Just looking for opinions from those who use bow thrusters on monohull sailboats. My wife and I live aboard our Lagoon 42, so no need for or personal experience using bow thrusters.

We have good friends with a 38’ monohull. They are occasional sailors, they probably take their boat out less than 3x per month, mostly day sailing, with trips of 2-3 days in the sound from time-to-time. Their procedure for using the bow thruster is the wife operates it by remote at the bow while the husband is at the helm.He doesn’t “call out” instructions, she simply uses the bow thruster when she thinks appropriate. My wife and I have been onboard when they hit a dinghy on davits on another boat, backed into a dock and their wind generator blades hit a piling, and numerous “bumps”, some pretty hard into docks and pilings. I attribute most instances I’ve witnessed to improperly using the bow thrusters.

I’ve never seen any other boaters share the helming responsibilities that way. Do others do it in a similar fashion and I’ve just never noticed? I’ve thought about bringing it up with my friends, but they think their way works “great” (their word). I guess it’s none of my business but it doesn’t seem like good seamanship.