ajpfies

I launched the boat on Saturday, and what a difference the bow thruster makes! It's everything I hoped it would be - the maneuverability is great. I can spin the boat around, and by turning the engine from side to side while alternating forward and reverse, while I use the bow thruster, I can move the whole boat sideways. I single handedly docked her three times with no problems. When I'm not on plane, there is no drag due to how they shaped the front of the thruster tunnel - I don't even notice any difference from before I had the thruster. When I am getting up on plane and on plane, the bow comes out of the water right away, so drag isn't a factor. I didn't notice any performance change, just an increase in maneuverability. All I can say is wow. The guy at my marina told me I was cheating - that's fine with me, my ego can handle it. I think I just removed a lot of stress from my boating days. Andy

Bow_Thruster_Installation.pdf I got my boat back a couple months ago with the Bow Thruster installed, and some very cool underwater lights on the stern. I've been spending time doing new bottom paint and having Mercruiser do some warranty work on the stern drive for corrosion problems. I'm getting ready to launch this weekend. In the mean time, I thought I would post a few pictures of the bow thruster installation (click on the .pdf above). John Paddy at MidAtlanticMarine did a great job! My dealer commented on how professional the wiring was. I'll let you all know how it works out.

Russ, I've been boating for over 20 years and this is my fourth boat, and I considered myself to be above average, but the single engine combined with sheer size of the 270 make it very difficult for me in a crosswind to get into my slip. I found myself trying to turn in a narrow alley between slips and getting blown towards the seawall too many times. The boater in the slip next to me told me to just go faster, but, as you can imagine, that doesn't always work either. Well, after two summers of struggling with a high crosswind in my slip, I finally broke down and decided to get a bow thruster. It's being installed right now. I'll post something when it's done. Monterey told my installer that bow thrusters aren't an option, and they didn't offer any advice. He asked for plans so as to ensure he didn't drill through any structural components, and they sent a few pictures that he says weren't very helpful. We were able to contact someone in the UK that installed a thruster on the 270, and basically you need to cut a hole in the floor beneath the table, take out some of the foam insulation, and they install the tunnel, and the thruster mounts under the table roughly in line with the portholes. Andy

As I recall, if you take off the A/B switch, you will see the screws for the acess panel - you need a short handled screwdriver. I think the A/B switch has one input wire and two output wires. The input is connected to your antenna on the arch via an amplifier that I will discuss in a minute. The two outputs go to the TV, and to the DVD player, which also has a digital TV Tuner on it. You can use the DVD player to tune the TV instead of the tuner on the LCD panel. As far as the signal goes, I also had a very weak signal. I complained repeatedly to the dealer, and eventually they replaced a signal amplifier (I think that is what it is) and that fixed the problem - I have great reception now. The part they replaced is on the Starboard side in the engine compartment - you will have to get down low in the compartment to see it - you can tell what it is because it has a coax cable going to it that looks just like the wires connected to the back of the A/B switch. I hope that helps.

I have a 2007 270CR as well, and you are correct - the TV only works DC. If you look carefully at the Galley area, you an see that it was designed for an older CRT style TV, and when they switched to the flat panel, they changed it so there is that awkward, deep and narrow compartment above the sink. There is an AC outlet in the back of that opening - the switch for that AC outlet is on the AC breaker panel labeled TV. When my dealer gave me my "boat bag" (the Monterey pouch with all the documentation), the guy doing the delivery told me there was a manual for an inverter, but he didn't think there was an inverter on the boat - I asked him to leave the manual there anyway just in case, and later I found the inverter. It is directly behind the flat panel TV, and you can access it by removing a panel in that little compartment above the sink. It is a small inverter, and the sole purpose is to power the TV. Hope that helps. I would like to add a larger inverter to my boat, but haven't done the research to figure out the best way to do it yet. Anyone with any advice would be welcome to add some information...

The dealer installed a Northstar Explorer 650 on my 270. It is on top of the helm and to the right, the wires are not visible as they are behind the unit. One advantage of the Northstar unit is that it has an interface to the proprietary Mercruiser Smartcraft system, so if you get the additional "Y" cable you can access critical engine functions, including fuel flow. Only a couple of units have that capability. My dealer installed the Northstar fuel flow monitor as well, which works great (I was always told the only two times a fuel guage is correct are when it reads full and when it reads empty - the fuel flow monitor helps a lot with that problem, and also helps me pick the optimum RPM). I have the sonar, I added a c-map cartridge and I'm overall very happy with the unit. I have seen some other 270s with the unit mounted to the left of the steering wheel, and I agree that it looks nicer, but I can't imagine having to look down there to see the unit. I agree with another poster on this site that the seat is too low for good visibility (and I'm 6'2"), so I need to stand to drive, and the higher mounting location is just much better for me. I think the location is a personal decision based on your own comfort level. Hope this helps.

It didn't work well on the trailer I think because of the angle of the boat, but it worked very well in the water. I used a collar that goes around the fuel nozzle, and kept it pushed up against the deck fill. there was a small amount of fuel that came up into the fill nozzle, but the collar absorbed it and there was no spillage. The key is getting the flow right. You can't just fill it all out, you have to fill at a slow pace. When the whistle stops, it's full. When I pulled out the fuel nozzle, my gas cap dropped into the water. See my post in the Technical area looking for a new gas cap. Oh well .

I have the same problem. I found that there are a couple of different sources for a device that you install in the vent line called a "fuel whistle." It works by making a whistling sound as the air escapes through the vent line, and as soon as any fuel gets to it, the whistling sound stops, and then you can stop pumping the fuel. The one I bought at the DC boat show for $20.00 is bigger than the ones I have seen on the web, and it will actually catch some of the fuel before it gets all the way up the vent line for an added layer of protection. I haven't installed mine yet. Maybe some other boaters have some experience with it and can give a better answer. Good luck!