When I joined the boat, I joined it during construction and only then we saw that it was going to have electric stabilizers. Of course I have experience with hydraulic stabilizers, from every other boat I ever worked on, that had the typical stabilization system, like Naiad or one of the other big brands, so it was interesting coming to this boat, a 140′ yacht, equipped with electric stabilizers. Then they told me that this was the biggest boat, so far, they have put electric stabilizers in, so you can understand why at first I had my doubts about the functionality of electric stabilizers. Nevertheless, it was evident on the sea trials that we did that they worked well, as good as hydraulic stabilizers.
The owner is motion sensitive so we use them a lot, all the time. We use the zero speed all the time if the owner is on board, doesn’t matter how calm it is, zero speed are on, because he likes to know that they are on and working. And they do work very well. I’m surprised – pleasantly surprised – because I had my doubts but they work well.
Can you make a comparison with your previous experience in term of efficiency?
They work as well as other systems that I have had, they are quiter and they mostly consume less power. I’ve been on a boat where we were running zero speed hydraulic stabilizers and we had 2 generators running, not constantly but a lot, and they would run in pairs. Here that happens only when the galley is working, but if is not working, we can happily sit on one generator and use zero speed. I’m pleasantly surprised and I’m happy with CMC Marine: I would certainly consider it putting them on other boats.
We also have a CMC Marine bow thruster, 65 kw, electric; we have hydraulics only for the doors, cranes, etc… but that’s a small hydraulic pack. Ot obviously if you are running with hydraulic stabilizers you need a stand-alone pack that takes up a lot of room, and that’s an advantage with these electric systems: the space. The footprint of an electric stabilizer it’s all downstairs, you have some cables, a control box and that’s it. As far as space saving they are absolutely worth it, plus maintenance is perfect.

CAPT. BRETT (BENETTI 140′)