally either. Jeanneau are paying for the lift-out. Fingers crossed that it's 3rd time lucky. I advise anyone having similar issue to keep or record the date data.
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Post by Anwen (Deep Joy) on May 4, 2016 15:04:21 GMT
This happened with the factory fitted thruster on at least one of the 379's in Swansea. The view at the time was that a stick had been ingested, but reading the posts, perhaps it is down to a manufacturing fault.
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mikey
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by mikey on Jun 25, 2016 8:49:46 GMT
After nearly a year Jeanneau have coughed up for a lift out (but not a lift back in....) and replacement prop. But can you believe it's just happened again! These thruster props are not fit for purpose. I did obtain a spare last year and it has a week 26 - 2015 date on the label. Before lifting out and fitting yet another prop, would it make sense to obtain a prop of more recent manufacture?
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Post by quixotic on Jun 28, 2016 20:15:50 GMT
All my evidence points to a bad batch of props. I've not had any issues with the third prop I fitted despite lots of use. I can't resist testing it regularly in the marina before I cast off. Look for the ident mark (50) in the moulding. My theory is they've fixed the issue and the ident defines a spec change. No one is admitting fault which I gather is generally the case. Gits. I put duplicate orders in to Force Chandlery and Marine Megastore for late parts but both were dispatched from Medline Marine Distributers with early 2016 dates. I believe they were of a similar spec to the 50 ident part. That part came through my broker through one of his contacts.
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mikey
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by mikey on Jul 12, 2016 16:08:36 GMT
Just received latest replacement prop marked week 23 2016 and it does have the additional 50 marking. Interestingly, I tried weighing it and it comes in at 105g. My spare week 28 2015 prop (identical to the one that has just disintegrated) weighs 90g! So, there's been a change somewhere. Fingers crossed this solves the problem. Having said that, I discovered from Quick that their unit that's factory fitted by Jeanneau to the SO379 is specified for 7-9m boats. So why does Jeanneau fit this to an 11.34m boat instead of a larger unit?
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pkempthorne
Junior Member
Posts: 22
Jeanneau Model: SO379
Yacht Name: Roberta
Home Port: Waikawa
Country: New Zealand
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Post by pkempthorne on Sept 8, 2016 11:13:03 GMT
Yet another SO379 bow thruster that lost its blades immediately after delivery. I had just taken delivery of the brand new SO379 and was going across to fuel up prior to the delivery trip from Auckland to the South Island of New Zealand. After a brief use of the thruster leaving my berth it suddenly sounded as though it had lost its propellor. On the first haul out in the South Island, it was noted the blades had sheared off the central boss. Orakei Marine, the Jeanneau agent in Auckland were very supportive and didn't hesitate to supply a replacement propellor and anode. These were fitted and I now wait to see whether this stays intact. The engineer who replaced the propellor suggested I might have sucked a bit of flotsam into the tunnel and that had sheared the blades.
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Post by MalcolmP on Sept 8, 2016 13:27:04 GMT
A few weeks ago I stupidly managed to let a spare mooring line drop into the water (unnoticed) and then used the thruster - horrid sound as rope entered tunnel... However the rope pulled back out OK and the thruster seemed to work OK. Just hauled out and other than some missing antifoul on the blade edges the unit survived fine - this is a 2008 Maxpower, so they made good tough blades at least back then
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Post by sailbleu on Sept 9, 2016 5:15:54 GMT
Just curious , but why a haul out to check or even replace a bow thruster propellor ? I have a side power type and the prop is fix with just an Allen screw , easy peasy to take it off or replace. If you wrap a rope or webbing round the bow hull you have something to hold on to whilst the other hand goes into the tunnel. Also lost a prop in the past , that's why I keep a spare . The loss btw was my own mistake , by covering the zinc with AF something else had to give away , in my case the S/S Allen screw . Once that was gone the prop flew off. The design is like a toy , only one small screw and a metal thread unit melted in the prop' s plastic . The screw then reaches into a groove in the axis . So simple . Therefor I've drilled two extra holes in the prop , threaded it and now two extra bolts to hold the prop in place. Of course I also make sure never to AF the zinc anymore.
But if it's debris that caused the blades to break off , small bars could be a solution , but then you loose some power I was told . That's why I removed mine . Never had an issue with debris SOFAR !
Regards
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Post by MalcolmP on Sept 9, 2016 7:14:07 GMT
Just curious , but why a haul out to check or even replace a bow thruster propellor ? Didn't haul out just for that, unfortunately our sailing season is now over (but did get over 12 weeks so shouldn't moan..) so this was just at laying up time
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Post by quixotic on Sept 20, 2016 19:28:19 GMT
We determined the state of the prop before a lift-out by using a waterproof gopro camera tied to a boat hook. We weren't sure initially if the
Motor was disconnected from the drive due to the shear pin or spline key breaking. We could see the stub of the prop turning.
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Post by saltymetals on Apr 4, 2017 14:25:56 GMT
I have had the same experience as Malcom P. I have a 43ds with a Maxpower bowthruster. Blades are plastic/composite so no anode needed. Boat is now 13 years old and the original factory installation is still working fine. As a precaution the previous owner had fitted three stainless bars about 3-4 mm diameter over each opening. Very useful precaution since it is so easy to catch the lazy-line in the bow thruster if you are struggling with a cross wind when securing the bow in a stern-to mooring in a marina.
Something which really surprises me is that after 13 years the original two batteries alongside the bowthruster (50 Ah each) are still going strong. Andrew
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art
New Member
Posts: 1
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Post by art on Apr 4, 2017 17:52:24 GMT
So, new issue. I have a 2016 Jeanneau54. As I was entering a dock at Peter Island Resort, my bow thruster stopped operating. I need to find the breaker to check it first. Any idea where it might be located?? Not in the obvious places.
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Eash
New Member
Posts: 4
Jeanneau Model: SO379
Yacht Name: Winspiration
Home Port: Chesapeake Bay
Country: USA
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Post by Eash on Oct 3, 2017 13:58:03 GMT
Interesting discussion. I am considering a installing a bow thruster on my SO379 (I purchased the boat a year ago). This will be my first boat with a thruster. I'm looking at different brands of thrusters and would appreciate any info/experiences to help make the choice (eg. how much thrust is needed or you have currently... for the occasional strong crosswinds).
I'm shying away from external thrusters since I'm concerned about an eventual housing leak or it hitting a submerged object, but do like the water depth and being able to mount it more forward. Similarly, a retractable thruster like MaxPower compact is interesting being deeper in the water, but not sure on final/install price comparison relative to an internal thruster w/ tunnel. (I likely have a boatyard put this in rather than installing it myself). Lastly, has anyone had an experience with the "Jet Thruster" from Holland Marine? It seems like a low drag option and simple install, but haven't seen one up close.
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Post by vasko on Oct 3, 2017 18:51:54 GMT
Go for a external type - a lot better, easy to clean, deeper in the water , you can install it yourself for less then 2 hours and actually helps with the speed of the boat. I will never install another tunnel type truster on boat owned by me ... seriouse hastle with everything
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Post by MalcolmP on Oct 3, 2017 22:25:21 GMT
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Eash
New Member
Posts: 4
Jeanneau Model: SO379
Yacht Name: Winspiration
Home Port: Chesapeake Bay
Country: USA
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Post by Eash on Oct 4, 2017 14:06:42 GMT
Thanks for the reply about an external thruster... will reconsider and talk to a distributor at the Annapolis - US Sailboat Show this coming weekend.
Thanks for the link in the forum, it had a lot of questions that would have been repeated.
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