Seakeeper ride on a 255xd

[TommyMcK]

While the system isn't cheap, it really is worth the investment if you boat in places where you find that you're limited based on sea state. There are plenty of days here in SW Florida (and on the Chesapeake where I still boat) when the best that you can do is 20mph just up barely on plane and taking it on the chin. I took delivery of the boat after installation on a day with 25mph winds and significant white cap activity on Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River. Ordinarily, it was the sort of day that I'd go out if I had to for some compelling reason, but would avoid it if I could and wouldn't think of taking passengers unless they were seasoned.

I intended to do a bunch of with and without tests as I took the boat home, but the difference was so extraordinary, I didn't have it in me to turn the system off after a couple of tries. I ran 40mph with no problem with the system engaged, but within moments of turning the system off, I had to immediately chop the throttle. The whole experience was astounding.

One note for those with 255XDs. You need to remove the surfpoint tabs if you want to install the Seakeeper. For me, I chose the 255XD based on looks and overall capability and not its surfability, so that wasn't a big deal. but it may be for others.

 

[ahenderson432]

Wow. I believe you are the first (on here anyway) that I have seen install the Seakeeper. Would love to see some video with the system on/off as you said you wanted to test but totally understand once it's on there is no turning it off. lol. As I don't believe I would ever need it in AZ unless I go out in a major Monsoon on Powell or Havasu, which I have done on a Sea Doo RXTX-300 in 3' rollers but it was a blast.

Do the tabs stick out and hit the wakebooster requiring the removal? Curious of the fitment with a view from underneath.

Enjoy!!

 

[TommyMcK]

Wow. I believe you are the first (on here anyway) that I have seen install the Seakeeper. Would love to see some video with the system on/off as you said you wanted to test but totally understand once it's on there is no turning it off. lol. As I don't believe I would ever need it in AZ unless I go out in a major Monsoon on Powell or Havasu, which I have done on a Sea Doo RXTX-300 in 3' rollers but it was a blast.

Do the tabs stick out and hit the wakebooster requiring the removal? Curious of the fitment with a view from underneath.

Enjoy!!

You do indeed need to remove the wake booster (surfpoint) tabs. No way around that on this boat. And you can’t just remove them because it throws BCU errors and puts the boat into a limp mode…so you need to fool the boat into thinking they are still installed. If you use the boat for surfing, this system isn’t a great option. For the rest of the 25’ Yamahas, my understanding is that there isn’t anything that is incompatible with the Seakeeper.

And there are at least a couple of other folks here who have installed the system FSH’s if I recall). I’ll definitely do a on/off video. There are also a couple of cool videos on Jetboatpilot.

 

[TeenGee]

FSH with Ride thread:

Thread 'Sea Keeper Ride'

Oct 10, 2024

My friend sent me this video on the Sea Keeper Ride system Pretty impressive.

seakeeper trim tabs - Google Search

• FSH 210 Sport
• Replies: 21
• Forum: General Discussion

• 

 

[suke]

Could you not use the seakeeper to shape the wave like the Kyma does?

 

[TommyMcK]

Could you not use the seakeeper to shape the wave like the Kyma does?

I don’t know anything about the Kyma other than giving their website a quick look. My guess would be that they are using something else other than the Seakeeper Ride tabs to generate waves and that they designed the boat to be able to have the room for something additional. In any case, I don’t think that there is enough physical deflection and surface area on the Seakeeper system to displace enough water to generate waves and it would be way out of trim if you manually adjust for deflection on one side but not the other…. but I don’t know for sure.

 

[suke]

I don’t know anything about the Kyma other than giving their website a quick look. My guess would be that they are using something else other than the Seakeeper Ride tabs to generate waves and that they designed the boat to be able to have the room for something additional. In any case, I don’t think that there is enough physical deflection and surface area on the Seakeeper system to displace enough water to generate waves and it would be way out of trim if you manually adjust for deflection on one side but not the other…. but I don’t know for sure.

other than the hull and ballast I don't think there's anything else aside from the seakeeper ride. At least none that has been shown in the vids so far. They don't have any other tabs or gates.

 

[TommyMcK]

I dunno what the big actuator driven tab is below the jet drive nozzle, but I assumed it had something to do with generating the wave...

