Sidepower Thruster Malfunction

[Fishtales]

Hi,

A few weeks ago I was heading out into deep water for a couple of days of fishing. We were about 20 mi out and moving at a good clip, when we smelled an electrical issue. I quickly isolated to the Sidepower thruster. Top was warm and then it started running by itself - nobody touching the joy stick. I moved the joystick and the thruster worked both ways and then the self running issue stopped and so did the burning smell. I disconnected the joystick wires and we fished the entire 2 days without issue. I made the decision to keep the date with the fish, but it was on the back of mind the entire couple of days. Coming into port, I reconnected the joystick and the thruster works fine. I have used it a little over the past 2 weeks, and again all is fine.

When I layup, I plan to open things up and see what happened. If anyone has any info, I'd sure appreciate it. I PMed Tony Sally as he seems to have worked on these in the past.

Thanks,
dr

 

[seabob4]

Internal, intermittant short in the motor. Need to find that "little" problem and fix it...NOW! Thrusters draw big time power, not something you want to get a burning smell out of, nor have it run "by itself"... :shock:

 

[Fishtales]

Update.

It ended up being the solenoid on the top of the thruster. My dealer indicates they have seen a few of these go, but not to the extent that mine did. It looks like a fairly easy repair, so if anyone has a like problem, they could tackle it themselves.

Tx.