View Single Post
Old 11-28-2014, 10:11 PM   #97
Insequent
TF Site Team
 
Insequent's Avatar
 
City: Brisbane
Vessel Name: Insequent
Vessel Model: Ocean Alexander 50 Mk I
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 4,262
Were I to do another major refit I might well go with a Seakeeper gyro. Assuming I was able to find the room for it. They are good at anchor, although you need to run a genny for them. I might rate active fins as a close second behind the Seakeeper units although would like to get some first hand experience of gyro's first. Cost is broadly similar. Granted, for smaller pleasure trawlers both are a pretty big ticket item alongside other costs of ownership.

But for a Passagemaker (and this thread is 'ideal passagemaker'), the comfort is priceless. IIRC Idlewild had a pretty rough leg from South Africa to Perth. To the extent that cooking was quite difficult and limited to one attempt per day. Subsequently they fitted paravanes. Fair enough, the crew has to eat! And paravanes suited the whole philosophy of that boat. But my impression is that they just made things tolerable, not comfortable. High levels of comfort and no spilt drinks is another philosophy entirely, and one that is mandatory for some partners and crew to be willing to actually join you. That puts the comparatively high cost of active fins or gyros into practical perspective. Not saying that they can magically counter-act really rough conditions either....
__________________
Brian
Insequent is offline   Reply With Quote