Seakeeper Ride Retrofit?

[everwhom]

Anyone considering retrofitting a the Seakeeper Ride system on their Grady? https://ride.seakeeper.com/

For those who haven't heard about it, this is *not* the original Seakeeper Gyro, but instead is basically a very active trim tab system that reacts to the waves to keep the boat at a constant pitch. I've read reports that it make the ride much more comfortable in various sea conditions. It only works when up on plane and does literally nothing when drifting.

From what I gather to retrofit to my 330 Express (and probably any Grady), I'd have to first glass over the trim tab pockets. The Ride "tabs" are actually glued on to the transom using some (presumably) very high tech, high strength adhesive, and there's only 1 hole through the transom required per tab for the power wiring.

Seems like a pretty cool upgrade, but with the glasswork I'm guessing would run around $15k give or take a few boat dollars...(the list price for the 600 series is $10.5k)

Online reviews seem pretty positive, but hard to trust those entirely, and a 330 Express would be bear the top end of size & weight.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Seems like a pretty cool idea, depending on the fishing you do and the location you fish in. I personally don't really do much fishing outside of protected waters, so I'm not one that would likely ever spend the $5k to buy one of these. I haven't heard about this product before, though I had heard about their gyro ball thing, but goodness that's almost $20k and almost the price of what I spent on my boat to begin with. I know that Luckydude is always looking at ways to improve the ride quality of his boat, maybe this is something that he would be interested in.

 

[amf282]

We are looking into it. They are currently doing demo rides in our area. The guy I talked to about it said they were looking to make brackets to cover the tab pockets so no glassing would be required. I will have to follow up with him to see if they have come up with a solution. I would rather not glass.

 

[DennisG01]

I have not.

Have you considered trying the Bennett auto tab control? It's only a couple hundred bucks (last I checked, anyways) and is usually a plug-n-play setup. I'm sure the SeaKeeper system is more advanced - but I've used the Bennett setup and it's quite good. Just a thought - it sure would be less money and it might be all you need.

 

[everwhom]

I have not.

Have you considered trying the Bennett auto tab control? It's only a couple hundred bucks (last I checked, anyways) and is usually a plug-n-play setup. I'm sure the SeaKeeper system is more advanced - but I've used the Bennett setup and it's quite good. Just a thought - it sure would be less money and it might be all you need.

As I understand it the Seakeeper Ride is supposed to adjust the tabs very very quickly (they claim 100 times each second) in response to each individual wave. So it's actively forcing the bow down just at the moment the wave is trying to push it up. It also counters roll... Some folks are raving about how well it works.

 

[everwhom]

We are looking into it. They are currently doing demo rides in our area. The guy I talked to about it said they were looking to make brackets to cover the tab pockets so no glassing would be required. I will have to follow up with him to see if they have come up with a solution. I would rather not glass.

Bracket would be awesome. Please post what you discover!

 

[DennisG01]

As I understand it the Seakeeper Ride is supposed to adjust the tabs very very quickly (they claim 100 times each second) in response to each individual wave. So it's actively forcing the bow down just at the moment the wave is trying to push it up. It also counters roll... Some folks are raving about how well it works.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking the Seakeeper by any means. Just offering a solution at a fraction of the cost that I know works well at exactly what you're talking about. The Seakeeper probably works better. By how much? I don't know and won't even venture a guess as I have no experience with it. But a plus to the Bennett system (in addition to the low price) is that it is completely non-invasive and requires zero alterations to the boat or your existing wiring. It just plugs in.

Not trying to convince you - just offering a viable option.

 

[seasick]

I have read about this system and it does sound interesting BUT for me, my issues with roll are mostly when the hull is at rest or drifting, not at speed. At speed, my main concern can be trim and list and I think that the bennett system is a good solution.