The Five Greatest Boating Inventions of the Century
LISTEN: (6 min, 7 sec)
HERE WE ARE a quarter of the way through the 21st century—wow, time really does fly. Remember Y2K, hanging chads, and America Online? It seems like eons ago, but one thing that’s progressed as rapidly as any is the tech found on our boats. And along with that tech, the awesome advancements that have made fishing boats far, far better than they once were. If you remember the above items hitting the news, you probably also remember chugging, sputtering two-stroke outboards, sticky mechanical controls, and standalone fishfinders and chartplotters. Today all that stuff has been surpassed by a mile.
What are the five greatest advancements in the boating world? And which should you take advantage of, if you haven’t already? The answer is debatable, but if you’ve experienced any of these five advancements you already know that a strong argument can be made for each.
1. GYROSCOPIC STABILIZATION: The first time you’re aboard a boat with a gyroscopic stabilization system it feels like magic is at work. While early systems introduced in the 90s reduced rocking and rolling significantly, the first Seakeeper models (which hit the water in 2006) virtually eliminate it. The reduction in motion leapt from 40-ish percent to 90-plus percent, with the development of a flywheel spinning in a vacuum and rapid hydraulic positional adjustment. But early versions were huge, and hugely expensive. Fortunately, in the past 25 years we’ve seen both size and cost shrink, and today you can outfit virtually any boat 23’ and up with one for as little as $20,000 or so. That’s not exactly chump change, but the reduction in cost has been huge and continues. If you want to make your boat vastly more comfortable, reduce the issues associated with seasick passengers, and make your fishing platform far, far better than it is today, the single biggest improvement you can make is likely adding one of these systems.
As 2025 arrived it brought with it more competition in the marketplace and new developments. Dometic now has its first gyro for boats on the market, featuring advancements like faster spin-up time, electric actuation rather than hydraulic, and lower power draw. Expect that over the next 25 years we’ll see more advancements, wider applications, and more market penetration with (hopefully) even lower cost.
2. VESSEL ATTITUDE CONTROL: These systems are essentially super-fast, super-smart trim tabs that can adjust so rapidly they constantly reduce pitch and roll as your boat moves across the waves. The idea gained acceptance with Zipwakes, which cut a boat’s motion noticeably. But once again it was Seakeeper that took a good idea and made it great, this time with the introduction of their Ride system. Motion reductions jumped from 30 to 40 percent to 50 to 70 percent. The difference you feel while cruising is so substantial that many boatbuilders have started rigging with Ride as a standard feature, and cost is relatively low (usually less than five percent of the boat’s overall price tag for a 20-something center console).
3. JOYSTICK CONTROLS: Many seasoned mariners scoff at joystick controls on boats, but they do represent a great confidence builder for newer boaters. And in some situations, particularly on boats with three or more outboards, there’s no question they do enhance control. Still, there’s another reason anglers should consider them regardless of experience level: dynamic control. Even on single-engine boats it’s a serious advantage to be able to hold your position or control the drift orientation at the press of a button. And the only way to get these abilities is with a joystick system.
4. SIDE-FINDING FISHFINDERS: Remember when you had to stare at the blips on a ring to figure out if there were fish below the boat? We sure have come a long way since then. For many of us fishing without a side-finder feels crippling at this point, and the tech has advanced so much in the past couple of decades that we can now spot individual fish from hundreds of feet away. Meanwhile, the capability of real-time imagers has become so great that you can watch how an individual fish reacts as your lure passes by. The applications are a bit more limited for real-time imaging than side-scanning but in the cases where it applies the results are magnificent.
5. LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES: Lithium-ion batteries are vastly superior to lead-acid; they’re half the weight, live through far more discharge cycles, and that cycle provides full power from start to the end. In some cases they can even provide enough power to replace a generator on larger boats. But among all the advantages they provide, the real boon for anglers is their use with trolling motors.
We used to haul around three lead-acids weighing a total of maybe 150 to 200 pounds for a 100 amp-hour, 36-volt system. When fishing hard for a full day, that power package may or may not have run dry before the casting was complete. Today, a single 80 amp-hour, 36-volt battery weighs a mere 60 or 70 pounds and provides a steady stream of power that’s virtually impossible to use up during a single day of fishing.
The list of major tech advancements in the modern boating world is a long one and whittling it down to the top five is no easy call. But when it comes to gyroscopic stabilization, dynamic attitude control, joysticks, side-finding/real-time imaging, and lithium-ion batteries, one thing is undebatable: they make your fishing boat better.
Email Lenny Rudow at ContactUs@fishgame.com
