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This leaves the top of the rail available for a hook to hold the Smart Thruster's lanyard up when retracted. The top of the rail is secured using a Bimini top slide attached to a deck hinge. The bottom of the railing is mounted to the rear edge of the swim step using a swivel deck hinge. The attachment of the thruster to the T-track and the attachment of the T-track to the stainless railing is the same as for the bow installation, although the section of railing is much short for stern installations. This thruster is shown in the deployed position down against the track stop. It is not necessary for the Smart Thruster to be mounted on the boat's centerline. Fortunately, the compact size of the Smart Thruster allows it to slant under the tender. As is often the case, the stern is a crowded place with the tender, the barbecue, and a cooler. The picture to the left (below if you are viewing on a mobile device) shows a stern Smart Thruster installation. For more detailed information about mounting the Smart Thruster to your bow or stern, please see the "Bow Installation Guide" and the "Stern Installation Guide" on our manuals page of this website. The pictures below show a sampling of the types of installations for both bow and stern configurations. View our video of the installation of a Smart Thruster onto the swim step of a trawler as an example of one mounting scheme, DockStar offers a number of installation kits that include the T-track, the stainless tube, and the fittings typically required to mount the stainless tubing to your boat in a variety of configurations. This tubing can then be mounted to the hull using readily available marine fittings. This is accomplished by first mounting the T-track to a section of 1" stainless tubing. It is mainly a matter of mounting this standard track to your boat.
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It allows the Smart Thruster to slide easily along a standard Schaefer 3/4" T-track. We refer to this feature as the Track Guide.
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The Smart Thruster housing includes a special mounting feature that runs the length of the shaft. Other than needing recharging, it doesn't need much from the boat it is being mounted to. It has its own batteries, motors and wireless control electronics. The Smart Thruster is completely self contained.
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