BOW THRUSTER TUNNEL

[foster]

Hello,

Has anyone experienced some problems with the bowthruster tunnel fiberglass delaminated ?

	Denis s/y Hibernia

[CAN DRAC]

OMG! Not that I know... haven't looked in there in a while though...

[Vedat Midilli]

Is it because blades touching the tunnel? Mine was in good condition when I first hauled the boat after more than a year of saling. Looks like an issue that Beneteau has to deal with. Good luck.

[Mike Brown]

Not now and hopefully not ever.

[foster]

In fact the picture looks worse than reality. The delamination is very superficial. The danger is that the fiberglass wraps around the propeller. I will be on sit monday to have a look. This was noticed when the hull was cleaned.

Denis

[David]

Hi Denis
From photos it appears fibreglass matting in tunnel was never fully wetted up (soaked with resin) so there are areas of air and glass fibre, so structural thickness is less than it should be.

It may well be superficial, but if there is no resin in one area how do you know there are no other internal areas you cannot see? So if they just patch it with gelcoat, it will look fine but will it have full design strength? Suggest you get expert advice before accepting a patch job. So from photos does not look like delamination, more like poor workmanship and not enough resin.
Regards
David

[foster]

Thank you David for this advice. The bow thruster was factory installed by Beneteau in France. I would think they buy ready made tunnels.

At delivery and In the first year it was not apparent. We noticed it on a small surface at the first antifouling paint job.

[Alain Brauckmann]

knwoing my boat .... I hope no bad surprise next November. :-(

[foster]

Hello,

After taking off the blades it is quite superficial around 0,2 mm deep. It seems to be a combination of propeller not perfectly centered and barnacles.

So the yard is fixing it with epoxy and shortening the blades a little to keep clear of the tunnel by about 3mm.This fix was appoved by the Maxpower custommer support.

I had at the bow thrusters in the yard, about 12 on the hard about 2/3 are not perfectly centered.

So this is a thing to have an eye on mostly if the boat is unused for some time that allows barnacles to grow .

Thanks Geoff for your comment that was very accurate. If someone knows a good antifouling for tunnels ?

Denis

[Rafa]

Hi,

This year I've found my B43 2008 delamited as well:

But I think I know the cause. See how was the tunnel before cleanning:

Last year when I had the boat back from the dry dock the bow thruster had no propellers !!??? I installed the propellers underwater and with NO antifouing ... and I think this was the origing of the delamination.

Saludos.