 

[Wicked92]

View attachment 228185

I dunno what the big actuator driven tab is below the jet drive nozzle, but I assumed it had something to do with generating the wave...

thats a ride plate and protection for the pump. Does nothing for the wave.

I demo'd the kyma this summer and am working on a thourough review once i get the time, life gets in the way sometimes.

The kyma uses the seakeeper to list the boat correctly for wave generation. Its not an over exaggerated list. Just subtle enough to clean up the wave. Single pump low in the water is the key for the wave. It made its wave very easily.

 

[TommyMcK]

thats a ride plate and protection for the pump. Does nothing for the wave.

I demo'd the kyma this summer and am working on a thourough review once i get the time, life gets in the way sometimes.

The kyma uses the seakeeper to list the boat correctly for wave generation. Its not an over exaggerated list. Just subtle enough to clean up the wave. Single pump low in the water is the key for the wave. It made its wave very easily.

Coolg. Good to know. Not sure why the plate looks to be attached to a piston with a hydronic actuator, but maybe that was an artists interpretation.

 

[dwakeman]

From what I’ve read seen in videos there’s no doubt that Sea Keeper is an amazing product. However, there is another option called ZipWake that cost less and you can install it yourself. Also you don’t need to remove the SurfPointe paddles if you use this. I have no idea if it works as good as Sea Keeper but I’m gonna give it a try. In addition to improving handling on Lake Superior I’m also hoping it will allow me to tilt the boat a bit similar to the way Kyma does with the Sea Keeper and get a better wake when using it in manual mode.

Here’s a post of someone else who installed it.

Thread 'Zipwake install on 2023 Yamaha 252SD'

Aug 27, 2023

This forum was really helpful when researching this (particularly this thread) so I thought I would pay it forward by documenting my own Zipwake install.

Boat is a 2023 Yamaha 252SD
Zipwake 300S

A few things I was anxious about when planning this:

1. How hard is it to run wires from the cockpit to the engine bay
2. Can I access the area behind where the Interceptors get installed, for a thru-hull below the waterline install
3. How to wire the electrical components

• shortroyd
• Replies: 37
• Forum: General Discussion

 

[TommyMcK]

From what I’ve read seen in videos there’s no doubt that Sea Keeper is an amazing product. However, there is another option called ZipWake that cost less and you can install it yourself. Also you don’t need to remove the surfpoint tabs if you use this. I have no idea if it works as good as Sea Keeper but I’m gonna give it a try. In addition to improving handling on Lake Superior I’m also hoping it will allow me to tilt the boat a bit similar to the way Kyma does with the Sea Keeper and get a better wake when using it in manual mode.

Here’s a post of someone else who installed it.

Thread 'Zipwake install on 2023 Yamaha 252SD'

Aug 27, 2023

This forum was really helpful when researching this (particularly this thread) so I thought I would pay it forward by documenting my own Zipwake install.

Boat is a 2023 Yamaha 252SD
Zipwake 300S

A few things I was anxious about when planning this:

1. How hard is it to run wires from the cockpit to the engine bay
2. Can I access the area behind where the Interceptors get installed, for a thru-hull below the waterline install
3. How to wire the electrical components

• shortroyd
• Replies: 37
• Forum: General Discussion

Sounds like a good option, and I'll be interested in how it goes. You would need to remove the surfpoint tabs though. The thread that you referenced was on a 252SD, which does not have the surfpoint. On the 255XD, the ZipWake is installed exactly where the surfpoint tabs are located.

 

[dwakeman]

I’m hoping that is not the case. If so, I won’t install them. The Zipwake tabs are only 2.2” thick whereas the Sea Keppers are 8” thick. See diagrams I included. As they are much thiner than the Sea Keepers, I suspect that the SurfPointe paddles will still be able to deploy without hitting them. I’ll let you all know in the spring.

 

[dwakeman]

I’m hoping that is not the case. If so, I won’t install them. The Zipwake tabs are only 2.2” thick whereas the Sea Keppers are 8” thick. See diagrams I included. As they are much thiner than the Sea Keepers, I suspect that the Surfgates will still be able to deploy without hitting them. I’ll let you all know in the spring.

