Seakeeper, the leaders in stabilizer systems for both displacement and planning boats, announced this week that the company now has Seakeepr Ride underway, trim-tab systems for boats from 19 to 55 feet.
The new models being introduced are for boats from 38 to 55 feet and can be retrofitted to most planning hull designs. So, owners of express cruisers and larger center consoles will be able to add stabilization without having to install a gyro system.
The Seakeeper Ride systems have a dramatic effect on a boat’s performance in a wide range of conditions. The trim tabs on the transom receive motion data from a black box one thousand times a second. The wing-shaped tabs can make 100 corrections each per second so the stabilizing effect is instant.
The tabs correct for the pitching motion in choppy seas, rolling motions from side seas and yaw when the boat is coming down the back of a wave. Because Ride is a dynamic system that reacts to a boat’s forward motion, the stabilizing effect kicks in at about 12 knots and is most effective at speeds over 156 knots.
I had a chance to sea trial the Ride system during the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show last fall and the performance was remarkable. Aboard a 36-foot, twin engine center console, we headed to the Lauderdale Cut where wind was against the tide and the waves steep and ugly.
With the Rode system engaged, the boat leveled off and seemed to skip steadily over and through the waves without pounding at all. Running back in with the waves, the system corrected for yaw and again provided a level a comfortable ride.
It should be noted that the Ride system does not replace the Seakeeper gyro stabilizer systems. Gyros work well at slow speeds and while at anchor in rolly conditions. But, as boat speed increases the gyro’s stabilizing force diminishes. Hence the need for Ride.
