The Sideshift SS230 was packaged very well and all parts were clearly labelled and documented. The overall quality seems far more durable than I expected... I was somewhat concerned that the unit may become damaged as it is located at the bow, at the waterline. The construction of the unit is far stronger than the fibreglass hull. I believe that the Sideshift will actually improve the impact resistance of the boat (not that I m inclined to drive into things). The quality of the components seem exceptional as well. There appears to be no skimping on the quality. Page 1
For all steps outside the boat, I fastened a piece of string from the boat to the item I was working on. In the event that I dropped the item, this should prevent me needing to order a replacement. The first step was to drill two holes for the thrusters bracket. With the boat in the water, this required the cordless drill actually getting a bit wet to ensure the holes were low enough. The Hull Insert Epoxy was easy to use and set quickly. I drilled the holes, in the hull (on my boat, I do have access on the inside) and epoxyed the two Hull Inserts into the holes. I waited for the next weekend to ensure the epoxy was totally set, then continued with the balance of the installation. Mounting the base of the Sideshift on the boat was quite tricky while the boat was in the water. I have an individual slip (finger on each side) and still found it quite challenging to attach the base to the hull. The directions were fine... it was just awkward reaching down below the level of the dock where the clamp strap was mounted to the hull, then holding the base up to the hull while trying to attach the hull bolts. With patience and perseverance, I was finally able to get it properly attached. Once the base was attached to the hull, the rest of the installation was relatively easy. Page 2
Here s a picture of the base attached to the clamp strap, which is attached to the hull. I haven t yet tightened the clamp strap bolt as this step requires the upper section to be slid about ½ inch onto the thruster base. After the first two holes in the hull, I was less concerned about drilling more. For the two power cables and the air hose, I needed to drill three more holes. (The air hose is required to keep the electric motor cool.) After drilling the three holes, I fed the two cables and air hose through the hull to the inside of my boat. Page 3
I sealed the holes with Sicaflex as suggested in the installation manual (I keep a fresh tube on hand anyway), then inserted the upper section ½ inch onto the base. Once the base was tightened to the designated 10 foot pounds, I attempted to slide the upper section down the channel on the base. Curiously, it stopped at the Clamp Strap Nut as this was slightly extended in the way of the upper section. I tried adjusting the nut so that two sides were aligned vertically, however, the upper section still would not slide past the nut. I ended up getting my Dremel and grinding about 0.5 mm off the front corners of the nut to allow the upper section to slide down. Original position of the nut (faceon) on the base. Adjusted position of the nut. Red indicates area ground down. When the upper section was slid onto the thruster base, I was easily able to attach the two screws to hold the upper section attached. The next step was to drill the hole for the top through bolt using the hole in the upper section cap as a template. The required drill bit size for this is 3/8 inch. As the depth of the upper section is about 4 inches (sticks out 4 inches from the bow of the boat), my regular 3/8 inch drill bit was too short. I needed to head out and purchase a 6 inch long, 3/8 inch bit to complete this step. Once this last hull hole was drilled, I inserted the through bolt and fastened it on the inside. The next picture shows the thrusters upper section before I tightened it up to the hull. Page 4
On the inside, I added Sicaflex to be sure no moisture got into the fibreglass. In the next shot, you can see the blue epoxy from the clamp nuts as well as the two power cables and air hose coming in through the hull. At the top, you can see the through hull bolt. Page 5
Installing the motor controller inside the V-berth was very straightforward. The thrusters power cables are 2 gauge wire and the instruction manual recommends 1/o gauge wire from the battery to the motor controller. To save a couple of bucks worth of 1/o gauge wire, I used most of the wire already attached to the thrusters base and installed the motor controller along the starboard side under the berth seats. I then ran the 1/o gauge wire from the motor controller to the battery in the stern. The 1/o gauge wire is quite expensive and with my first attempt, I attached the 1/o gauge wire to an existing electrical distribution point about 9 feet astern of the motor controller. As this was the main electrical panel, all electronics used this single connection. When I tried the thrusters (after installing the joystick), it quickly blew the circuit breaker. Sideshift recommends a run directly to the battery, with a 300 amp inline fuse. (Which I will be doing next weekend) Page 6
For the digital joystick controller, I decided to remove the blank that was placed on my dash where the dealer wanted to sell me a VHF radio (I knew I was going to install a VHF/DSC Chartplotter). I replaced the VHF blank with a right-sized piece of plexiglass and mounted the joystick on the plexi. I m not certain that this will be the final location of the joystick and I wanted to keep my options open until I got used to it. There are three lights on the controller base; the centre light is a blue led for power, the left led is red (to move the boat to the port) and the right led is green to move the boat to starboard. Page 7