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SEAKEEPER DESIRABILITY

Discussion in 'Stabs, Tabs & Gyros' started by jsschieff, May 8, 2022.

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  1. Slimshady

    Slimshady Senior Member

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    Lots of hype, lots of money, lots of codes, fair amount of maintenance
    Does reduce roll at slow speeds in the correct boat.
    bayoubud likes this.
  2. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    It seems to me that you haven't read your own thread carefully.... Rose tinted glasses are a dangerous thing!
    Then again, your money, your choices.
    Good luck.
  3. jsschieff

    jsschieff Senior Member

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    I did read the thread carefully. Gulfer has had first-hand experience with two center consoles similar to the one I am considering, one without Seakeeper, one with SeaKeeper. His take was very positive on the Seakeeper, that it made boating much more pleasant for his family. That information is what I wanted to learn -- an informed take on the Seakeeper from someone with direct experience in boats similar to the one I am considering.
  4. Slimshady

    Slimshady Senior Member

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    I have 5200 hrs of run time with seakeepers. Many hrs working on them and a dozen conversations with their techs and engineers going over all the issues. This engineer doesn't sugar coat it, I tell it straight, good or bad. They greatly reduce the roll but are maintenance headaches and don't last nearly like seakeeper says.
    Your money your boat your issues.
    wannapost50 likes this.
  5. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    My understanding of your OP statement "Would welcome advice on whether a Seakeeper is a necessity, desirable, or unnecessary" was that you were also interested to hear also the good, the bad and the ugly about the thing in general - which makes good sense.
    And some warnings that Slimshady and others gave you deserve great attention, because they are related to the SK itself, regardless of where it's installed, so by definition applicable also to your boat.
    In a nutshell, together with some pros, the SK has some relevant cons, that you will not read about in any brochure - and it's only a matter of when they will bite you, not of if.
    This is was what IMHO you either failed to understand, or decided to ignore.

    Anyhow, yes, the SK effectiveness does depend to some extent also on the gyro+boat combo.
    It would be as useful as a chocolate teapot on a catamaran, just as an opposite example.
    So, if all you wanted to hear is if it does what it says on the tin regardless of the rest, fair enough.
    As I already said, good luck!
  6. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Do you realize you're insulting his intelligence?

    I think he read, he evaluated, and he's decided his personal preference. I feel he's fully capable of understanding and considering it all.

    I've evaluated Seakeepers, tested them, talked to owners and captains and chosen not to buy any. However, if I was buying the boat he's talking about, I'd include one and then make sure it had the best possible preventive maintenance. Meanwhile I own a 39' CC and don't have or need one, but different brand boat, and I've got one on order without a Seakeeper, also different brand and different use.

    They have their place and we had a very happy user post here. There are thousands of happy users. There are also unhappy ones. However, I can assure you jsschieff is fully capable of reading, understanding, analyzing and making informed decisions. They may or may not be the decisions others of us would make.
  7. Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    May I ask a question about the smaller Seakeepers?

    I know the very big ones take a long time to get up to speed and stabalize. I'm guessing the small ones are pretty quick. Am I right?
  8. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    Which part of what I said do you think was an insult, exactly?

    And is your last statement based on this thread, or on anything else you're aware of?
    If the latter, I bow to your superior knowledge.
    But if the former, your guess is as good as mine.

    Regardless, my comments might have been based on an impression different than yours, but pretty sure they weren't meant to offend anyone - quite the opposite.
    I was just trying to warn someone who, for all I know, might not even be aware of what there is inside a SK box.
    Which is something that has nothing at all to see with intelligence, though.
    After all, would you rather post a thread asking views on something you never dealt with before, or on something you know like the back of your hand?
    leeky likes this.
  9. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    Short answer, no.
    It would take a low mass to get up to speed much faster, but a low mass would have a poor stabilization effect.
  10. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Even the small ones take 36 minutes to stabilization and 50 minutes to full RPM.
    Fishtigua likes this.
  11. KoffeeCruising

    KoffeeCruising Member

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    I upgraded my 54’ Flybridge with an ARG (anti roll gyro) installed by American Spin Doctors. Air cooled vs water cooked like Seakeeper. So far so good; low speed, anchor and chop its great. Beam swells it works ok; you still get the first swell but it tempers the resulting roll … until the next swell. I love how you can feel it counteract the roll.

