Artificial Horizion inside the cabin?

[hpeer]

My Wife used to get seasick at the slightest provocation. She has improved tremendously over the years and we now live aboard most of the year. When underway she needs to spend her time in the cockpit, down below she starts to get sick. She still needs to have the Horizion available.

We have a 44' steel cutter, smallish center cockpit. She has rather low freeboard so the saloon has a bit of a cave feel, which we like. We like this boat a lot and are comfortable with her. We've done a lot to make her our home and more easily single handed. We just need to figure out how to make the Wife more comfortable while sailing, especially on multi day passages. Staying topsides 24/7 (when not asleep) gets old after a while.

So I'm trying to think of some other way to transfer the Horizion down into the cabin. She needs to be able to look out and see the Horizion to avoid sea sickness. She has exhausted other remedies in using the patch and electrified wrist bands. They work but hit this limit, she still needs the Horizion visually.

I thought of adding post port lights in the hull. Existing port lights are in the cabin top and too high to see out of, the sole sits deep in the water. Also the only place to add them without destroying the mahogany interior is right where the chain plates weld to the hull. I suppose it could be done but starts to get complicated.

I thought of putting in a large TV screen and feeding a stabilized video of the Horizion to it. But the screen needs to be on the field ward bulkhead. Then where do you mount the camera to avoid being blocked by the sails. If the image isn't matching the boat motion it won't work.

Then I got thinking of using a laser level type of thing, something to "paint" an artificial Horizion in light around the cabin. The boats center of motion is just at the aft bulkhead, under the companionway. So maybe some kind of stabilized light source could put a Horizion ring around the cabin? Something that would mimic the actual Horizion?

Or maybe it would not have to go all around the cabin but just be in one area that she could look and occasionally?

Trying to think outside the box.

[Zach]

I'd be thinking about a stack of clear organ pipes full of colored water and a common manifold... Sort of a live action water level.

You can dampen the flow with an orfice size restriction to each tube, and a pin size drill at the top of each stack... Then just make a picture frame of sorts big enough to see it.

Anything with a jeweled bevel is going to be a pain, and pitch/yaw effects a ball bearing pivot.

Cheers,

Zach

[a64pilot]

Put up a shower rod temporarily, then hang clothes on it, the boat will swing around them of course.
However I predict this will have an effect opposite of what is desired, my Wife can't stand anything swinging.

Maybe a VR headset? I don't think anything will work really, we had a few pilots that just could not tolerate the full motion simulator, made them sick as dogs.

I think time on board is the only answer, with my Wife we know she has her sea legs when she has to hold the wall in the shower to close her eyes to wash her hair, or if you go ashore you feel the Earth sway just a little like the boat does.
Takes a couple of days, but once we get there, she can handle most anything, so we stay out of any real sea state the first few days.
I think that is key, avoid any real seas for a few days, do not jump on the boat, cast off and start a passage, stay at anchor for a day or two first, or gentle weather where your motoring the first day or two.

[model 10]

Planes have an art horz indicator, you could get a 3" electric. There must be some sort of flight simulator program that would display the horz on a monitor or TV for a bigger display

[safariKY]

I too get seasick at the slightest provocation. It is an inner ear thing, and some people have it for life. The only thing that works for me, is taking meclazine (Bonine) every a.m. and every p.m. It keeps the blood levels steady and has very little to no drowsiness side effects. I have tried everything, but this works like a charm. No problems being below even under way.

[redhead]

Speaking as the person who gets seasick, I second the idea of spending as much as 3 days at anchor before heading out (this is assuming you don't have a deadline). After 20 years this is my best solution.

Last year someone also made me lie on my back with my head hanging off the end of a table (head lower than my body) and then slowly and gently twisted my head in different directions. Son of a gun if it didn't work! He said its supposed to be for vertigo and he learned it in Singapore and there's a UTube video about it.
It realigns something in your inner or middle ear. Anyway, it worked!

[OldBlueBear]

As a long shot, you could try some sort of small video display with something like an desert island beach line showing, that is stabilized.
Stabilization could be as simple as a short pendulum in a tube filled with oil or other treacle like liquid to supply the vertical and horizontal reference to tilt the image.
Hope this helps, Dave (spirals). Solidly on dry land.

[Cadence]

I have never gotten sea sick my wife has always been long suffering. I believe the secret is using your legs when standing or hips when sitting to emulate a gyro and maintain your inner ear level. I am not sure it is teachable?

[wrwakefield]

Have you tried running an "inclinometer" app on a phone or tablet?

If the tablet is mounted horizontally on an athwartship bulkhead the app will behave like an artificial horizon...

I have an inclinometer app on my phone for measuring, etc... Very handy.

Best wishes finding a resolution.

Cheers! Bill

[FilBrown]

My kids used to make these and I have seen them made the size of a TV using two sheets of glass/acrylic with a gap in between.

Its just water (coloured) and oil and it will always return to a flat level

Water and oil or sometimes two or three different oils can be used. I think its also possible to use that siliconised sand and water.

[hpeer]

Some cool ideas. I felt silly for asking the question but am glad I did.

She does indeed get aclimated after a few days on the hook. I haven't had her at sea for a few days passage, she's pretty leary of that.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Some cool ideas. I felt silly for asking the question but am glad I did.

She does indeed get aclimated after a few days on the hook. I haven't had her at sea for a few days passage, she's pretty leary of that.

She may get over it in a few days. I have a son that went long lining for sword fish, I'm told it took him three days for him to get over it. Fun ribbing him.

[wgoodbye]

Seems like you are using the concept of an artificial horizon inside the cabin as a seasickness remedy. Since I have never seen that sort of remedy be effectively implemted, but many other remedies exist including meds tat are, I would try other remedies that have proven to be successful. I heard about one the other day that also might be worth a try. I haven't had the chance to try it on my wife and daughter yet (I don't get sea sick myself easily). The remedy is to put one ear plug in the non-dominant ear. Also supposed to cause the brain to recalibrate. Other than that, scopalamin patch for a few days to make her more comfortable while she acclimates.

Chris

[sailormed]

Search the web for motion sickness glasses. The glass is surrounded by a tube filled with colored liquid giving the horizons reference. They seem to work. How you sleep with them is another question of course
The product was nominated for a DAME award at the annual marine industry METS trade show in Amsterdam.

[30West]

It sounds like what you and a lot of boaters/flyers need is a gyro-stabilized laser level. Such a thing doesn't exist, but that would be a great way to project a horizon without windows.

Another alternative I've found over decades of boating and flying, is the smell of citrus seems to instantly cure motion sickness in the vast majority of people I've tried it on. Not the taste, and not artificial citrus. Just take a wedge and squeeze it, and smell the vapors and oils coming off it. There is info online about it, but no idea how it works.