Our Address C2 Apollo Court, Neptune Park, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 0SJ, United Kingdom

ABS fitted my lovely Exturn – EXCELLENT!

We installed an EXTURN EX Series Bow Thruster on to our customers Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349. His testimonial below says it all…..

ABS fitted my EX Series Bow Thruster - EXCELLENT!

“I had never had a thruster on any previous boat. But when I bought my new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349, it had higher topsides and windage than I had previously had. As I sail mostly short-handed with my wife, I was becoming more concerned about mooring in tight spots or getting off awkward berths etc.  I have always had twin rudder. Relatively flat-bottomed boats for over 35 years so was used to managing without ‘prop-wash’ but the new boat was less maneuverable.

I race quite a lot with our local Poole Yacht Racing Association and didn’t want anything to slow us down. So spent quite a while dithering about a conventional ‘tube’ or a ‘pod’ thruster. Also if I could justify the benefit with the results.

My neighbour on the berth next to me has a conventional tube thruster on his very similar Beneteau. I notice that because these more modern boats have such shallow forefoots. It quickly draws air in even the calmest of conditions and he has to keep just giving it short bursts to stop cavitation.

I chose the Exturn in the end because it was deeper. Didn’t involve weakening the integrity of the bow formers. Was more streamlined and gave more effective thrust per Kw than an equivalent.  I chose the 24 v version because ABS were able to use thinner cables and do a very neat job of installing the batteries aft, by the existing batteries rather than having the extra weight in the bow.

All in all, it has transformed my sailing relaxation, it really has made a huge difference to us, it has advantages I never even considered, surprisingly.

 

EX Series Bow Thruster

 A Life Saver!

In May, in very cold water this year. We had to rescue a person from the water, without a life saver and very close to a dangerous harbour wall.  Not a time for messing with fancy manoeuvres. The thruster was absolutely vital in being able station the boat to haul him over the transom.  I would never have been able to attempt the rescue without the thruster. Keeping p the bow to the wind and work slowly astern as the victim was too cold and unable to take a line and pull towards us.

Fortunately, the rescue services took over after we had him in a blanket on the drop transom.  It is possible that this person owes a lot to the Exturn. Because a conventional tube may have drawn air in the open sea conditions. We never heard who the person was, how they got there or what happened after. He was too cold to speak to us.

Nick’s team were great, very quick, neat and tidy and importantly, exactly on budget – a lovely, friendly company to business with. I certainly recommend ABS (AllBoat Services) especially as they have experience with this Exturn gear.

As mentioned, ABS fitted mine in April 17, so I have quite a lot of experience and use of it since.  I can honestly say that it has not had any apparent effect on our performance in even the lightest conditions. We have only raced 4 times this this year. A mix of round the cans and channel races and we have won three!.  We have only raced four because this year, we sailed around Britain. Having just returned and last year we went to Spain, straight across Biscay.  The thruster has given us no trouble.  Our racing competitors may scoff at us racing with a thruster But we can be smug when they are nailed onto the windward side of the pontoon!.  The thruster has reliable power.

You are very welcome to contact me through ABS,  I’ll be very happy to chat.

We keep our boat in Poole.

Regards,

Giles Alden” ABS fitted my EX Series Bow Thruster – EXCELLENT!