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A short and sweet explanation of how one of these would work to stabilize a boat would go something like this...
Gyroscopic principle says that if a force is applied to the axis about which a gyro is spinning, the resultant force will be re-directed 90 degrees.
For example, if you mount a gyro with the axis perpendicular to the keel of a yacht (port to stbd) and have the gyro spinning around that axis, it would be spinning in a plane that runs along the keel.
Any force applied to the gyro through the roll of the boat's hull would be perpendicular to the axis around which the gyro is spinning. That force would be redirected 90 degrees and in a direction that would try to turn the yacht. Obviously turning the yacht (changing its course) takes a lot more force than it does to make the yacht roll side to side. Thus the redirected force would be "lost" by the resistance of the yacht to turning.
Now, have I thoroughly confused this issue?
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