Manoeuvring & Ride Control
Bow Thrusters & Stabilizers
The area’s only certified ABT‑TRAC and WESMAR yard. Fin stabilisers, Seakeeper gyros, Seakeeper Ride and dual‑prop thrusters — specified, fitted and serviced in house.
95%
Roll reduction published by Seakeeper for a correctly sized gyro
70%
Underway pitch, roll and yaw taken out by Seakeeper Ride
23–110′
Fourteen gyro models, and seven thruster sizes from 8 to 28 inches
Only
Certified ABT‑TRAC and WESMAR installation yard in the area
Thruster and stabiliser work is where most yards stop, because a retrofit is three trades at once: composite or metal work to open and reinforce the hull, hydraulics to drive the system, and the engineering to tie it into the boat’s power. We do all three in house, on the same hard, without subcontracting the hard part.
The three technologies
They do not do the same job
Stabiliser gets used for three systems that solve three different problems. Getting that right before you spend the money is most of the value we add.
Roll — underway and at anchor
Fin stabilisers
Hydraulically driven fins each side of the hull generating lift against roll. ABT‑TRAC reads roll and heel from solid-state inertial sensors and adjusts fin angle of attack over 200 times a second. Their STAR option — Stabilization At Rest — keeps working at anchor, on a mooring or drifting, which is where most owners actually notice roll.
Roll — nothing below the waterline
Gyro stabilisers
A flywheel inside the boat producing a righting moment. No appendages, no drag penalty, works at rest. Seakeeper publish up to 95% roll reduction and have now done over 4,000 refits, so retrofitting is routine rather than experimental.
Pitch and yaw — underway
Seakeeper Ride
Not a roll stabiliser, and regularly mis-sold as one. Ride is a Vessel Attitude Control System: controllers mounted each side of the transom below the waterline deploy rotary blades that create lift at the stern. It is the answer to a boat that pounds, bow-steers or fishtails — not to a boat that rolls at anchor.
One group, two names
ABT‑TRAC and WESMAR
Both came together under Inov8v Marine Group in 2022 — ABT‑TRAC’s stabilisers, thrusters and hydraulics with WESMAR’s thrusters, fin stabilisers, auxiliary propulsion and sonar. We are the area’s only certified installation yard for either line.
Our installers are factory-certified by both. They have been through ABT‑TRAC and WESMAR training on the thrusters, the fin stabilisers and the hydraulics that drive them, and that certification is what lets us open a hull, put the system in and commission it here rather than sending the boat somewhere else.
Thrusters
Twin counter-rotating props
WESMAR invented the dual-prop counter-rotating bow thruster, and both lines still build them that way. Two props moving in opposite directions take more horsepower and put more of it into the water — WESMAR publish up to 40% more thrust than comparable single-prop units, with less noise and less vibration.
The hardware
Thrusters we fit
WESMAR
The dual-prop counter-rotating thruster WESMAR invented — up to 40% more thrust than a single prop
ABT‑TRAC hydraulic
Seven sizes, 8″ to 28″. Runs off the same hydraulic system as the fins
ABT‑TRAC electric
DC on the 8, 10 and 12 inch units; AC across the whole range
Proportional control
Single-speed or proportional. Proportional is what you want in a tight fairway
Product imagery courtesy of ABT‑TRAC and WESMAR. Every one of these is fitted by a factory-certified ABT‑TRAC and WESMAR installer — we are the only yard in the area that has them.
ABT‑TRAC hydraulic thrusters come in seven sizes from 8 to 28 inches. The 8, 10 and 12 inch units are available in DC; every size is available in AC. Control is single-speed or proportional, and proportional is what you want if you are threading a fairway rather than just shoving the bow across.
Built heavy: oversized gears and bearings, prop hubs shrouding the gearbox, a rotating seal guard protecting the shaft seals. They are fitted as standard by more of the world’s top yacht builders than any other brand.
One hydraulic system, several jobs
Most TRAC thrusters run off a TRAC integrated hydraulic system — and that same system can drive the stabilisers, windlass, capstan, cranes or bilge pumps. On a boat already carrying hydraulics for the fins, putting the thrusters on it is usually cheaper and more reliable than a second electrical install.
