Replacing a bow thruster tunnel

I thought I knew every corner of my Channel Islands 32 Island Girl having methodically worked through countless improvements over the last ten years from our home in Jersey. However, one item I’d not looked into especially closely was the bow thruster.

Although it doesn’t get a lot of use it was of unknown age and I do try to stick to the principle that everything should be well maintained and ready for use so that I can have as much faith in my equipment as possible.

Some years ago I had removed the motor from its gearbox mounting to give it a basic check over. One of the solenoids had been sticking occasionally and there was quite a lot