No! When you are cruising, and the boat is on a plane the bow thruster is out of the water. When you start slowing down, if installed correctly, an air pocket will form inside the tunnel allowing water to easily flow around it. 

Yes, but it is minimal. The newer bow thrusters, like Vetus’ brushless Bow Pro and Side-Power’s SE Series of thrusters are mostly maintenance-free because of the sealed gearleg. However, we do recommend inspecting the anodes once a year to protect your investment from electrolysis and growth. 

Yes! All bow and stern thrusters come with a 2-year parts warranty and a 1-year warranty on the hull. 

Depends on your system. Regular conventional thrusters have a 3 – 5 minute runtime. Extended runtime thrusters can be operated continuously for at least 7 minutes without overheating. The new AC Thrusters have a virtually unlimited runtime and as long as the batteries last so will your thrusters. These particular thrusters tend to run longer due to the low amperage.

While you will see more power by having a bow thruster in each sponson you can get away with only one side if you use the properly powered and sized thruster. For best results, you can do a bow thruster on one side (port or starboard) and a stern thruster on the other.

If your thruster isn’t pushing your boat as it should it may be underpowered and require a more powerful motor. To avoid this from the get-go, we strongly recommend having our bow thruster experts size your thruster for your particular vessel. 

Yes! A joystick helm controller or touchpad controller can be installed in as many different locations as you want. Control your thrusters easily as you move around your boat with a thruster remote control. And why stop there when you can control your entire boat at the touch of your fingertips. Get a remote that can control your engines, thrusters and windlass – sky is the limit. 

Bow thruster installation time takes 2-3 days on average and depending on the complicity.   

For optimal performance, we highly recommend your bow and stern thruster have dedicated batteries.   

Batteries should be installed as close as possible to the thruster unit. The longer the battery cable the greater the potential for voltage drop and decreased thruster performance.  

We use Deep Cycle AGM batteries in all of our thruster installations held down with a conposite battery tray bolted down so they remain secure in rough conditions. This is a high-performing battery completely sealed witha leak-proof maintenance-free design.