Retractable Tunnel Thruster

1. Retractable tunnel thrusters are easily installed transversely in the bow or the stern of a vessel and include a section of the vessel’s hull when in the retracted position. Retracting the tunnel thruster is as simple as clicking a single button that will cause the tunnel thruster to automatically correct its positioning before retracting back into the vessel.

2. Retractable tunnel thrusters are easily installed far forward in the bow whilst still achieving the required immersion depths, even in today’s modern performance sailing yachts.
This results in a thruster that has a good turning effect on the boat, often even allowing a unit with a lower thrust rating than its tunnel equivalent to be used with excellent results.

When retracted these units have no effect on the boat’s drag and therefore do not reduce sailing performance in light winds.

Furthermore, retractable thruster minimize loss of buoyancy. The weight of water in a tunnel thruster’s tube is an often neglected factor that can affect the boat’s performance. Retractable bow thrusters minimize this problem as the retractable thruster’s box only partially fills with water.

3. Retractable tunnel thrusters inherit all the benefits of a typical tunnel thruster application such as docking, slow speed maneuvering, emergency steering and station keeping at zero or slow forward speed with the added ability of extending down past the bottom of the vessel to assist in controlled, azimuth propulsion.

4. Retractable tunnel thrusters are available in mechanical and hydraulic options.