This article is a record of my first time taking my Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport out on the water after installing Seakeeper Ride.
My boat had been equipped with conventional trim tabs since delivery, and I had spent about a year and a half running it in that configuration. I then removed those trim tabs and replaced them with Seakeeper Ride.
That gave me a fairly well-established reference point. Even on the very first run with Ride installed, I could clearly feel that the boat behaved differently.
I first became interested in Seakeeper Ride after coming across this demonstration video on YouTube. The difference between Ride ON and OFF looked impressive, and my immediate reaction was simply: I want that on my boat.
Not long afterward, I had a chance to meet a Seakeeper dealer at the Yokohama Boat Show. That encounter gave me the final push, and I decided to install Seakeeper Ride on my own boat.
What follows is simply what I noticed on that first outing.
What Is Seakeeper Ride?
Seakeeper Ride uses independently controlled movable blades mounted at the transom to continuously adjust the boat’s attitude while underway.
The starboard-side movable blade of the Seakeeper Ride system
While the boat is running, the blades are constantly making rapid corrections in response to the boat’s movement.
From the helm, I cannot visually follow those fine movements.
I notice the system less by watching the hardware and more by feeling how the boat behaves.
What I Noticed First
Once the installation was complete, I took the boat out.
My first impression was simple:
It was the same boat, but its interaction with the water felt calmer.
Compared with the way the boat had felt during the previous year and a half with conventional trim tabs, several changes stood out immediately:
- Pitch was reduced, and the hull felt less harsh when meeting the water
- Roll was reduced, giving the boat a more settled feel underway
- Bow rise during the transition onto plane was reduced
- The boat seemed to get onto plane more quickly and smoothly
- Less spray reached the front windshield
The change I noticed most quickly was the softer impact when the hull came back down onto the water.
A Smoother Transition Onto Plane
When I opened the throttle, the bow still rose initially.
With Ride installed, however, that bow-up phase seemed shorter, and the boat transitioned onto plane more smoothly than before.
The boat’s attitude during acceleration felt calmer, making the whole sequence from opening the throttle to settling into a cruising attitude easier to manage.
This was one of the clearest differences I noticed on the very first run.
Not as Dramatic as the Video — But You Can Feel It
The demonstration video that first made me interested in Seakeeper Ride shows a very obvious difference in pitching between Ride ON and OFF.
Naturally, I had that image in mind when I took my own boat out for the first time after installation.
On my Merry Fisher 895 Sport, however, switching between ON and OFF did not produce the same kind of dramatic visual change.
At first, that was slightly disappointing.
My boat is a relatively heavy cabin boat with accommodation and significant mass farther forward. I suspect that this difference from the lighter center-console boat in the video affects how visually dramatic the result appears.
But once I actually drove the boat, the difference was clear.
The pitching becomes calmer, and the sharpness of the hull hitting the water is noticeably softened.
So the effect on my boat was different from what I had imagined after watching the video.
It was less of an obvious visual transformation and more of a change I could feel through the helm and through my body.
The video made me expect to see the difference. On my own boat, I found that I could feel it instead.
An Unexpected Benefit: Less Spray
One of the biggest surprises on that first outing was the reduction in spray reaching the front windshield.
There was noticeably less water hitting the windshield, and I also saw far fewer droplets on the side windows.
I had not expected this before installation, so it stood out immediately.
The difference was not only in comfort. On that first run, it also seemed easier to keep a clear view ahead.
Turning Still Felt Natural
I also made normal turns during the first outing.
Within the range I tried, I did not feel that Ride made the boat turn unnaturally or interfered with my steering inputs.
I could simply drive the boat as usual without being constantly aware that the system was making corrections in the background.
That was reassuring on a first run.
Even Manual Felt Different From My Old Trim Tabs
Another thing that caught my attention was how the boat felt with Ride in Manual.
Even without automatic control, with the blade position set manually, the ride felt calmer to me than it had with the conventional trim tabs.
At that point, I did not know why.
But after spending about a year and a half with the previous trim-tab setup on the same boat, I had a clear impression that:
Even in Manual, this already feels different.
That observation would become more interesting after I spent more time with the system.
My First Impression After the Sea Trial
If I reduce that first outing to the changes I noticed most clearly:
The pounding felt softer.
Pitch and roll felt calmer.
The transition onto plane felt smoother.
There was less spray.
Together, those small changes made the same Merry Fisher 895 Sport feel noticeably more settled.
I had already spent about a year and a half driving this boat with conventional trim tabs.
I think that familiarity is exactly why I could recognize the difference even during a relatively short first run with Seakeeper Ride.
It was not as visually dramatic as the demonstration video had led me to expect.
But once I drove the boat, I could feel it.
That was my most straightforward impression from the first day I used Seakeeper Ride on the water.
What I Learned After More Time With Seakeeper Ride
My impressions continued to develop as I spent more time with the system.
After about two weeks, I had a clearer sense of the difference between Manual and Auto, how Ride compared with my previous trim tabs, and why its value became more obvious after spending several hours underway.
Seakeeper Ride ★ After Two Weeks on a Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport
After two months, I had begun to notice its effects on top speed, fuel use, autopilot behavior, and even how often I chose to take the boat out.
Seakeeper Ride ★ After Two Months on a Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport
After 16 months, the stabilized behavior had become so normal that I often noticed Ride most clearly when I forgot to turn it on.
Does Seakeeper Ride Really Work? ★ What I Learned After 16 Months
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