Big Sigh!! Bow Tube is in.

On the surface one might think, how big a deal can it be, cut 2 holes in the hull, exactly identical, positioned in exactly the same relative position on opposing sides, perfectly horizontally level to the waterline, and at a 90 degree right angle to the hull center line. Oh, and did I mention that the surface you need to scribe a cutting mark to fit a 195mm round pipe is a compound curve on all axises? I had been trying to figure out how to do this from the moment I decided that this boat needed a bow thruster. For the uninitiated, the bow thruster basically gives you a small manuevering engine at the bow of the boat. Very handy and for me an absolute neccessity for handling the boat in tight situations such as docking at crowded fuel docks. Until the last few years, bow thrusters were seen only on large commercial vessels, but due to competition and agressive marketers, just about every boater with a craft over 30' has one of these on his wish list. For me it was a matter of pay me now or pay me later. I figured that given the size of this boat, it is the cheapest form of insurance I can have. If it saves me touching some guy's million dollar yacht just once, it will have payed for itself. I discussed the how=to with a few people over the last months. Prize goes to my dear friend Jimmy. He was the closest on the method I eventually used. It's hard for a guy to edmit this, but I actually read the directions when I received the thruster unit from Vetus. Those clever Dutch engineers included this one line beneath a small line drawing. "Mark hole to cut using homemade tool". This is the result, Jimmy, you'll chuckle at the simplicity of it. I still had to do all the measuring, leveling etc, in order to be able to drill two holes to form the center of my cut marks. The rod extends through the hull exiting on the other side, this simplified the actual scribing immensly. I then drilled 1/4" holes spaced 1/2" apart on the line so that I would be able to use the saws all to cut the hole out. Drill holes were neccessary in order to be able to force the wide blade into a circle. Ok, 3 blades later, first hole was cut. Second hole went easier, based on my experience with the first, isn't that always the way? Crunch, another blade bites the dust.

After a little adjustment with the grinder, I had a near perfiect fit.

Still plenty to do as far as welding things up, installing the hardware etc. But for now, I'm glad this part went as well as it did.