The hardware
Fin stabilisers and the hydraulics behind them
ABT‑TRAC fins
Solid-state inertial sensors adjusting fin angle over 200 times a second
WESMAR DSP5000
Electronic gyro-powered fin stabilisation, built for boats that work year-round
One power pack
The same hydraulics drive the fins, the thrusters, the windlass, the capstan and the cranes
And for the commercial fleet
Sonar, catch sensors and auxiliary propulsion
WESMAR also build hull-mounted and trawl sonar, catch sensors, trawl lights, 360° navigation sonar and auxiliary propulsion units. If you fish out of these waters, we fit all of it.
Commercial
WESMAR sonar, sensors and trawl gear
HD860
Hull-mounted sonar — the retractable dome and hoist assembly
TCS385
Trawl sonar sleds for reading the net while it is fishing
CS30
Catch sensors telling you what is in the net before you haul
CS20
Trawl lights, and 360° navigation sonar for ice and obstruction work
Seakeeper gyros
Fourteen models, 23 to 110 feet
Sizing is about displacement as much as length, so treat these as the starting point and let us check it against your boat. Weight matters — a gyro is a few hundred to a few thousand pounds going somewhere structural, which is composite work before it is electrical work.
| Model | Boat length | Unit weight | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seakeeper 1 | 23–30′ | 365 lb | $17,400 |
| Seakeeper 2 | 30–36′ | 414 lb | $26,100 |
| Seakeeper 3 | 35–41′ | 550 lb | $40,300 |
| Seakeeper 4 | 38–44′ | 746 lb | $47,400 |
| Seakeeper 4.5 | 40–46′ | 736 lb | $55,600 |
| Seakeeper 5 | 40–48′ | 747 lb | $60,500 |
| Seakeeper 6 | 44–52′ | 870 lb | $69,600 |
| Seakeeper 7.5 | 45–54′ | 1,031 lb | $78,700 |
| Seakeeper 10 | 50–60′ | 1,246 lb | $126,800 |
| Seakeeper 10.5 | 50–62′ | 1,288 lb | $133,900 |
| Seakeeper 14 | 55–68′ | 1,757 lb | $155,900 |
| Seakeeper 18 | 60–75′ | 2,460 lb | $183,700 |
| Seakeeper 26 | 70–85′ | 3,155 lb | $268,600 |
| Seakeeper 40 | 85–110′ | 4,074 lb | $365,400 |
The hardware
What actually goes in the boat
Seakeeper 1
23–30′ · 365 lb · the smallest gyro in the range
Seakeeper 4
38–44′ · 746 lb · the volume seller on Salish Sea cruisers
Inside the sphere
A flywheel spinning in a vacuum, gimballed to convert its momentum into a righting moment
Product imagery courtesy of Seakeeper. Essential Shipyard is an authorised installer.
Seakeeper Ride
100 adjustments a second
Trim tabs hold whatever angle you last set them to. By the time a wave has arrived, the tab is still trimmed for where the boat was a moment ago. Ride is reacting continuously instead.
- Up to 70% reduction in underway pitch, roll and yaw
- 100 blade adjustments per second; blades deploy at up to 300 mm/second
- Trim authority from 10 mph, full benefit around 20–25 mph
- As little as 7–10 amps on the smaller units
- Drivetrain fully sealed, no mechanical exposure to salt water
Ride 450 covers 19–26′, Ride 525 covers 27–30′, Ride 600 covers 31–35′, and Ride 750 or 750 Quad covers 37–42′ and up to roughly 55′. Fiberglass or aluminum, stepped or non-stepped monohulls. Retrofits as well as new builds.
The unit
One controller each side of the transom, below the waterline, drivetrain fully sealed
Where it mounts
Bolted to the transom either side of the drives — no cockpit space lost
Blades deployed
Rotary blades extend at up to 300 mm a second, 100 adjustments every second
Product detail direct from the manufacturers: ABT‑TRAC · WESMAR · Inov8v Marine · Seakeeper gyros · Seakeeper Ride
Free for every haul-out customer
A complimentary 18-point inspection
An expert technician tests the boat’s systems and writes each of the eighteen points up on a five-level scale — Excellent, Good, Monitor, Attention or Critical. The list is built for your boat: powerboats 30′ and under, power vessels over 30′, or sailboats. Bonding, anodes, through-hulls, shaft seal and coupling alignment are all on it, which is exactly what you want checked before a stabiliser or thruster goes in. See every point.
Essential Shipyard 