SeaCat 565 CC Reviewed

Just for a moment, picture this in your mind. You are holding your mobile phone up to your ear listening to the person at the other end speak. On this occasion, it is someone with a heavy South African accent. Your conversation is about boats, power catamarans, specifically South African built SeaCat’s. The voice on the other end of the line says “Look Luke, I don’t want a tech’s & specs review. People can find that information online or call me. What I do want. Is some strong wind, decent swell & to take you out in the SeaCat 565 Centre Console & really show you what this boat is capable of. It will blow your mind!”.

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After the phone call, I sat back in my chair, wondering just what I had gotten myself into. I tried to ignore those images in my mind, of horror stories involving power cats falling victim to a ‘following sea’. But, for some reason the words “let’s go play in the Noosa Bar”, left me feeling slightly pumped.

Testing Day

Sure enough, when I arrived in Noosa the wind was gusting. It was forecast to increase strength throughout the day. The tide was pushing in & there was a healthy 2 to 3 metre swell rolling in & around the Noosa headland. The Noosa bar was starting to look messy.

I was met by not one but three smiling South Africans. I decided to keep my passion for Rugby Union quiet & instead turned my eye to the SeaCat 565 centre console sitting perched on its fully galvanised trailer. There is no ignoring the fact, that this is a good-looking boat. Sleek lines, white hull with a gorgeous blue colour scheme down its side. Coupled with stainless steel fittings & with a pair of shiny black 70hp Suzuki’s mounted on the back. This boat looks bigger than what it actually is & breathes confidence.

Background

Before I briefly run through some of the standout features of the SeaCat 565 CC. It is important to acknowledge where & why these boats are made the way they are. South Africa is not gifted with numerous, well maintained concrete boat ramps with floating pontoons & spacious car parks like what we are accustomed to in some parts of Australia. Instead most boats are beach launched & retrieved. South Africans love their fishing & diving, day cruising however is not as popular. Plus, their waterways are not exactly like boating from island to island, like what we might experience in our own backyard.

As a result, over the last 30 years or so. They have refined their boat building to ensure their boats are robust enough to handle these conditions. Especially repetitive beach launching & retrieving & to suit the task of fishing and/or diving.

Features

The SeaCat 565 CC features stainless steel keel strips, foam filled hull, no wood under the deck & heavy duty roll bars to protect the engines. Two completely separate powering systems, i.e. Two batteries, 2 fuel tanks, 2 x fuel lines, 2 x motors, 2 x starters etc. To ensure that is something does go wrong mechanically you will have at least one system to get you back onto the beach.

Access into the SeaCat 565 CC is easy using the stainless-steel boarding ladder located between the motors. Further features include below deck fuel tanks, large fish hatches, a see through live bait well, perspex covered housing for your sounder & other goodies on a large centre console. A strong telescopic t-top, ample storage throughout. Safe high sides, scuppers & loads of space to move around the centre console.

As per normal I have glossed over quite a few of the boats standard features, why? Well, I want to get into the detail around how this boat performs. If you would like to really get into the tech’s and specs for this boat, then visit the Boat Sales Website here – https://www.boatsales.com.au/editorial/details/2019-sea-cat-565cc-review-116693/

On The Water

Launching the SeaCat 565 CC with two people was a breeze. But, also very achievable with some practice, if you were on your own. The stainless-steel bow rail & grab handles make it possible to climb onto the bow of the SeaCat. However, the addition of a folding ladder to the bow of the boat and/or trailer winch post would really top it off nicely.

Once on the water, the two basic ingredients of space & stability for a fishing platform become extremely obvious. Even with four people on board we had no problems moving forward & aft as we stowed all of our gear inside the large hatches, providing a clutter free deck.

With all four of us standing to one side, the boat barely moved. Coupled with the nice high sides I found these features of the SeaCat 565 CC extremely reassuring. One of my primary concerns while boating with my family is the safety of my two adventurous boys & my wife who is not the strongest swimmer. However, even my youngest son, who is an avid climber. Would struggle to find a way to climb over the side of the SeaCat 565 CC unnoticed.

With lifejackets on & the Noosa bar starting to look nice & chopped up. I tightened my grip & braced myself as the twin 70hp Suzuki’s lifted the SeaCat 565 CC up. The boat is rated to a maximum of 200hp. Our skipper charged into the breaking waves, picked his moment & at a slight angle we burst through the approaching waves. Given the increasing wind speed & open nature of the centre console we did cop some sea spray, as you would expect.

The Range

The good news is that the SeaCat range of boats do offer a forward control variant which can offer more protection. But, I didn’t feel that the SeaCat was the type of boat to be regarded as a thrower of spray.

We were through the Noosa bar in no time & it was so uneventful that I was a little taken aback at how easy the boat had pushed through the waves. Of course, we rose & fell over each wave while making our way through the bar crossing, but it was extremely smooth. The SeaCat 565’s two hulls, each with its own keel combined with a large reverse chine which run right up to the bow. Traps the air under the boat & this in turn cushions the ride. A feature common to catamaran hulls but one which the SeaCat achieves to a very high standard.

Performance

Our skipper then accelerated to cruising speed which was a comfortable 40 to 45 km per hour. With a max speed of 60km per hour & steered us towards the Noosa headland. The swell pushing around the Noosa headland looked imposing & I must admit I started to feel a touch nervous.

My host for the day Eddy Stonehouse from KBL Marine Services who imports Power Cats & Bay Boats from South Africa took the wheel & said to me “I am going to show you what this boat can do now”. Noticing the excitement in his eyes, it is at this point that I tightened my grip & with white knuckles we charged into the swell.

We hit the swell front on, side on, at an angle, completed a series of turns & yes, turned around & with the sea swell chasing after us we rode a following sea with absolutely no issues what so ever. The twin 70hp Suzuki’s proved to be very responsive allowing us to apply & reduce power as required. Of note, I was fascinated with how straight the SeaCat 565 CC tracked with a following sea. I really did expect to see the bow of the boat shift, either left or right & especially downward at some stage, but it didn’t.

Another standby feature of this boats performance is how it turns. Some of you may know this already but power catamarans generally turn & lay outward during a turn which is different from conventional mono hulls which lean to the inside of a turn, while turning.

The Hull

Due to the unique design of the SeaCat’s hull these power cats lean to the inside during a turn, not the outside. It is not as obvious as what you might expect in a large mono hull, but certainly different from any other catamaran style hull I have been in before. So much so that for a brief time you forget your riding a cat hull.

We then spent the next half hour, literally playing in the Noosa Bar. Putting the boat through its paces. Admittedly, we had moved on from really testing the boat by that stage & were now chasing some great photos to capture the boats performance.

I was amazed as I stood watching the SeaCat 565 CC turn & twist through the waves inside the bar while other more traditional boats could be seen lining up cautiously to make their run through the bar, judging their run perfectly to avoid stray waves. While the SeaCat was simply turning & twisting with what appeared complete freedom.

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Final Thoughts

My final thoughts on the SeaCat 565 Centre Console. Eddie was correct, the SeaCat 565 centre console did blow my mind. It is an absolute fishing weapon, with lots of options available to fit it out exactly as you would like.

I highly recommend that you make a booking to test drive one of these boats so that you can experience it for yourself.