Installing the new Silicone Bow Thruster Seals. Made this video for owner of SM and 54's 3 years ago

• August 25, 2025 by Sailing Aquarius Around The World |
• Language: EN
• Play Time: 00:12:28
• SAILING YOUTUBERS

I spent much time and a few hundred dollars to find out my design is now Copy Writed in Admiral BS's book.... MMMM this fact pisses me off, due to the fact that I spent money creating a design that Admiral BS steals, copy-writes and puts in his book.... I gave this information to the Amel Owners for FREE!

This is a video for Super Maramu and Amel 54 owners that have purchased the new Silicone Seals for the Bow Thruster. Please leave your questions below. I will not be loading this information on The Amel Forum because the owner of the Forum deleted my access.

You can do screen shots off this video to obtain instructions.

My Thoughts.....

They are too expensive, unless you have a problem with water intrusion.

Instructions:
First, Put the Lip Seal into place with Silicone Sealant on the bottom and around the sides. You might use silicone adhesive on the Lip Seal especially if you’re not going to machine a BT CAP from styrene or teflon.

2nd…. Put the Wiper Seal into place with a little Silicone Sealant.
NOW if you are not going have a BT Cap machined, you will probably need to use a lot of Silicone Adhesive, which will end up looking something like THIS…

Place your newly machined BT Cap on the top, drill 4 holes holes and screw it into place.
Wala.

When you push the Bow Thruster shaft through the seals, you should use the IN-Water Amel Bow Thruster removal tool. Put some moly cote (or a non-petroleum based lubricant) on the wood tool and fiberglass shaft and push it up through the hole.

I have not completed the installation of the bow thruster seals on Aquarius because Aquarius is in Thailand, and I am in Lithuania.

The bow thruster cap should hold the seals in place. I may have to adjust the stop on the lower end of the bow thruster movement a few mm, but I don’t think so…. Here is the design of the bow thruster cap, you will have to adjust this design for your boat, place the both of the seals into the hole like this. Measure the height, and change this measurement accordingly. You might find that THIS design will work for the SM’s and THIS design will work for the Amel 54. This is one that I had machined in Thailand before I received the seals. As you can see the depth of the groove for the seals is not deep enough, this one was about 2.5 mm, and will get another one made after I do the measurements on board Aquarius. I believe the groove depth should be between 5.85 and 6mm deep. And the material I will use is Styrene.

Would you buy these again?

Probably not, 1) I believe these seals too are expensive unless you already have problems with water intrusion through the Bow Thruster Seals. At a cost of $75 per set, plus shipping, plus taxes etc.… that is a lot of money to fix a problem I don’t currently have 2) the original seals are $5-10 and again they have never leaked. and finally 3) Machining of the BT Cap will add an additional $40. One more note, I personally spoke to two two Super Maramu Owners that installed these seals, both installed the seals only to have them fail. They simply ripped out because the Wiper seal was only held in place by the Silicon Adhesive, and has no connection with the hole. But, if you use a cap, these seals should give me excellent protection against water intrusion, and they should last at least 4 or more years.

How to care for your Bow Thruster seals.
First, (and this has nothing to do with the seals) always put plenty of Grease or Corrosion X where the motor connects with the shaft. This is a must. I have heard of too many Amel Owners with a shaft that rusted together with the motor. Some Super Maramu owners have taken several days to get them apart, and one that was discussing cutting the shaft to remove it. Don’t be one of these owners!! Lube this connection with Corrosion X and or Lithium grease every year or so.

Now, let us look at the material of these seals. They are a silicone, and I found another vender in Australia that shows, what I think to be the identical material used to manufacture these silicone seals. According to this documentation the silicone material does not like Petroleum based Oils and/or Grease. After each use, take a paper towel and wipe down the shaft, then use some Moly Coat on Bow Thruster Shaft. And, I would like to thank to Steve on Aloha for this suggestion! This should keep the shaft clean and smooth and thus should ensure your EXPENSIVE Bow Thruster Seals will last a VERY VERY long time!

Thanks so much for watching 🙏
Stay tuned as next Friday 12PM EST we release a new video 🎥

Sailing Aquarius Around The World

We are couple sailing around the world on our AMEL Super Maramu 2000 called Aquarius. We climbed career ladders, and enjoyed living in Southern California and we always loved traveling. One conversation during the dinner take a year off and go travel started shaping up. Without much of previous sailing experienced we decided to buy a boat and sail around the world, which we started in Caribbean in the beginning of 2017, and still sailing, hoping to circumnavigate the world!

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