Seakeeper to Offer Gyros on Smaller Boats

Seakeeper, marine stabilization company, which debuted its first DC-powered gyro engineered for boats of 30 to 40 feet, is going to roll out the technology for boats as small as 25 feet by 2017.

“Most of the world doesn’t know this yet, but we are going to bring stabilization to 25-foot boats within two years,” Seakeeper vice president of sales and marketing Andrew Semprevivo told Trade Only Today.

The technology will come “at a significantly reduced cost, reduced weight, everything that makes it practical for boats in that size range,” Semprevivo said. “I really believe that by having a good first experience we’ll be able to keep people in boating and grow the industry altogether.”

The Maryland-based company has grown by about 50% since last year, Semprevivo said.

“We’re aiming to do the same this year,” he said. “We’ve pretty much doubled our sales force and service network. We’ve almost doubled our partners around the world, so this is a very active time for us.”

The company has about 99% market share in the stabilization market.

Its most recent product introduction, the Seakeeper 3DC, which was soft-launched in May, seeks to reduce resonant roll by as much as 95% in a wide range of sea conditions. Based on the company’s Seakeeper 5, the Seakeeper 3DC shares the same footprint of 30 by 30 by 25 inches and weight of 790 pounds.

The unit has an electrical draw of between 500 and 1,000 watts, depending on the sea state, and it retails for $29,900.

The 3DC requires modest electrical power, so it does not require a generator set as previous iterations did, which has made it popular for outboard center consoles, he said. It can be installed centerline, under the leaning post, which also appeals to that market segment.

The company has also grown its presence in commercial applications, adding safety to vessels such as wind farm boats and pilot boats that pull up broadside to ships, as well as stabilizing military ships for more accuracy when they fire weapons, he said.

“I think we’ve all been out in boats, get in some roll, whether from passing boat wake or rough seas,” Semprevivo said. “Sometimes a passing wake is the worst because it’s unexpected. There are so many ways in which it increases the experience on board that I can’t even begin to talk about all those ways. Basically it helps in every single situation and application.”

Semprevivo said he knows that announcing that technology for smaller boats is coming, and the research and development have been done, could cost the company potential sales. “But I’m so excited about it and what it can do for the world, we’re ready to start talking about it,” he said.

The company will be touting the 3GM at the Nov. 5-9 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and other shows this fall and will bring a Contender equipped with the technology on an East Coast tour as well.

Source: Reagan Haynes, Trade Only Today