Boat Thruster Guide

What to buy, what it costs, what it takes to fit

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Thruster specs

Sleipner SRV210: specs, price and the boats it fits

The SRV210 gives 551 lb of push at 24 V from a vertical-motor 250 mm retractable, for boats of about 56 to 79 ft. It is the largest 24 V on/off unit in the SRV line.

Not sold in the US right now. No US store or distributor lists the Sleipner SRV210: we checked Imtra’s US catalog (the Sleipner distributor), Defender and Fisheries Supply on October 15, 2026. Its specs and parts stay here for owners of boats built or bought abroad. For one to buy here, see the models on the Sleipner (Side-Power) review that have a US price.

Expect a dealer quote; no US list price is printed. The manual gives 500 A and a fuse of ANL 400 to 500, with at least 560 cold cranking amps DIN from the bank. See the specs.

Full thrust is a 2 to 3 minute job. With its housing the unit weighs about 112 kg. Warranty: two years.

Installers will find the wiring figures and dimensions further down. For the rest of Sleipner’s line, read the Sleipner (Side-Power) review.

Where this summary comes from (3 sources, read 15 October 2026)

Key facts

  • DIY level 2 of 5 Wiring prep only
  • Thrust 551 lb 250 kgf, Sleipner's rating
  • Boat length 56 to 79 ft Sleipner's own range
  • Price No US price None is published, so there is no fitted cost to work out
  • Fitted by a yard No total No price to build on
  • Voltage 24 V As sold
  • Mounts Retractable Drops down, bow or stern
  • To fit it Haul-out The boat comes out of the water
  • Run limit Not published Ask the maker before long use

Every figure here is the maker’s or a dealer’s. No US price is published, so there is no fitted cost to estimate. The full spec sheet is further down.

How much of the install is yours

DIY 2 of 5: Wiring prep only. The yard fits the unit and does the hull work; you do the wiring prep.

DIY levels

  • Level 5: Owner install. No yard, no electrician.
  • Level 4: You fit it, electrician connects. You mount and wire it; a marine electrician makes the final connections.
  • Level 3: Split with the yard. The yard does the below-waterline part; you do the wiring.
  • Level 2: Wiring prep only. The yard fits the unit and does the hull work; you do the wiring prep.
  • Level 1: Yard job. A qualified professional does all of it.

You Yard Electrician. The bar is labor hours; a haul-out is a note.

How we rate DIY

You: 4 to 16 h Yard: 40 to 88 h Electrician: 2 to 4 h Plus a haul-out.

  1. Cut the hull and fit the housing and mechanism Yard 40 to 88 h Nobody publishes an hours figure. Fisheries Supply says installation is significantly more expensive than a tunnel, and that is too loose to turn into a number. So this is the tunnel’s own banded figure plus a quarter, which keeps it above a tunnel as the distributors describe it.
  2. Mount the battery box, switch and fuse holder; run and secure the cables You 4 to 16 h Our estimate. No maker times this step, and a first-time owner is slower than a yard, so the range is wide.
  3. Final connections at the battery and the motor, load test Electrician 2 to 4 h Our estimate. Nobody publishes a time for the final connections and test on their own.

Your part needs:Heavy battery cableCrimping big lugs

A qualified marine electrician should make the final connections and test them before first use. Hours are labor only.

Is it right for your boat?

What Sleipner says 56 to 79 ft The maker's own range, from its listing
What our sizing says 59 to 80 ft Full thrust in 15 knots. The longest boat of each kind is in the table.

Our figure is the longest boat one unit can steer in a 15 knot wind. It is a range because each kind of boat catches the wind differently. Here a houseboat gets full thrust to 59 ft, and a catamaran to 80 ft. The maker gives one range for every boat.

The table below tries the Sleipner SRV210 on each kind of boat, at every length that kind of boat is built in. The wind is 15 knots and the rules are the finder’s own. A length counts as a fit when the unit gives the thrust that boat needs at the bow and the maker lists it for that length.

A boat up to 10 percent past the maker’s range still counts here, as it does in the finder. So the table runs down to 51 ft and up to 80 ft, just past Sleipner’s own range (56 to 79 ft).

