Seawind 1160

[YOGAO]

An asymmetrical daggerboard has more of an airplane wing shape to it to provide lift on one side but not the other. IOW, the profile is different on one side than the other.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Rationalize all you want. In the end every boat purchase is an emotional decision. The facts are just bandied about to try to make sense of it.

Well, dollars are also bandied about.

There is no question that the Seawind 1160 is a gorgeous boat. But if I'm going to spend upwards of a half million dollars, I'd like to know what the viable alternatives are in the multihull world. I have some sense of what they are among monohulls.

[SearenitySail]

Originally Posted by sandy daugherty

I sailed the 1160 at Demo Days Tuesday, and was quite impressed...

Sandy,

Did you sail on any other cats at Demo Days? If so are you willing to post reviews on them, as well?

Thanks,
Marshall

[sandy daugherty]

I sailed the Tom Cat 9.7. And was very pleasantly surprised! Quick, responsive, weatherly, and be had with three cabins or two, depending on your idea of how many people you can stand. [curmudgeon concept].

Consider this: A light boat needs less in the rigging department to provide good sailing with dependable equipment. This means maintaining this boat will cost less and take less time. It has enough beam to keep me comfortable. My personal alarms are geared to wide cats and I get edgy on narrow ones.

It comes with the only cat-appropriate outboard made, and you can change the lower unit oil without having to pull the engine out of the boat. Raised, you can get at both sides of the engines like a gentleman rather than a double-elbowed contortionist.

The main berth is the least claustrophic I have ever seen, and the little touches are ingenious. The steps up to the bunk provide a proper seat at the desk/make-up mirror. That will keep SOMEBODY happier to be aboard!

As I turn final on Medicare, I have started thinking about my last boat. It should still perform, but without heroics or demands for muscle-bound management or gymnastics. I've always said "nobody buys their last boat first" and it seems the reverse applies as well, get a good first boat for your last.

This boat, or a Maine Cat 30 will be my next.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Everyone would be aware that Seawind extended the hulls of the 1000 which resulted in the 1000XL which greatly improved its appearance and also the performance of this model.

I'd really love to see them do the same thing to the 1160. I really like the 1160 but feel that its side on appearance could be improved by extending the hulls to give it a more streamlined appearance. Currently its appearance looks cut off & somewhat unbalanced as you can see in the photo below which detracts from its lines. If the hulls were extended say another 18 inches to 2 feet it would look so much better and should get performance improvements as well like the 1000XL did.

I am fully aware that Seawind have the 1250 model but this is much more expensive than the 1160 and I am firmly convinced that an extension of the hulls on the 1160 would make it look so much better. Just have a look at the side on view of an older model 1000 compared to a 1000XL to see how much betetr the XL looks.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Here is another photo to support my wish for the hulls of the 1160 to be extended. As you can see in the photo below the hulls look cut off and this is accentuated by the lines of the targa supports.

Does anyone else agree that the lines would look a whole lot better if the hulls were 18 inches to 2 feet longer?

[ty.gregory]

Sandy, I like the looks of the Maine Cat 30 very much. I've never been aboard one and would be very interested in your outlook on it. I would be living aboard, (solo) in Bahamas, etc. and the price for a used MC 30 can fit my budget. The Top Cat 9.7 would be of interest, but there don't seem to be alot around (used).

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by ty.gregory

Sandy, I like the looks of the Maine Cat 30 very much. I've never been aboard one and would be very interested in your outlook on it. I would be living aboard, (solo) in Bahamas, etc. and the price for a used MC 30 can fit my budget. The Top Cat 9.7 would be of interest, but there don't seem to be alot around (used).

I don't own a Maine Cat 30, but my pusher does (he's the guy that got me started sailing cats). Over the last 7 years I've spent about 13 weeks on his boat in the Bahamas or keys. If I was going solo I would definitely consider the Mainecat 30. The boat sails and points pretty well with the board down. In light winds the screecher really makes it go, so you'll want to make sure and get that. Make sure you get the conventional dacron sails, he had a "hitech" screecher that disintegrated in 4 years. His boat is now 8 years old and needs a new cockpit enclosure. You'll probably need a new one by that age. The strataglass is getting iffy and the sunbrella and zippers are starting to fail. One thing I don't like is the fact that there is no flat surface to walk along the side deck, but the hand holds work pretty well.

The galley is well laid out and has a lot of storage for a 30 footer. If you don't convert the port nav station to a berth you have a lot of useful room in the port hull. In the Bahamas it's not currently a problem, but in the US the holding tank is a bit on the smallish side at 10 gallons. Newer boats have a 20 gallon tank. One limitation of the berths is that they are shotgun type and you have to enter them feet first as the headroom at the aft end of the berths is a real head banging experience.

If you want to see many years of blogs on his boat here is his site.
Now We're Incommunigato

[Ozbullwinkle]

Cmon guys doesn't anyone have an opinion about my 2 posts above which suggested that the Seawind 1160 would look a whole lot better with longer hulls? It certainly made a huge difference to the old 1000 model which gave birth to the current 1000XL model.

[cchesley]

I don't think that there's a production cat built that wouldn't look better (and probably perform better) with a couple extra feet on each end. (I wonder what that would actually cost to have done????Hmm?)

[ty.gregory]

Ozbullwinkle, I totally agree!

[Ozbullwinkle]

I don't see the need any where near as much on other makes but to me the 1160 crys out for it to make it look better. Just take a look at the photos above and the way the targa comes down almost right at the stern which make it look worse - the boat looks cut off to me.

Do you know the story behind the extension of the old 1000? It camme about because some owners in California bit the bullet and extended their boat and the result was such a great success that Seawind then adopted the extension resulting in the 1000XL.

I am confident that if Seawind did the same to the 1160 then it would benefit greatly as well. Maybe an owner needs to bite the bullet again to get the ball rolling..

[ty.gregory]

Captain Bill, does your friend live aboard his MC 30? What do you think about the prospect of doing so; things like the undersized holding tank worry me a little. I wonder if this boat was meant to be a live aboard?-- which is not to say that it couldn't be done, but camping out for the next ten years isn't really what I'm after.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

I don't see the need any where near as much on other makes but to me the 1160 crys out for it to make it look better. Just take a look at the photos above and the way the targa comes down almost right at the stern which make it look worse - the boat looks cut off to me.

Do you know the story behind the extension of the old 1000? It camme about because some owners in California bit the bullet and extended their boat and the result was such a great success that Seawind then adopted the extension resulting in the 1000XL.

I am confident that if Seawind did the same to the 1160 then it would benefit greatly as well. Maybe an owner needs to bite the bullet again to get the ball rolling..

The owners that were the first to extend their Seawinds were from South Florida. The mold for the extension was sold and shipped to California years later.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by smj

The owners that were the first to extend their Seawinds were from South Florida. The mold for the extension was sold and shipped to California years later.

You are 100% correct - Califiornia just popped into my mind while writing this for some reason - yes it was the South Florida owners that did it first.

Now we need a trailblazer for the 1160 - but I would love to see Seawind do it first to improve its lines.