Carver Owners Forum

Hi all! I am trying to find the battery for the bow thruster on my 2000 Carver 506. Have looked everywhere I can think of, tried unsuccessfully to trace the power cables (lose track of them going through bulkheads and behind equipment. It does not seem to be located near the thruster as logic would dictate--the on/off switch is located on a bulkhead in the aft of the engine room. Any insights would be most appreciated!

Follow the battery cable coming off the on/off switch. It's possible there is no separate battery and that it's simply hooked up to the house bank which is not ideal. There are a few 506 members that will likely chime in on their particular setup.

It's a pain to have to do this, but why not disconnect the positive cable on each battery, one at a time, while your partner is at the helm trying the thruster? You may not have a separate battery after all.

My bow thruster has a separate battery, but I was surprised to find my stern thruster was powered from the house batteries. Of course in my small 36, floor space is limited. Mariner engine rooms are pretty tight. (Why the previous owner needed/installed a stern thruster, I don't know, but it's there.)

I also found two large cables tieing the bow thruster battery to my port start battery. I can only assume this so the 31 series thruster battery receive charging current, as I see no separate charging cable to it from the charger. I didn't like the look of the setup at first, until I considered that a running port engine ensures an operational bow thruster should its own battery become weak.

Cheers
Steve