Quote:
| Originally Posted by Jage I have been perplexed that I rarely see stabilizers on planing hulls, most notably the italian/eurostyled yachts. I have cruised in the med on a 53 hatteras which had stabilizers and certainly needed them. I would love to hear the opinions of yacht owners, captains and crew that have had experience with the italian/eurostyled yachts in the 65-80ft range in snotty conditions..Do these planing hulls really not need stabilizers? Thanks for any comments.
Jage |
Actually, there are quite a few planing and semi-planing yachts with trim tab stabilizer systems and they are
very effective stabiliation systems when properly executed. However, I too am perplexed why a lot of the faster hard-chine hull design have no stabilization at all (because traditional fin stabilizers cannot be fitted) when the trim tab, or even active interceptors) solution would be of significant benefit.
Some background. Effective active trim tab stabilization systems have been around for about 16 years now. They were developed for high-speed ferries and there are probably 150 such installations runing around out there in the world...some in the 100m LOA range with trim tabs in excess of 14 square meters (each!). The Westport 105 monohulls that plied the Catalina Island route for many years were trim tab stabilized....the Wavemaster (Australia) monohull ferries are all trim-tab stabilized. Many of the systems achieved roll reductions in resonant beam-sea roll conditions in excess of 80%,
and pitch reductions of up to 40% (something conventional fin stabilization system cannot/ do not do).
Overall, though, the yacht builders have been slow to pick up the technology, This is not really that unusual..all stabilization technologies for higher-speed vessels historically appear first in the ferry and military sector.
Just off the top of my head, I could count mybe 20 yachts that have trim tab stabilization systems in place. The most recent example is a planing 57' pilot cruiser, Franzen designed, that was at the Miami show. The Ray Hunt/New England Boat Works 'Vako Mano' (74'?) high-speed 'pilot' yacht is trim tab stabilized - and a good 'reference' for that type of solution since it is so effective that the owner insists it be 100% operable at all times. Several of Frank Mulder's designs are tab stabilized..a San Lorenzo I know of..a Destiny (that last two the 'Italian' type you referred to).
One 'problem' with trim tab systems is the fact that the tab assemblies must be custom designed for each hull they will be used on..trim tab stabilizers do not look anything like Bennet tabs. There are a few exceptions, like Quantum Archers, IF they fit 'your' hull..it's not a one-size fits all' kind of situation.
There are many misconceptions about how tab stabilizers effect the running and handling of a high-speed vessel...some restated further on in this thread. That is understandable since there are so few vessels out there that are sporting effective tab stabilization systems and thus opinions are often offerd up based on 'gut' rather than the experience of operating a vessel with such a system that is well executed. Their performance
can be very impressive.