VETUS BOW PRO with Yanmar JC30 joystick control

Shaft-drive boats can't swivel their propellers the way pods and outboards can, so a joystick has to work differently. The Yanmar JC30 manages both engines and a proportional thruster for you, and VETUS BOW PRO is one of the thrusters Yanmar approves for it.

You point the stick. It works out the gears, revs and thrust.

On a pod or outboard boat, a joystick swivels the drives to aim the thrust. A shaft-drive boat's propellers are fixed, so the JC30 does the job with what it has: it puts each engine in gear ahead or astern, sets its revs, and runs the thruster in proportion to how far you push the stick. The combination moves the boat the way the stick points.

The rudder isn't steered by the joystick. It needs to sit at centre, which you can do by hand, check with an optional rudder sensor, or leave to a Simrad or Raymarine autopilot link that centres it automatically. Yanmar also gives you a fast and a slow mode, and a thruster-only mode for fine adjustments.

The JC30 arrived with Yanmar's VC30 control system at METSTRADE in November 2025, replacing the JC20 and JC20A. It's part of a package that includes Yanmar's marine ECU, display and electronic control heads, and works on new builds or retrofits with supported common-rail engines.

The sideways push a shaft boat doesn't have

Twin shafts can turn a boat on the spot, but they can't push the bow sideways. That's the thruster's job, and it's why Yanmar requires at least one proportional thruster with the JC30. Yanmar's installation manual approves a short list of thrusters and VETUS BOW PRO is on it. VETUS-Maxwell said in May 2023 that its thrusters were already connected to Yanmar's shaft-drive joystick.

• Twin engines: one BOW PRO at minimum. Bow and stern, or twin bow units, are also allowed.
• Single engine: Yanmar's single-engine layouts show a bow and a stern BOW PRO working together. We confirm the layout with Yanmar's distributor for your boat.
• Sizing matters more here: Yanmar notes an undersized stern thruster makes the system hold back bow thrust to match, which cuts sideways performance. Get the pair right first.
• Still works on its own: a VETUS panel can run the thruster independently of the joystick.

A real step up for shaft boats, with honest limits

The JC30 is new, so there are no independent boat tests of it yet. Reviews of its JC20 predecessor give a fair picture of what to expect.

It earns its keep on high-windage boats, single-handed crews and tight berths. If you're happy berthing your twin-shaft boat today, a well-sized BOW PRO with its own proportional panel may be all you need. We'll tell you which.

The Yanmar and VETUS parts

We supply the VETUS side and work with Power Equipment and your Yanmar dealer on the rest, so the install is checked end to end.

Got a Yanmar-powered shaft boat?

Send us the engine models and year, boat length and whether you have a thruster now. We'll map out the BOW PRO side and check the rest with Yanmar's distributor.