This comes at a hefty price, but seems impressive.....

Discussion in 'Stability' started by Mr Efficiency, Sep 11, 2020.

  1. brendan gardam
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    brendan gardam Senior Member

    i know gyros are simple but who wants to add an extra 200 kg to a trailer boat and the heavy duty electrics it needs to spin it. flooding keels do not have any pumps. when you stop the water floods the keel and when you move forward the water expels out the back. look it up.
     
  2. BMcF
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    BMcF Senior Member

    The fact that the Seakeeper is an effective roll damping system that does not have any external hull appendages is a key to how wide the market acceptance has been. There are quite a few companies selling fin-based roll damping solutions but there are also quite a few boat designs where the external appendages are either in the way or cannot be fitted at all.
     
  3. BMcF
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    BMcF Senior Member

    The Seakeepers are not for boats that small..so no worries.
     
  4. brendan gardam
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    brendan gardam Senior Member

    the haines hunter in the video is a trailer boat.
     
  5. BMcF
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    BMcF Senior Member

    LOL. True..a rather large and expensive "trailer boat". My neighbor has a large Pursuit that he has a 3-axle trailer for too...but he keeps the boat on a lift.

    The "baby" Seakeeper gyro that fits those is the latest, and smallest by far, addition to the entire line of their active gyros.
     
  6. brendan gardam
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    brendan gardam Senior Member

    exactly how wide is the market acceptance. how
    Yes, there are some extremely large trailer boats these days, especially in your part of the world. I also need to explain that its not that I don't believe gyros do a great job its just that I don't think they are needed. But each to his own.
     
  7. BMcF
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    BMcF Senior Member

    If active vessel motion control solutions were not in demand all around the world, I'd have been out of a job the last 33 years... ;-) I'm not involved with Seakeeper at all, but that product was developed, and the company established, by a former colleague and business partner quite some years ago. He and I, and the rest of our team, developed the stabilization, or "ride control" systems for all manner of ships and craft back in the 80s and 90s.
     
  8. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    Cost is the main issue, they'd sell like hot cakes, if, say, half that price.
     
  9. brendan gardam
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    brendan gardam Senior Member

    I assume the bulk of your work would be fin stabilisers as these seem to be the most common ship system. Or have large gyros been in ships for a long time.
     
  10. BMcF
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    BMcF Senior Member

    Actually, we employ fins (four) as part of our SWATH stabilization systems, but the rest of our systems use flapped foils, trim tabs and transom interceptors. Then there are the systems that actively control the air cushion that we design and supply for surface effect ships. We have some pictures of various projects on our web site: www.islandengineering.com

    We do not deliver conventional/typical fin-based roll damping systems...too many companies already supporting that market sector.

    The use of "fixed" gyros for roll stabilization goes back more than a century. More recently, several companies including Seakeeper developed active gyro stabilization packages; nice little write-up on that here: A Smoother Ride with Gyro Stabilizers | HMY Yachts https://www.hmy.com/yachting/news/a-smoother-ride-with-gyro-stabilizers/
     
  11. BMcF
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    BMcF Senior Member

    Selling your products at a loss is regarded as "poor business practice"...last I checked. ;-)
     
  12. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    I understand that, but they won't take off at that price, no matter how attractive the performance. You can buy a nice car for that amount. Now whether there is scope for them to come down in price, I wouldn't know, but there are certainly plenty of precedents for products that once cost a bomb, but for various reasons became much cheaper, especially in for example, electronics and computing, but these things are not necessarily open to a similar path. Maybe out Chinese friends may have more to say about that.
     
  13. BMcF
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    BMcF Senior Member

    ? Their success has been remarkable, actually... The growth of the company up until the beginning of the COVID mess could almost be called "explosive".
    Their main manufacturing facility is in Pennsylvania and they have some other locations with support and engineering folks, including a very nice one here in southern MD. Yeah..I admit it..I'm a bit jealous. ;-)
     
  14. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    No doubt growth can be very rapid, till the market is met, most recreational boaters would baulk at spending that much, when a good second hand boat could cost less. It is certainly a terrific idea, and for those less price sensitive, and with certain kinds of boat, a great thing to have at your disposal, if you want more pleasure in your pleasure boating.
     

  15. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    The thing that occurred to me, is that power boats could be designed with greater deadrise, if they incorporated these devices, for better rough water ride, without the flopping around at rest that would otherwise bedevil them. Now, what the limitations of that are, is beyond my ken, but it does seem an option that is opened up.
     
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