SeaKeeper Ride on C 24: Anyone done it yet?

Jcat2010 said:
Before spending $14k on a system that works "great", I'd first try something that costs under $1k and might work "good enough". The Mente Attitude Control System, the roll pitch version, works pretty darn fast itself. Sure, it uses the already installed old fashioned trim tabs, but, in my experience, most of the attitude control issues with our narrow beam tugs is human reaction time, not the tab speed. The Mente system takes about 30 minutes to install and it can be tuned to operate very fast and to your preference.

If it's still not fast enough, you can always go with the seakeeper upgrade, but you might also save $13k....
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Gonna research the Mente Attitude control system........and certainly saving 5-13,000 on a project is attractive. That said, the Sea Keeper RIDE from everyone I've talked to that has experienced it is a "game changer" not merely a "good enough" upgrade. Every hull is a compromise, and certainly with the size / weight / beam limitations on these R's and C's......we have all bought boats that do a lot of things for the money.

In calm water, after re prop I can push my C24 with a single 250 well into the 45 mph range...it's sweet spot is a sporty 5100 RPM as she rises up on the second set of steps...and goes around 39-40 at cruise rpm. But those compromises do leave us with hulls that can stand some help. If the SKR does for my hull what it has done for some others, it will simply add tens of thousands of value to the boat. It will flat out be a BETTER boat.

That said, if I can do the same for a thou....gonna look at that too.
 
i put it on myself after watching martin's channel surfing video.. (you don't need the mounting bracket if you have the LE model with AC under the helm seat
 
Madisonwi said:
i put it on myself after watching martin's channel surfing video.. (you don't need the mounting bracket if you have the LE model with AC under the helm seat
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What model do you have?
 
2021 ranger tug 27 LE
 
Boat in the shop now for some odds and ends as well as Sea Keeper RIDE install. C24...appears to be on the border of needing the medium size of the three RIDE kits, so I'm biting the bigger bullet for the expense of the middle size. Better to have too much tab than too little.....will report findings / results.
 
JMarshallR25 said:
I had this system installed on my new R25 by the dealer. I highly recommend it for anyone who intends to cruise an outboard FM at planing speeds. As noted above, the Seakeeper Ride begins stabilizing at 10 mph and obtains more control authority as speed increases. It operates fluidly and essentially instantaneously. It gives these small narrow-beam boats the handling characteristics of much larger vessels.

View attachment 24407
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Curious if you have any new or different opinions now that you've had the Ride 450 for a while on your R-25. Well worth the cost? Feel like the 450 was the right size for the R-25?

Another random question about them is if you feel like the relocated underwater light location is still functional/suitable? (Since the lights originally are mounted to the trim tabs from the factory).

Really considering this option to hold us over until we succumb to two foot-itis sometime in the future.
 
The system turned on makes for an entirely different boat than the system turned off. It makes the boat more comfortable planing, in the 10-20 knot range, banked high speed turns, and when (as usual) there is a lot more weight on the port side than the starboard. It just works - consistently - without any human intervention. I think it's an amazing product. As for the lights, I do think they work fine where mounted, although it would be nice to have them more outboard. The Lumitecs are a nicer product than the factory option. I have a slight regret not getting the full RGB as opposed to the blue/white option.
 
JMarshallR25 said:
The system turned on makes for an entirely different boat than the system turned off. It makes the boat more comfortable planing, in the 10-20 knot range, banked high speed turns, and when (as usual) there is a lot more weight on the port side than the starboard. It just works - consistently - without any human intervention. I think it's an amazing product. As for the lights, I do think they work fine where mounted, although it would be nice to have them more outboard. The Lumitecs are a nicer product than the factory option. I have a slight regret not getting the full RGB as opposed to the blue/white option.
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That's awesome. Thanks for the updated feedback.

I didn't even consider taking the opportunity to upgrade the lights themselves in the process. Not a bad idea.
 
Get me up to speed on the new lights....i am having the system installed this week (hopefully) on my C24....also the 450 SKR is the smaller system, right? But it works great on your R25? That's interesting...the R25 and the C24 are kind of in the no mans land between the smaller system and middle sized system....good to know the smaller one worked on your boat so well.
 
brtnstrns said:
Just noticed they installed the Seakeeper Ride with the wire run externally and up to a hole in the transom. Do you know if they did that due to the area behind the Ride system mount not being accessible or just in an effort to use the hole that was left by the original trim tabs instead of glassing over it?
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I'm not 100% sure. Probably more that there was a convenient hole.
 
Edmund said:
Get me up to speed on the new lights....i am having the system installed this week (hopefully) on my C24....also the 450 SKR is the smaller system, right? But it works great on your R25? That's interesting...the R25 and the C24 are kind of in the no mans land between the smaller system and middle sized system....good to know the smaller one worked on your boat so well.
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The smallest system - that I have - has plenty of control authority on an R25. We installed Lumitec Quattro underwater lights on either side of the outboard bracket. The R25 has a peculiar and complicated shape so things go where they fit.
 
JMarshallR25 said:
The smallest system - that I have - has plenty of control authority on an R25. We installed Lumitec Quattro underwater lights on either side of the outboard bracket. The R25 has a peculiar and complicated shape so things go where they fit.
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If the smallest system works well for your boat, can you think of any reason why it would not work well on the C24...seems the LOA and weights and so on are very similar. Maybe the R25 has shallower dead rise at transom? Or put another way, maybe the C24 has a sharper deadrise at the transom? What is the transom deadrise on the R 25...(I was not able to find out with some quick noodling around the net) UPDATE: AI says both boats have 24 degree deadrise....
 
Edmund said:
If the smallest system works well for your boat, can you think of any reason why it would not work well on the C24...seems the LOA and weights and so on are very similar. Maybe the R25 has shallower dead rise at transom? Or put another way, maybe the C24 has a sharper deadrise at the transom? What is the transom deadrise on the R 25...(I was not able to find out with some quick noodling around the net) UPDATE: AI says both boats have 24 degree deadrise....
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I think the hulls between the C24 and R-25 should be similar enough.

I emailed Seakeeper directly yesterday to see if they have any insight or advice based on the specs of the R-25 for choosing between the 450 or the next size up. Will update when/if I receive a response.
 
brtnstrns said:
I think the hulls between the C24 and R-25 should be similar enough.

I emailed Seakeeper directly yesterday to see if they have any insight or advice based on the specs of the R-25 for choosing between the 450 or the next size up. Will update when/if I receive a response.
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Yes please let me know what they say. JMarshallR25 is apparently very happy with the smallest set on this R25 so that is some indication.
 
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