Februar y 2015 55boat review: Seawind
Light me up
In a constantly changing international money market the
Australian produced, Vietnam built Seawind cats continue
to surprise, Phillip Ross takes the latest iteration of the
1160 for a spin on Sydney Harbour.If ever you need a perfect day to test a
catamaran then a 15 to 20 knot nor-
easter on Sydney Harbour has to be it.
Seawind Catamarans continues its
regeneration phase by introducing an
upgrade of the popular 1160 with its 1160
Lite version. With a bit of reimagining
the new boat is lighter and also therefore
cheaper than its ten year older sister.
106 of the previous 1160s were built
from 2004 and used world wide for
chartering and even ocean crossing.
But Seawind wanted to provide an
upsize for 1000 owners and also provide
more speed for those looking at a 38
foot multihull. Stripped and redesiging
the interior brought the weight down
500 kilograms while also bringing the
price point down.
"We can provide a first up basic
sail away boat," stated Multihull
Central's Brent Vaughan, "that you can
comfortably weekend sail, or you can
then option up to comfortably do an
Aus circumnavigation for example.
"We have already sold seven boats
locally and three of these were at the
Sydney boat show. The boat has been
completely restyled inside and has some
new light weight features including
outboards and carbon forebeams. Plus
the price is about $100K cheaper than
the earlier version."
Clearly Seawind is keen on the 1160 Lite.What is different
On board the test boat the most
noticeable difference was the removal of
most of the timber trim from the interior.
This is a clean, fibreglass white,
round-edged (as opposed to round-
cornered) interior. Where timber is
sparingly used, it is a veneer trim.
The galley benchtops still include
heavy, quality Corian, but the interior
modules are premade and dropped in