Need a part!
- Thread starter aadecaro
- Start date
Yup. That coupling is PVC , or some version of it, and there is a little 1/4in piece that fits into the prob shaft. That is what gives way instead of the sheer pin. I got the parts on order but it’ll be a number of days until we get them. In the meantime I found a way to get it going. The only good news is that it is the bow thruster and not the stern. Way easier to get to.
sgeary
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2019
- Messages
- 133
- Fluid Motion Model
- R-31 CB
- Hull Identification Number
- FMLT3122I415
- Vessel Name
- SELAH
- MMSI Number
- 368136310
Seems like good news. Not sure what year your boat is, but on our 2015 RT31, the thrusters came originally with a bronze shear pin, which was relatively soft and tended to fail at some point, even if you did everything right in the way you used your thruster. The current replacement shear pins appear to be stainless steel. Perhaps the weak point is now the coupling. I have done both the front and rear thrusters on our boat and now carry spare shear pins, a spare coupler and two of the special thruster bolt wrenches. Our boat is currently in New York, so our spares are not of help to you in Cap Sante. We look forward to returning our boat to the PNW this Fall.
Brass huh? That would do it. It does seem the the plastic coupling is the new fail point. I’d upload pictures but they are too large format for this forum I guess. I cut a groove into the coupling for the stainless steel pin to replace the part of the coupling that failed and glued it in place. Works for now as long as I don’t suck anything else up into it until I get the new parts. Hope to see you around these parts soon!