I just spoke to the Yamaha dealer where I purchased the boat and they did some measurements for me and said that there is 3” of clearance as the SurfPointe paddles deploy, so the ZipWakes will fit just fine. No need to remove them.

 

[TommyMcK]

Cool. The issue with Seakeeper wasn't a concern that the surfpointe wouldn't deploy (I'd have just left it alone and never deployed them) but that there is interference even when surfpointe isn't deployed.

Anyway, I'll be interested in your experience. I continue to be very happy with the Seakeeper system. I was out in Charlotte harbor last week on a day that I'd have never been out on, and was entirely comfortable at 30mph. But I have no idea how important the "thousands of updates per second" really is, and if you get the same or similar performance out of something less expensive, that'd be great.

 

[dwakeman]

Cool. The issue with Seakeeper wasn't a concern that the surfpointe wouldn't deploy (I'd have just left it alone and never deployed them) but that there is interference even when surfpointe isn't deployed.

Anyway, I'll be interested in your experience. I continue to be very happy with the Seakeeper system. I was out in Charlotte harbor last week on a day that I'd have never been out on, and was entirely comfortable at 30mph. But I have no idea how important the "thousands of updates per second" really is, and if you get the same or similar performance out of something less expensive, that'd be great.

Agree. It will be very interesting to see how the Zipwake and SurfPointe paddles coexist. As the Zipwake system works much more like traditional trim tabs by creating lift under the boat I’m hoping they will not be disrupted by the SurfPointe paddles deployed or not. In fact my hope is that Zipwake interceptors can complement the SurfPointe system and improve the wake. Time will tell.

Glad the Sea Keeper system is working well for you. It really is an amazing system. Im sure all those “thousands of updates” are key to the amazing ride. The Zipwake interceptors deploy and retract much faster than trim tabs, typically taking only 1.5 seconds compared to 6-8 seconds for trim tabs, leading to quicker reactions to changing conditions on the water. While that is a significant improvement, it’s no match for what Sea Keeper does. As I want to maintain the ability to surf, it seems Zipwake is my only option as trim tabs and the Sea Keeper would physically interfere with the SurfPointe paddles.

 

[FunTech4Real]

Did you ever try zipwake? Does it work with the surf tabs?

 

[dwakeman]

Well, no. I ended up trading in the 255XD for a 275SD. I do plan to add the Zipwake system to that boat in the spring. I’ll update after that.

 

[Igetwet]

While the system isn't cheap, it really is worth the investment if you boat in places where you find that you're limited based on sea state. There are plenty of days here in SW Florida (and on the Chesapeake where I still boat) when the best that you can do is 20mph just up barely on plane and taking it on the chin. I took delivery of the boat after installation on a day with 25mph winds and significant white cap activity on Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River. Ordinarily, it was the sort of day that I'd go out if I had to for some compelling reason, but would avoid it if I could and wouldn't think of taking passengers unless they were seasoned.

I intended to do a bunch of with and without tests as I took the boat home, but the difference was so extraordinary, I didn't have it in me to turn the system off after a couple of tries. I ran 40mph with no problem with the system engaged, but within moments of turning the system off, I had to immediately chop the throttle. The whole experience was astounding.

One note for those with 255XDs. You need to remove the surfpoint tabs if you want to install the Seakeeper. For me, I chose the 255XD based on looks and overall capability and not its surfability, so that wasn't a big deal. but it may be for others.

View attachment 228145


View attachment 228146

Glad I came across this! Maybe I missed it in this thread, but are you able to tie the seakeeper system into the factory yamaha mfd, or do you have garmin or simrad etc on the boat?

I’ve owned three jet boats so far and looking into a fourth, but the inability to adjust the attitude of the boat ride has always been an issue for me. This may be the fix!

 

[lazergeek]

Glad I came across this! Maybe I missed it in this thread, but are you able to tie the seakeeper system into the factory yamaha mfd, or do you have garmin or simrad etc on the boat?

I’ve owned three jet boats so far and looking into a fourth, but the inability to adjust the attitude of the boat ride has always been an issue for me. This may be the fix!

You wont be able to do conenct to the Connext screen but you can connect to Garmin or Simrad however I dont believe its a requirement, there is a on / off button control, Im not sure what the MFD support provices in addition.