Leisure Boating looks at a few innovative marine products from around the world designed to ease and improve your overall boating experience.
Radar Reflector Increases Visibility and Safety for Boats
v One key to safety on the water is being seen by other vessels. Many boats don’t have enough reflective qualities to make them highly visible on radar. The simple and dependable Echomaster radar reflector from Davis Instruments solves this problem. It returns the strongest signal at the lowest cost. An octahedral cluster of eight pockets, Echomaster utilises 32 cm plates to assure the highest probability of detection in all directions. Its durable 1.3 mm marine-grade aluminium construction minimises flexing. Dimples in the plates allow corner latches to attach precisely, preventing angular distortion and windage holes reduce aerodynamic drag.
The Standard Echomaster assembles around a backstay or hangs from a bridle. A Deluxe Hanging version includes a bridle for securing the reflector in the correct “catch rain” position. The separate Surface/Rail Mounting System enables attachment to a hard top, masthead, spreader or rail. Echomaster can also be affixed to a piling, buoy, bridge or dock as an aid to navigation. It’s ideal for use as a supplemental hazard marker on rocks, sunken boats or other obstacles. The Echomaster meets USCG requirements, including those for lifeboat and life raft radar reflectors under SOLAS 74/83.
Small Craft Advisory: Seakeeper Now Stabilises Smaller Boats Seakeeper is opening up more comfortable worlds to boats in the 11-13 m range with its new MX series gyro stabiliser. Based on the same groundbreaking technology as its M8000 and M21000 gyros, the MX series will be tuned to an individual’s application, in an affordable package.
Quality Seakeeper features are standard, such as quiet operation, low power draw, and active electronic controls. The MX series still spins a flywheel inside a vacuum-sealed sphere to create powerful righting force. Seakeeper will optimise its control algorithms to the faster roll periods on smaller craft, working closely with clients to deliver the greatest possible angular momentum. The MX series can deliver up to 80% roll reduction whether a boat is underway, idling or at anchor.
“People with smaller boats have been begging us for gyro technology,” said John Kermet, Seakeeper VP of sales and marketing. “The MX series is an extension of Seakeeper’s proven gyro platform, an affordable solution. Fishermen can venture further offshore; small cruisers have more overnight anchoring options; scuba divers can re-board their craft in safety; and yacht owners can now also stabilise their tenders,” Kermet said.
“We are levelling the horizon for a much larger range of boats now, and will continue to design and innovate. Our MX series is an evolution, in advance of the gyro revolution.” The catalyst for this evolution was a recent Seakeeper gyro installation on a 11.9 m Intrepid. As tender to the 40.8 m SWATH Abeking & Rasmussen M/Y Silver Cloud, custom-designed for comfort on the roughest seas, the owners sought the same stability for their small boat.
Intrepid is known for its fast and fuel efficient custom sport yachts. External stabilising appendages would produce drag, affecting the Intrepid 390’s 50-knot top speed, and its small genset couldn’t be taxed. So Intrepid, Seakeeper and Ocean5 Naval Architects created the gyro-enhanced Intrepid 390, the first gyro on a boat this small.
