Supra thruster review

[larry_arizona]

Dock star is neat and a inexpensive reverse aide, but it requires you to reverse.

Thrusters allow you to pivot in place and that is what really shines in tight maneuvering.

Dock star is stock on some models and I think under $2500 option.

Much cheaper than thrusters.


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[HFarr]

Doesn't look like something that could be easily added after market. But, it looks like something I could see just being standard at some point on all drives. And I am still trying to figure out why the thrusters are sooo expensive. They shouldn't be.

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[larry_arizona]

Doesn't look like something that could be easily added after market. But, it looks like something I could see just being standard at some point on all drives. And I am still trying to figure out why the thrusters are sooo expensive. They shouldn't be.

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The company that makes them for Supra’s will be offering aftermarket kits.


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[MJHSupra]

Could you see any advantage to using this to reduce fallen rider pickup times? Trying to determine if there is any use for this beyond docking/trailering.


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I have read some mixed reviews on this because they only engage at the low speed.

Thus coming off surf speed and trying to spin around, I think people are accustomed to engaging the 180 at higher speeds to get to a downed rider.

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[larry_arizona]

I have read some mixed reviews on this because they only engage at the low speed.

Thus coming off surf speed and trying to spin around, I think people are accustomed to engaging the 180 at higher speeds to get to a downed rider.

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You would need to slow down to under 5 mph then engage thrusters. I don’t see it as a huge advantage initially getting to your rider faster.

But, it will help when you get close to your rider and getting aligned for pulling them up.


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[SONIC]

I may not have a good grasp on what 5mph is but i feel like I'm going under 5 when I turn around to pick up a rider.

I drop to neutral and then reverse for a second and let the wave pass me, and then turn at idle around to get the rider.
This way you don't have to deal with the wave at the bow and you don't power turn to screw up the lake for everyone else.
I think they would work just fine for me to spin, but I don't know that it's really all that helpful unless you're surfing in a very tight channel or rover. At idle my SA spins a pretty tight radius anyway.

I've heard liquid lumens makes supra's thrusters and they will be coming out aftermarket as well from several folks. Fingers crossed they keep the price reasonable.
They are very expensive but in my research considering making my own I found small motors like these with high enough thrust to do any good are very expensive on their own, even from china directly we're talking 1000+ each motor.

[larry_arizona]

I may not have a good grasp on what 5mph is but i feel like I'm going under 5 when I turn around to pick up a rider.

I drop to neutral and then reverse for a second and let the wave pass me, and then turn at idle around to get the rider.
This way you don't have to deal with the wave at the bow and you don't power turn to screw up the lake for everyone else.
I think they would work just fine for me to spin, but I don't know that it's really all that helpful unless you're surfing in a very tight channel or rover. At idle my SA spins a pretty tight radius anyway.

I agree, when I turn to get rider, the boat naturally rotates for me as I wait for the wave to pass. Then I idle back to rider.

Thrusters will only help me realign boat to pull rider in the direction I want to go.

Docked for the second time yesterday and the thrusters are so nice, had a crosswind and I had full control as I played the wind, the twist knob is so intuitive.

I was playing with the thrusters and they will time out if you try to continuously do 360’s

Liquid Lumens makes the thrusters.

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[SONIC]

I agree, when I turn to get rider, the boat naturally rotates for me as I wait for the wave to pass. Then I idle back to rider.

Thrusters will only help me realign boat to pull rider in the direction I want to go.

Docked for the second time yesterday and the thrusters are so nice, had a crosswind and I had full control as I played the wind, the twist knob is so intuitive.

I was playing with the thrusters and they will time out if you try to continuously do 360’s


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Yep, when cut throttle hard right on the wheel for me and the boat just spins without me doing anything.

That makes sense as they probably have a thermal overload limit built in. I bet the time to shutoff will get shorter as the water temp goes up.

[larry_arizona]

Keep in mind thrusters are not for hotdogging a 6000# boat like a jet ski LOL.

The reality is, they are a steering aide that helps a v drive behave like an out drive.

I will say so far, I can dock this boat with nearly zero steering wheel input.

My wife has no idea this boat has thrusters and her comments were, “wow can you dock this boat smooth”

Just small tweaks with the thruster control and viola.


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[KnoxMojo]

I have read some mixed reviews on this because they only engage at the low speed.

Thus coming off surf speed and trying to spin around, I think people are accustomed to engaging the 180 at higher speeds to get to a downed rider.

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Mark, I was very watchful Monday of picking up downed riders. Every time I came off plane, let the boat settle, waves pass and turned around, I was under 5 every single time. Maybe the power turn folks will figure out how to drive eventually. I couldn't see thrusters saving me any more than a few seconds. It was meant for docking, trailering, tight spaces, not open water maneuvers.