SolGato
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- May 13, 2019
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Thought I would post an update about my Skip Johnson designed Seawing 24 Trimaran that was featured in post #1575 on page 105 of this thread.
After a number of years of ownership, sorting out and updating, it is finally back in the water and so far I have to say I am impressed with its functionality and performance.
I knew the boat was light based on its foam glass construction and use of carbon in the floats and beam arms, and that was further supported when a friend who built and owned a F25C helped me disassemble/assemble it for trailering/launching and remarked how much lighter the floats were than his.
And then once it was on mooring, I immediately noticed how lively and reactive it was to wind and water conditions, and when viewing from the shore, it is always the first boat to turn with wind.
Sailing the boat has confirmed a stiff lightweight structure with no strange noises or behaviors when tacking thru and launching over swell. The boat is well balanced and requires minimal rudder effort even when sailing downwind in a following sea.
Performance wise the boat sails in the 7-8 knot range effortlessly in our late summer swelly trade wind sea states, and thanks to the extra freeboard occupants are kept dry.
On a beam reach she’ll hit 12 knots without much effort in open ocean trades, however I haven’t yet pushed the boat as the mast is in desperate need of a makeover. But given our sailing conditions this time of year, size of the boat, and age of the sails, I’m inpressed.
While not “high volume” by todays standards, the floats do have a good amount of volume by 1990 standards, and being tall and streamlined they tend to recover very quickly when pressed hard, resulting in minimal healing/slowing.
On the accommodation side, I have been spending about 3 nights a week on the boat, and for a 25’ Trimaran the interior is quite functional.
I much prefer the layout of sliding bunks in the wings, the settee with flip up/down table, and aft galley with unobstructed passageway to the bow over the more common layout you might see in Trimarans this size where you have two seats facing that convert into a bed.
Although the main hull has a rounded bilge that adds a little more to the boats draft compared to modern designs, the trade off is that it allows for headroom that’s more on par with a small mono.
If you put the Seawing 24 next to say a Corsair F24, you’d be amazed how much more volume and freeboard the Seawing has, almost as if someone over inflated it, and yet it still looks very streamlined which is no surprise given it was designed by an aeronautical engineer.
As I’ve said before, it’s unfortunate more Seawing 24’s weren’t built. It’s a great design.
Here are some updated photos. Also a link to video footage of my Dad at the helm on the first sail and a link to a video of me pushing the boat a bit harder:
After a number of years of ownership, sorting out and updating, it is finally back in the water and so far I have to say I am impressed with its functionality and performance.
I knew the boat was light based on its foam glass construction and use of carbon in the floats and beam arms, and that was further supported when a friend who built and owned a F25C helped me disassemble/assemble it for trailering/launching and remarked how much lighter the floats were than his.
And then once it was on mooring, I immediately noticed how lively and reactive it was to wind and water conditions, and when viewing from the shore, it is always the first boat to turn with wind.
Sailing the boat has confirmed a stiff lightweight structure with no strange noises or behaviors when tacking thru and launching over swell. The boat is well balanced and requires minimal rudder effort even when sailing downwind in a following sea.
Performance wise the boat sails in the 7-8 knot range effortlessly in our late summer swelly trade wind sea states, and thanks to the extra freeboard occupants are kept dry.
On a beam reach she’ll hit 12 knots without much effort in open ocean trades, however I haven’t yet pushed the boat as the mast is in desperate need of a makeover. But given our sailing conditions this time of year, size of the boat, and age of the sails, I’m inpressed.
While not “high volume” by todays standards, the floats do have a good amount of volume by 1990 standards, and being tall and streamlined they tend to recover very quickly when pressed hard, resulting in minimal healing/slowing.
On the accommodation side, I have been spending about 3 nights a week on the boat, and for a 25’ Trimaran the interior is quite functional.
I much prefer the layout of sliding bunks in the wings, the settee with flip up/down table, and aft galley with unobstructed passageway to the bow over the more common layout you might see in Trimarans this size where you have two seats facing that convert into a bed.
Although the main hull has a rounded bilge that adds a little more to the boats draft compared to modern designs, the trade off is that it allows for headroom that’s more on par with a small mono.
If you put the Seawing 24 next to say a Corsair F24, you’d be amazed how much more volume and freeboard the Seawing has, almost as if someone over inflated it, and yet it still looks very streamlined which is no surprise given it was designed by an aeronautical engineer.
As I’ve said before, it’s unfortunate more Seawing 24’s weren’t built. It’s a great design.
Here are some updated photos. Also a link to video footage of my Dad at the helm on the first sail and a link to a video of me pushing the boat a bit harder:
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