Seawind 1600 Catamaran Wanderlust - Boat Tour Part 2 + Performance Review | Harbors Unknown Ep. 3

Welcome to part 2 of our Seawind 1600 catamaran boat tour! In this episode we’re sharing details about the more technical systems on the boat. There are two 80 hp Yanmar engines installed in spacious engine rooms. The Spectra watermaker is mounted in the port engine room and makes about 15 gallons of water an hour. The most amazing thing after the obviously incredible act of making potable water is that it can run on the batteries.

The starboard engine set up is the same as the port and the engine room also contains the water heater. A fabulous water heater.

On to the helm stations. One of the main features that made Seawind the obvious choice for us. The helms are shaded and provide excellent visibility. We opted to install the main navigation screen on the port side. It’s amazing to seamlessly switch control from port to starboard helm, especially when docking.

Let’s talk about the daggerboards. For us, this was a non-negotiable feature from the get go. We live in an area where it’s essential to be able to sail up wind. We’re not sailing with the trade winds yet, so when we want to sail to Biscayne Bay or the Keys and the wind is from the south, we can still go. Without the daggerboards that wouldn’t be possible or it would take forever. We were pointing at 40 degrees the other day and it was fabulous!

The rudders are self-floating and super easy to raise. With the daggerboards and rudders up the draft is just 2’1” so we can go just about anywhere which is essential for sailing in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas.

A Fischer Panda generator supplements our heavy duty electrical demands when we’re off shore/on anchor. I can’t believe how silent it is! And it only uses .8 gallons of diesel an hour. Talk about efficiency.

We love that the anchor chain is not on deck. No unsightly rust stains for us! The anchor is so easy to deploy, with convenient foot buttons at the windlass and controls at the port helm station.

The amount of energy the solar panels produce still blows my mind (800 watts in total). We’re easily able to charge the batteries in sunny/partly sunny weather and live off that energy unless we use the washer/dryer or air conditioning.

Aand the bonus feature is the water collection gutter system that allows us to connect a hose to the hard bimini top to fill the water tanks with rain water! It’s seriously incredible how close I feel to nature now. We are truly filled with joy at the idea of sustainably living off grid!

In this episode, we also share how our girl performs in a variety of sailing conditions. We’ve been sailing with everything from 6-27 knots of wind so far. The polar diagram shows the max hull speed is 23.1 knots at 100 degrees with about 27 knots of wind.

We recently sailed from Ft. Lauderdale to Biscayne Bay and back. On the way south, the wind was about 20 knots with gusts to 27 from the north. With the higher winds we had two reefs in the main and one in the jib and averaged about 10 knots which is consistent with what the polars prescribe. On the way back up north the wind shifted to the south at about 16 knots so we pulled out the gennaker for the first time. We averaged 6 knots with the wind at about 160 degrees. A spinnaker would have definitely optimized the performance in these conditions.

We recognize we have a lot to learn and we’re looking forward to sailing as much as we can. We hope you’ll join us on this journey and look forward to sharing our experiences with you! Let us know what you think and if you have any questions please ask in the comments below. 🙂

Follow us on Instagram for daily updates:
https://www.instagram.com/harborsunknown/

And we’re now on TikTok which is actually really fun!

@harborsunknown

Our Gear:
Main camera: https://amzn.to/3ik0LSu
Main Lens: https://amzn.to/2LByP0j
Gimbal: https://amzn.to/3igBFDI
Microphone: https://amzn.to/3bHOvd3
Action Cam: https://amzn.to/39F6TAR
Drone: https://amzn.to/2LSZ5TE
Light: https://amzn.to/3bIPNog
Computer: https://amzn.to/2XKfJYo
Monitor: https://amzn.to/3nOpKOT

Music is from Epidemic Sound:
Weather Any Storm – Cody Francis
Luz de Luna – El Neon
Mi Tiempo (Instrumental Version) – Lu-Ni
Arms of Gold (Instrumental Version) – Tape Machines