The Seaward 23 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Nick Hake as a pocket cruiser and first built in 1984.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 203.

International Marine S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financ ...

/ McGraw-Hill, 2010. The Seaward 23 is a development of the

Seaward 22 The Seaward 22 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Nick Hake and first built in 1985.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 202. International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2010. The boat was develo ...

Production

The design was built by

Hake Yachts Hake Yachts, also called Seaward Yachts, was an American boat builder based in Carmel, Indiana. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats. The company was founded in 1973 by boat designer Nick Hake, a gr ...

in the United States, from 1984 until 2002, but it is now out of production.

Design

The Seaward 23 is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of solid fiberglass, with wood trim. It has a fractional

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

rig, a plumb stem with a bowsprit, a vertical

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller or optional

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...

and a fixed

wing keel The winged keel is a sailboat keel layout first fitted on the 12-metre class yacht ''Australia II'', 1983 America's Cup winner. Design This layout was adopted by Ben Lexcen, designer of ''Australia II''. Although Ben Lexcen "had tried the winged ...

. The cabin has rectangular ports. A free-standing catboat rig, with a carbon fiber mast was a factory option. The boat displaces and carries of ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard wing keel. The boat is normally fitted with a small outboard motor or optional

inboard An inboard motor is a marine propulsion system for boats. As opposed to an outboard motor where an engine is mounted outside the hull of the craft, an ''inboard motor'' is an engine enclosed within the hull of the boat, usually connected to a ...

Yanmar diesel engine for docking and maneuvering. The design has sleeping accommodation for four people, with a double

"V"-berth A berth is a bed or sleeping accommodation on vehicles. Space accommodations have contributed to certain common design elements of berths. Beds in boats or ships While beds on large ships are little different from those on shore, the lack ...

in the bow cabin and two straight settee berths in the main cabin and an aft cabin with a double berth on the port side. The

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

is located on the starboard side just forward of the

companionway In the architecture of a ship, a companion or companionway is a raised and windowed hatchway in the ship's deck, with a ladder leading below and the hooded entrance-hatch to the main cabins. A companionway may be secured by doors or, commonly in ...

ladder and is equipped with a single-burner stove and a sink. An icebox is located on the port side under the cockpit. Cabin headroom is . The design has a PHRF racing average handicap of 285 and a hull speed of .

Operational history

In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "the Seaward 23 ... is a transformed version of the 22 ... though with the same waterline and the same basic hull structure. The centerboard on the 22 has been replaced with a very shallow fixed keel with wings, which, with a draft of just over two feet, is not likely to be very close-winded. There's a choice of rigs, either a fully battened cat rig with a big roach set on a freestanding carbon-fiber mast ... or a conventional sloop rig featuring a self-tacking jib. The sales brochure mentions a Yanmar diesel but doesn't give the size (which we assume is minimal) or say whether buyers can choose an outboard and omit the diesel. (We assume they can.) The sales brochure shows a wheel rather than the older 22's tiller; based on a cockpit configuration very similar to the older 22, we assume a tiller can be substituted (which we recommend doing for this size boat). Best features: The stern pulpit includes "catbird stern seats" on the quarters, for sightseeing while motoring along rivers. Hardware is upper-end quality...." In a 2006 used boat review in the ''SpinSheet'', Jack Hornor wrote, "The Seaward 23 has a well-proportioned shape with a nearly plumb bow, an apparent but not exaggerated sweep to the sheer, a bit of classic tumblehome sectional shape at the transom, and an outboard rudder. To my eye, this is a handsome little boat. ... If you’re attracted to the advantages offered by trailerable sailboats, the Seaward 23 is a practical choice that is light enough to be pulled by a full size vehicle or small pickup and available with an inboard diesel engine not typical on this type of boat."

References

{{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide Keelboats 1980s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Trailer sailers Sailboat type designs by Nick Hake Sailboat types built by Hake Yachts

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References