At Sea With Seakeeper

Tired of Losing Your Lunch in the Troughs? Add a Gyrostabilizer and Stay on an Even Keel.

- Mike Smith

I wish I had a dollar for every hour I spent as a paid captain looking at the upturned bottoms of my guests—and occasionally crew—doubled over the rail tossing their cookies, thanks to a less-than-glassy sea. I probably wouldn’t have enough to buy a Seakeeper gyrostabilizer, but I’d be on my way. And I’d gladly pony up the rest out of my retirement fund if it meant not having to deal with the results of mal de mer. (Not everybody makes it to the rail.) A gyro can reduce roll up to 90 percent, thereby making boating fun for about 90 percent more people, and 100 percent more captains. But what’s involved in installing and maintaining a Seakeeper? Here’s an introduction.

Gyro Basics

Anyone who’s been around powerboats for a while knows about fin stabilizers, rudder-like appendages on either side of the keel that counteract rolling by deflecting water moving across their surfaces when under way. Some fins also stabilize at anchor, with a “paddling” motion. There are non-fin designs, too, that use different principles to provide at-rest stability. All of them involve external appendages that are susceptible to damage, fouling, and so forth. Gyrostabilizers, on the other hand, never get wet and don’t have any parts sticking out of a boat’s bottom. In fact, they don’t interact with the water in any way.

Several companies build gyros for yachts and small commercial craft. VEEM (veemgyro.com) and Tohmei (antirollinggyro.