Ready to learn about bow and stern thrusters for the commercial marine market? You’ve come to the right place. Here we will provide answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding Sleipner thrusters for commercial vessels.
“Who” is Sleipner?
Sleipner began as a marine engine and propeller manufacturer in 1908 and has been headquartered in Fredrikstad, Norway ever since. That engineering and metal machining pedigree has been the core of Sleipner’s identity for 112 years. The company continues to be heavily focused on engineering, design and precision manufacturing.
How long has Sleipner been making thrusters?
Sleipner Motors Side-Power transitioned to producing bow and stern thrusters in 1985, having identified the market need as pleasure yachts increased in size and number. Since that time, Sleipner has delivered over 250,000 thruster units to date. While the majority of the volume has been aimed at the recreational marine market, the commercial marine market is a key part of their business.
Are Sleipner thrusters suitable for the commercial marine market?
Sleipner services both the pleasure and commercial marine markets with a product line that overlaps the two. Side-Power dominates the pleasure marine market (outselling all others combined) primarily because of their reliability and performance. The same quality characteristics apply to the commercial grade Side-Power thrusters. Producing a high volume of thrusters requires precision tooling in both production and quality control, and this directly benefits the commercial segment in terms of product innovation, precision manufacturing, and enabling a large engineering and R&D department.
Side-Power designs and manufactures the vast majority of the thruster components in-house, with a direct focus on core processes that are essential and critical for quality and reliability. All thrusters are assembled and fully tested at their factory in Norway. Sleipner continually reinvests in product design, precision manufacturing tooling and measuring/QC systems using the latest technology. So, their success in the high-volume recreational marine market provides the resources for high quality manufacturing tooling, procedures, and technology development which directly benefits the commercial products.
What benefits do Sleipner thrusters offer the commercial user?
Sleipner thrusters provide the most thrust output per input power (thrust/hp) of any thruster on the market. This is due to the highly engineered hydrodynamic gearleg which provides minimal turbulence, and minimal cavitation. The gearlegs are smooth, streamlined and occupy far less area in the tunnel than others (up to 50% less) which means much greater water flow through the tunnel with far less cavitation. The result is more power, less loss and greater efficiency.
Does Sleipner only make bow and stern thrusters?
In addition to thrusters, Sleipner offers a complete hydraulic system to power the thrusters for virtually unlimited run time in harsh environments, as well as CANbus-based proportional control systems or on/off control of the thrusters. Sleipner thruster systems can be combined with joystick controllers featuring station-holding. Sleipner also produces revolutionary “anyspeed” “Vector” Fin Stabilizer systems for vessels between 55 and 130 feet, providing excellent stabilization both underway and at rest.
Final Thoughts
Sleipner’s bow and stern thrusters are growing in popularity for commercial marine markets due to their reliability, ease of installation, and ability to withstand harsh environments. Discover Imtra’s collection of Imtra’s boat and stern thruster systems in AC or DC electric and hydraulic versions.