Having made significant inroads to the megayacht and sportfisher markets, Seakeeper is targeting trawler owners as potential users of its new gyro stabilization system. Most trawlers are stabilized and most of those currently use some type of active fin stabilization. The Seakeeper Gyro Stabilizer uses the momentum of a heavy flywheel spinning in a near vaccum to provide powerful righting forces, without using any external appendages to the boat. A rough analogy for gyro stabilization is the spinning top of child’s play — once spinning at a high speed, it resists being disturbed from its upright stance.
The current Seakeeper Gyro unit is the Model 7000, which can stabilize boats up to 60,000 pounds of displacement. For larger boats, such as one new Marlow 72 being readied for delivery, two units can be installed. The Seakeeper gyro is typically installed in an engine room or lazarette, although it can be anywhere on the boat as long as it can be bolted to the major framework of the hull. The company claims a number of advantages for the gyro system:
- Complete anti-roll stabilization at anchor and while low speed cruising
- Safety for crew and guests aboard
- No loss of speed
- No through-hull protrusions or appendages
- Less wear and tear on the hull
- Low maintenance
- Improved fuel efficiency
- Improved resale and market values
Given that most recreational-class fin stabilization systems require the boat to be moving, and water to be flowing over the fins, to be effective, the gyro has an advantage in that it can provide roll stabilization at zero hull speed. There are some fin systems capable of zero-speed stabilization, but they are considerably more expensive and require multiple pairs of fins to be most effective. You can read a more detailed article about fin stabilizers here on OceanLines.
Read more: http://oceanlines.biz/2009/05/seakeeper-gyro-stabilization-for-trawlers/#ixzz2gSLDgiCl