Your boat

Bow thrusters for your boat: start with the guide for your hull

Your hull settles most of this before you price a single unit. Each of the ten guides works through one kind of boat: the size she needs, what fits, and what the job costs.

Open your boat’s guide Use the thruster finder

Bow, stern or both on every guide
Sized from the makers’ own figures

Guides 10 › One for each kind of boat in the finder
Slow boats 6 guides Pontoon & tritoon, Sailboat, Houseboat, Catamaran, Trawler, Motor yacht
Fast boats 4 guides Bass & flats, Wake & ski boats, Express cruiser, Center console
Sized for 15 kt of wind Every guide sizes the thruster to keep steering the bow in this breeze
Boat lengths covered 16 to 80 ft › Each guide stays inside the lengths its kind of boat is built in
Rather answer questions? About a minute › The thruster finder asks seven to nine questions

The short answer

Slow boats Pontoon & tritoon, Sailboat, Houseboat, Catamaran, Trawler, Motor yacht.
Fast boats Bass & flats, Wake & ski boats, Express cruiser, Center console.
Each guide covers bow, stern or both It says which end to fix first on that kind of boat, and when a unit at each end makes sense.
Want the quickest answer? The thruster finder, our free tool that matches a thruster to your boat, gives the same answer the guides do in about a minute.

Her hull sets how much wind the topsides catch, and whether there is enough hull forward to bore a through. It also sets what already steers her at docking speed, and which units the makers say fit. Boat not listed? See what to do instead.

The guides

Pontoon boat thrusters

The kits you can order for a pontoon or tritoon, what each costs, which end first.
Sailboat thrusters

Whether a tunnel fits your forefoot, the external alternative, and the push your rig needs.
Houseboat thrusters

Tunnel, hydraulic or drop-down electric: what fits a houseboat and where the money goes.
Catamaran thrusters

Why most cats need none, when windage wins, and where a tunnel goes on two hulls.
Trawler thrusters

Sizing for a tall house, what trawler owners paid, and which end to install first.
Motor yacht thrusters

Why twin screws still want a bow unit, sizing for a flybridge, and what owners paid.
Bass and flats boat thrusters

Why your trolling motor already covers the bow, and the stern kits worth paying for.
Ski and wake boat thrusters

The aftermarket kits, what owners paid against the factory option, and the weekend install.
Express cruiser thrusters

What the bow needs at 15 knots, whether a tunnel or retractable fits, and the price.
Center console thrusters

The stern kits for an outboard boat, how little the bow needs, and when a tunnel fits.

What each guide assumes

Nobody has a windage figure for their own boat, and nobody is going out with a tape measure to get one. So each guide reads the wind exposure from the boat type instead of asking you for it.

The last column is the drive the guide treats as the usual case. The thruster finder asks about your drive instead, so a twin-screw trawler still gets a twin-screw answer.

What each guide assumes about the boat
Boat	Lengths	Wind it catches	Usually steers with
Pontoon & tritoon	16 to 30 ft	a lot of wind	outboard
Sailboat	20 to 80 ft	a fair amount of wind	single screw
Houseboat	30 to 80 ft	a lot of wind	single screw
Catamaran	30 to 80 ft	a lot of wind	twins
Trawler	23 to 80 ft	a lot of wind	single screw
Motor yacht	35 to 80 ft	a lot of wind	twins
Bass & flats	16 to 25 ft	little wind	outboard
Wake & ski boats	18 to 26 ft	little wind	single screw
Express cruiser	24 to 65 ft	a fair amount of wind	sterndrive
Center console	17 to 40 ft	little wind	outboard

The lengths are the ones each kind of boat is built in. The finder asks for a length inside them.

Boat not listed?

Pick the nearest of the ten guides. Or run the thruster finder with your own length. It gives the same sizing, the same products and the same costs the guides print.

Our page on cost by boat type prices the job for the common hulls in one table.