We may earn a referral commission from some links on this page. It doesn't change your price or our recommendations.
Thruster specs
VETUS STE5512D: specs, price and the boats it fits
The STE5512D is VETUS’s swing-down thruster for owners who don’t want an open tunnel in the hull. It lives in a housing in the bottom of the boat, swings down into the water when you switch it on and folds back up behind a smooth plate when you’re done, so there’s no open tunnel adding drag underway. It gives 124 lb of push on 12 V and can go at the bow or the stern.
Not sold in the US right now. No US store or distributor lists the VETUS STE5512D: we checked Defender, Fisheries Supply and Citimarine 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 VETUS thruster review that have a US price.
VETUS sells it on quote through its dealers rather than at a listed US price, so ask a dealer for one. Plan on a bigger yard job than a tunnel thruster, because the housing is built into the hull with the boat out of the water. You’ll also need a control panel at the helm, a main switch, a fuse and a strong starting (cranking) battery near the unit. See the parts list below.
Two handy touches: it pauses for a second and a half before it changes direction, and it tucks itself away if you leave it down for 15 minutes. The motor is brushed, so check the carbon brushes and the zinc every year, and keep copper-based bottom paint off it. VETUS has built thrusters since 1982, and the warranty is three years, claimed through your dealer.
Installers will find the wiring figures and dimensions further down. For the rest of VETUS’s line, read the VETUS thruster review.
Where this summary comes from (5 sources, read 11 October 2026)
- VETUS USA, retractable thrusters
- VETUS retractable thruster installation instructions 020584.05
- VETUS Maintenance and Warranty Manual for thrusters, 020901.02
- VETUS, Our Legacy (founded 1964, first bow thruster 1982, Yanmar Group 2013, BOW PRO 2018)
- VETUS warranty policy (three years since 2011, claimed through the dealer)
Key facts
- DIY level 2 of 5 Wiring prep only
- Thrust 124 lb 56 kgf, VETUS's rating
- Boat length Not published See our sizing below
- 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 12 V As sold
- Mounts Retractable Drops down, bow or stern
- To fit it Haul-out The boat comes out of the water
- Run limit 4 min At a stretch, the manual's S2 rating
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 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 DIYYou: 4 to 16 h Yard: 40 to 88 h Electrician: 2 to 4 h Plus a haul-out.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
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 sailboat gets full thrust to 37 ft, and an express cruiser to 47 ft.
The table below tries the VETUS STE5512D 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. VETUS publishes no boat length, so thrust alone decides.
| Boat | Full thrust at 15 knots | Still 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 | 31 to 37 ft | 38 to 56 ftfull thrust to about 10 knots at 56 ft |
| Houseboat | None | 30 to 41 ftfull thrust to about 10 knots at 41 ft |
| Catamaran | 35 to 42 ft | 43 to 63 ftfull thrust to about 10 knots at 63 ft |
| Trawler | 31 to 37 ft | 38 to 55 ftfull thrust to about 10 knots at 55 ft |
| Motor yacht | 35 to 37 ft | 38 to 55 ftfull thrust to about 10 knots at 55 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 | 39 to 47 ft | 48 to 65 ftfull thrust to about 11 knots at 65 ft |
| 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 six 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 VETUS STE5512D, 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 VETUS’s retractable thruster installation instructions 020584.05 r02, December 2024, read 12 October 2026.
- In the box
- The STE manual prints no list of what comes in the box. It does say the template for cutting the hull opening is not provided: you make one from scrap sheet or stiff cardboard. Its technical data puts the 5 A control fuse and the relay on the unit.
- Bought separately
- A main switch on the positive cable (a VETUS battery switch, or the BPMAIN12 remote main switch), a fuse on the positive cable and its holder (ZEHC100), the battery cable, the control panel and its cable.
- Charging
- The STE manual wants the unit on its own battery or batteries, close by so the cables stay short, and sealed batteries (VETUS SMF or AGM) if they share its compartment, because sparks from the motor brushes can light the gas an open battery gives off while charging. How that battery is charged it leaves to you and your installer.
The manual’s words, page 35: “We also recommend that each bow thruster is powered by its own separate battery or batteries.”
