Does Its Magic Without a Hole

By L.J. Wallace

We have come to expect radical innovation from marine industry upstart SkämtMarin AG, and with the company’s new bow thruster, these expectations have been far exceeded. The new thruster, due on the market later this year, eliminates almost all moving parts and is both small and light enough to use on vessels as small as 30 feet long. Dubbed the DrägKräft 3000™, this wonder of technology will soon be the standard for all bow thrusters.

First, some operations theory, provided by company President Pavel Skämt: “You see, water is what is called ‘paramagnetic’ and when a very strong field is present, the water actually becomes a magnet as the molecules line up against the force. We have developed a way to produce such a field and thus push the boat any way we wish.” From this seemingly simple principle, SkämtMarin has engineered a system that is the ultimate in simplicity and reliability.

In use, the DrägKräft 3000 may be controlled by a conventional controller—just move the lever left to swing the bow port, and move the lever right to swing the bow starboard—or it may be tied into a joystick controller system such as is used with now-common pod drive systems from VolvoPenta, Cummins/Mercruiser and others. System power status is displayed on the control panel, along with the system mode (more on that later).

Unlike all other bow thruster systems, which require a penetration through the hull near the bow (either for a thruster tunnel or for a control pod mount), the DrägKräft 3000 is installed inside the vessel with only a pair of small thrust plates epoxy-bonded to the outside of the hull on opposite sides of the bow. These plates are thin and the edges are chamfered so they cause minimal drag. They are coated with polytetrafluoroethylene and thus, are non-wetting and fully antifouling. Inside the vessel, a supersaturated core electromagnetic coil system is mounted transversely with its poles situated just behind the thrust plates on the outside of the hull.  Connected to the coil is the true magic of the DrägKräft 3000—a bank of ultracapacitors, capable of instantly delivering 1.21 gigawatts of energy to the coil. This delivers a magnetic field that provides a driving force about equal to a six horsepower motor.

The ultracapacitor bank may be recharged from several available sources of power. Under way, either 12VDC or 120VAC from an engine alternator may be used to rapidly recharge. Under sail, a wind turbine, solar cell array or even a small proplog may be used to trickle charge the bank. While at anchor, a wind electrostatic system is used to maintain charge. This unique device is merely a pair of platinum-coated wires, mounted in an insulator base about five centimeters apart. The motion of the wind across these wires builds up charge, which is transferred to the ultracapacitor bank.

The DrägKräft 3000 has two operating modes: Frittvatten or “Free Water”, and Hemmahamn or “Home Port,” and these are displayed and controlled from the panel. In Frittvatten mode, the field described above is used to steer the vessel together with the main engines. In Hemmahamn mode, a much lower power setting may be used. This is because the vessel’s home dockage slip may be fitted with special steel attractors (which may be collars clamped around pilings closest to the bow on both sides, or flat plates which may be secured to bulkheads in a similar fashion). The DrägKräft 3000 then uses tiny bits of magnetic force to bring the vessel into a “hover” position at a desired location between the attractors, and to hold it in position while lines are made fast or brought aboard.

We asked Pavel Skämt why his company is now venturing into bow thrusters. “I have much past experience with thrust,” he replied, “and as I had a need of increasing the force of thrust at some times without any support, my engineers helped me to improve my thrusting power with physics.” On the company’s test vessel in the Baltic Sea, the system slewed the bow port and starboard with amazing ease and in total silence.

We can’t wait to be able to install a DrägKräft 3000 and to be able to watch the other slip holders as we ease into our space and hover inches from the dock, stepping gently off, instead of leaping to the dock. For more information: skamtMarin.com.