The Sleipner SRV210 against each kind of boat, in a 15 knot wind. Our sizing, from the finder’s own rules.
Boat Full thrust at 15 knotsStill a fit, in lighter wind
Pontoon & tritoon Not listed. A retractable drops down inside the hull, and a pontoon has no hull depth to drop into.
Sailboat 65 to 79 ft 80 ft onlyfull thrust to just under 15 knots at 80 ft
Houseboat 51 to 59 ft 60 to 80 ftfull thrust to about 11 knots at 80 ft
Catamaran 74 to 80 ft None
Trawler 65 to 78 ft 79 to 80 ftfull thrust to just under 15 knots at 80 ft
Motor yacht 65 to 78 ft 79 to 80 ftfull thrust to just under 15 knots at 80 ft
Bass & flats Not listed. A retractable needs hull depth to drop into, and these planing hulls have almost none forward.
Wake & ski boats Not listed. A retractable needs hull depth to drop into, and these planing hulls have almost none forward.
Express cruiser No length. More thrust than the boat needs.
Center console No length. More thrust than the boat needs.

Reading the two length columns. The first column is where one unit gives all the thrust the boat needs in 15 knots. The second is where the finder still lists it: the unit falls short of what the boat needs by no more than 10 percent, and gives the whole figure only in the lighter wind named. On a boat shorter than the first column’s shortest length, the unit is more than the boat needs.

It is sized for five kinds of boat here. For your own boat, the finder gives an answer that also counts your drive and who does the fitting. The compare page sets this unit beside others.

What it costs fitted

No US dollar price is published for the Sleipner SRV210, so we build no total for it. The yard’s share of the job is on the cost page.

The sizing and the costs on this page are estimates, for guidance only and without warranty. They are no quote, and nobody has inspected your boat. Check them against the maker’s manual and your yard before you rely on them. Terms of use.

What else you buy

What follows comes from Sleipner’s SE80 to SE150 installation guide, document 2687 rev 30, 2025, read 30 September 2026. That manual is written for the tunnel units. A retractable unit brings its own housing, so there is no tunnel to buy.

In the box
The gasket, bolts and anode come with the unit. The SEP guides call the power controller "the included PPC unit".
Bought separately
The ANL fuse and a main switch ("must include"), the control panel with its own guide, the panel cable and the battery cable.
Charging
The word "charging" is not in any of the Sleipner guides we read. The battery is sized by cold cranking amps, and a battery near the thruster is suggested. How it gets charged is left to you and your installer.

The manual’s words, page 19: “For installations on large vessels with bow and stern thrusters or catamarans a dedicated battery for each thruster should be considered.”

A yard job adds these parts on top of the unit: $336 to $815 for the priced ones below, at Fisheries Supply’s prices on 30 September 2026, plus the batteries, cable and charger.

Parts the Sleipner SRV210’s box leaves to you, from the makers’ manuals read 30 September 2026. “What to ask for” is Sleipner’s own part or model where its manual names one, otherwise the dealer’s item.
Part What it is What to ask for Dealer price
Control panel The buttons or joystick at the helm. One helm, one panel: a second steering station needs a panel of its own. SM8960G single joystick, SM8950G touch panel $219–$374Side-Power touch panel and single joystick, VETUS push-button panel, Lewmar single joystick, at Fisheries Supply.
Control cable, panel to motor The thin cable from the helm to the motor. Sold by length. Side-Power 4-wire control cable, by length $29–$173Side-Power control cables, VETUS panel cables, Lewmar Gen 2 connecting cables, at Fisheries Supply.
Main fuse A slow-blow fuse of the ANL type at the battery, in the size the maker prints for the model. Side-Power ANL fuse, the rating in the yard table below $18–$57Side-Power ANL fuses, Blue Sea ANL fuses, at Fisheries Supply, read 16 October 2026.
Fuse holder The block the ANL fuse bolts into, with a cover. SMANLHOLD (SMANLHOLD-C with a cover) $27–$93Egis and Blue Sea ANL fuse blocks, Side-Power ANL fuse holders, at Fisheries Supply, read 16 October 2026.
Main battery switch The switch that cuts the thruster off from its battery when you leave the boat. Side-Power manual main switch, 350 or 600 A, or the automatic AMS $35–$107Egis m-Series 300 A, Blue Sea e-Series 350 A and HD-Series 600 A on/off switches, at Fisheries Supply, read 16 October 2026.
Control-circuit fuse and switch A small fuse, and often a switch, on the thin wire that powers the panel or control box. Sleipner names none $8–$12Blue Sea in-line ATO fuse holders, at Fisheries Supply, read 16 October 2026.
Battery cable and lugs The two heavy cables from the battery to the motor, sized to the length of the run. The wiring calculator sizes them. Sleipner names none In the electrical line
Battery bank A cranking-type bank near the motor, sized by the maker's cold cranking amps. The battery calculator checks it. Sleipner names none In the electrical line
Charger or charge feed How the thruster bank gets charged: a shore charger of its own, a DC-to-DC charger or charging relay from the boat's system, or a charger built into the unit. Sleipner names none $146–$305NOCO GEN5X2 shore charger, Victron Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger, Blue Sea ML-ACR charging relay, at Fisheries Supply.
Glass, resin, filler and sealant What bonds the tube or housing into the hull and seals the gear leg. Sleipner names none Not priced