A yard job adds these parts on top of the unit: $328 to $803 for the priced ones below, at Fisheries Supply’s prices on 30 September 2026, plus the batteries, cable and charger.
| 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. | BPSE2 push buttons, BPJSTA joystick, BPJE2 or EZDOCK2 | $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. | VETUS panel 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. | ZE series slow-blow, 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. | ZEHC100 | $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. | BATSW250 (BATSW600 on the bigger units), or BPMAIN12/24 for a remote switch | $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. |
| 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. | VETUS 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. | VETUS 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. | VETUS 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. | VETUS 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.
| Thrust and motor | |
|---|---|
| Thrust | 124 lb (56 kgf) As printed: Rated thrust : 550 N (55 kgf, 124 lbf ) (installation manual 020584.05 r02 (December 2024), technical data, read 2026-10-12) |
| Motor | 3 kW |
| Voltage | 12 V |
| Fitting | |
| Type | Retractable, drops down |
| End of the boat | Bow or stern |
| Tunnel diameter | 150 mm |
| What it does to the hull | Large hull opening below the waterline |
| Haul-out to fit it | Yes |
| Maker’s boat length | Not published |
| Price and ordering | |
| Price | No US price published |
| Part number | STE5512D12 V, 12 V DC |
| Documents | |
| Manual | Installation manual (PDF)on the maker's site |
| Warranty | VETUS gives 3 years, or 1 for professional use, and it transfers to the next owner. Claims go through the dealer only. It is void unless an authorized VETUS dealer does the periodic maintenance, and transport, labor and lifting are excluded. VETUS's warranty policy |
| The site’s review | VETUS thruster review |
Draw, cable, fuse and battery, at each voltage
These are the maker’s own figures, at each voltage it is sold at. The cable is the size for the shortest run in the maker’s table. A longer run may need heavier cable, and the wiring calculator works that out for your own boat.
| Voltage | Draw | Maker’s cable | Fuse | Battery | Run limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 V | 375 Anominal draw | 2 AWG for up to 7 ft of cable counted out and back. Longer runs take heavier cableinstallation manual 020584.05, r02, December 2024 | 250 Ainstallation manual 020584.05, r02, December 2024 | 625 CCA minimum, 1,250 CCA maximumVETUS installation manual 020584.05, r02, December 2024 | 4 min at a stretch, the manual's S2 ratinginstallation manual 020584.05, r02, December 2024 |
- At 12 V: size the cable for your run, or check the battery you have.
What holds up and what to weigh
Each point names the fact it rests on.
What holds up
- VETUS sells it for either end, so it can go at the bow or the stern.The maker's listing
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
- VETUS publishes no boat length for it. The boat table is our sizing alone.The maker's documents, as the database records them
- 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 VETUS STE5512D, written from the maker’s manual, its product pages and the dealer’s listing.
In the box: The solenoid switches and the 5 A control fuse are on the motor. The panel, its cable, the main fuse and switch are bought.
Our note
A swing retractable. The unit lives in a housing with a seamless bottom plate and swings down when used. That makes a bigger yard job than a tunnel, and a mechanism to keep working. There is a 1.5 second delay between direction changes, and the unit retracts itself after 15 minutes unused. The smallest of the four, 12 V, in a 150 mm opening.
The manual gives 375 A, a battery of 625 to 1250 cold cranking amps and a 250 A fuse. For cable it gives 4 AWG to 7.5 ft of total run (positive plus negative), and 4/0 to 36.1 ft. The motor is brushed, and its brushes and anode are checked yearly. No copper-based antifouling goes on the unit. We found no US dealer listing. VETUS publishes no price.
Videos
Two of VETUS’s own videos, from its YouTube channel: the retractable unit deploying and running, and how VETUS picks a size, a battery bank and a panel. 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.
Other sizes and close alternatives
These are VETUS’s next sizes in the same line, by thrust.
- One size up: VETUS STE6012D, 146 lb.
No other maker’s priced unit of this style sits within a quarter of its thrust. The compare page lists every model.
Every model with a page here is listed, maker by maker, on the thruster index.