    I’m enthusiastic about it. It’s a wife /guest pleaser, it should be a good resell feature, and installation was a generally straightforward We built up the stringers in my lazeretre and installed the control box in a cabinet next to my stereo equipment.

    97BE4ECA-F727-4B4E-B051-D1670652BF99.jpeg C34D1973-02D7-4704-A65D-0AF82D9500A4.jpeg 408A7D08-FA80-441A-968D-BAE1AFB8F31A.jpeg
  12. bayoubud

    bayoubud Senior Member

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    Nice job...
  13. Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

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    We just bought a 44 center console. I wouldn’t consider one without for resale alone. And they seem ( via sea trial) pretty great.
  14. Gulfer

    Gulfer Member

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    As a side note, why do some of these threads turn caustic? Doesn't make sense to me. I mean, opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. Let people just discuss and converse.

    Back on topic -
    I'm just an owner and far from a boating expert (Captain), like many others on this forum. So, excuse my limited 'technical' vocabulary. We just got the Regulator October in '21, so I can't speak to cost of ownership in terms on maintenance.

    The Regulator is a deep V boat. Great for chopping through the waves, and provides a very "soft" landing. It just chews up the seas. However, the deep V means it's a wet boat (much wetter than the Southport), and I've heard complaints people think it's "rolls too much". But, you have to pick you poison.

    The combo of Regulator & SK is pretty awesome combo. For us, we love it. But, your mileage may vary depending on the hull designs.

    Take it for what it's worth, I've heard on the docks. Only get one for a boat that was designed for it, doing a retro-mod could be a challenging as the hull wasn't designed for the stress. But, again... I'm no expert.
  15. jsschieff

    jsschieff Senior Member

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    Thanks to everyone who provided information about the SeaKeeper. It seems clear from responses of people who have owned center consoles with and without SeaKeepers that Seakeepers increase boating enjoyment significantly. I think a Seakeeper would also be a positive safety factor for a boater like me who is getting on in years and not spry at all.

    Now all I have to do is find a boat, but the used boat market has been sizzling and used boat inventories are skimpy and pricey. Rising interest rates and rampant inflation may put a damper on demand so I'll probably enjoy my current boat this summer and revisit the search -- for a boat with Seakeeper -- this fall and winter.
    bayoubud, SplashFl and rocdiver like this.
  16. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    And the Regulator is very similar in that regard to the Boston Whaler being discussed. Again, we have a 39' Contender, used mainly for day boating by crew, no need for Seakeeper, but for a Whaler and many others I'd highly recommend it.
  17. schlaag

    schlaag New Member

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    I have read the comments and I understand that they are more expensive to maintain than not having one. That being said having had a Seakeeper 9 in our C49 Tiara I can add some comments from owning one. We had to replace the two cylinders last summer as they were leaking. Chose to install new ones instead of repacking them. It works best in a slip and a beam sea. We typically don't run it while under way unless we know what conditions we are going to have, Lake Michigan. We have owned several joystick boats, Mercury and Volvo, and we were told to stay away from them too because of expense to purchase and complexity yet when selling them I had buyers lined up bidding against each other. The SeaKeeper is no different. Ordered a boat to keep in the Keys and checked the box for the SeaKeeper. It's a no brainer even though it was $40k. Only caveat is that on the higher speed setting they do make noise, at 7200 it's pretty quiet.
    bliss likes this.
  18. Slimshady

    Slimshady Senior Member

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    Just finished 5 days fishing crooked and diana's bank. Beautiful weather and fishing was good. Boat runs nonstop from 6:15 am til 5:30 pm every fishing day. As with all boats this size, mine has gyros, gennys, ac, watermaker, spotzero, ect, ect. Lots of stuff fail or be cranky. This trip like many only had one piece of equipment fail. Won't point out the obvious but you all know which one!
    Seakeepers provide great stability in most slow speed situations but if they're broken they are nothing more then additional ballast I don't want.
    My rub with so many "new" things is the engineering dept is designing great products that will last but they're over ruled by the marketing department to make it faster and cheaper.
  19. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    That's very true, in general.
    But in my understanding, in this case the well known weaknesses have more to see with the drawing board, rather than marketing-triggered afterthoughts/restrictions.
    Not that it makes any difference from the end user perspective, of course.
  20. alvareza

    alvareza Member

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    What failed on your Seakeeper? Easy or difficult to repair? Thanks