The cost page has the whole list with what every maker says about each part.

For the yard and the installer

The full spec sheet, grouped the way a yard reads it. Every figure is the maker’s or a dealer’s, with its source.

The Sleipner SRV210, every published figure the site holds, with where each came from.
Thrust and motor
Thrust 551 lb (250 kgf) As printed: at 24V: 250kg; at 21V (nominal): 210kg
Thrust under load463 lb at 21 V
Motor10 kW
Voltage24 V
Fitting
TypeRetractable, drops down
End of the boatBow or stern
Tunnel diameter250 mm
What it does to the hullLarge hull opening below the waterline
Haul-out to fit itYes
Maker’s boat length56 to 79 ft
Price and ordering
Price No US price published
Part number SRV210/250TC-24V24 V, 24 V DC (nominal 21 V DC)
Documents
Manual Installation manualon the maker's product page
Warranty Sleipner gives 2 years for leisure use and 1 for commercial use. It transfers to the next owner, and it starts no later than 18 months after the boat's first launch. Sleipner's warranty statement, effective 1 April 2022
The site’s reviewSleipner (Side-Power) review

What holds up and what to weigh

Each point names the fact it rests on.

What holds up

  • Sleipner sells it for either end, so it can go at the bow or the stern.The maker's listing
  • Sleipner also prints a second, lower thrust figure for when the battery sags under load: 463 lb at 21 V.The maker's published rating

What to weigh

  • The boat comes out of the water to fit it: it needs a large hull opening below the waterline.The mounting: a bore through the hull, or a housing recessed into it
  • No US dollar price is published for it, so we can work out no fitted cost.The maker and the dealers the database reads

What the manual and listings say

This is the note we keep on the Sleipner SRV210, written from the maker’s manual, its product pages and the dealer’s listing.

In the box: Gasket, bolts and anode with the unit. The panel, its cable, the fuse and main switch are bought.

Our note

This retractable lives in a housing let into the hull through a large opening, and drops when used. It is a bigger yard job than a tunnel. It also has a mechanism to keep in order. A vertical-motor 250 mm retractable, 24 V, on/off. The manual gives its fuse as ANL 400 to 500.

Videos

Two of Sleipner’s own videos, from its YouTube channel: how the SRV and SRL retractables go in, and X-Yachts on the ERV100 retractable in a 47 ft sailboat. They are the maker’s pitch. Watch them for what the unit looks like and how it goes in, and take any claim back to the figures above.

Sleipner’s own video, on Sleipner’s YouTube channel. The picture is a still from it.
Sleipner’s own video, on Sleipner’s YouTube channel. The picture is a still from it.

Other sizes and close alternatives

Sleipner also sells this thrust built another way. Each has its own page:

These are Sleipner’s next sizes in the same line, by thrust.

These are other makers’ units of the same style, for the same end, within a quarter of its published thrust. Each is that maker’s nearest match.

Compare them side by side

Every model with a page here is listed, maker by maker, on the thruster index.

Where to go next

The specs are the maker’s and the dealers’, on the dates shown. The sizing and the costs are our arithmetic, done without seeing your boat.