BOAT REVIEW Wright 46S Powercat

Kelvin Kay couldn’t have known – when he first bought the moulds for this powercat – that it would be more than a decade before the vessel would finally hit the water. But patience is one of the most useful tools in the boatbuilder’s arsenal, and it has paid off in spades on this build.

Best known for introducing the Thundercats to New Zealand in the 1990s, Kay had been involved in manufacturing and charter boat skippering before turning his hand to the boatbuilding business. He bought the moulds for the 15m cat off the original builder in 2007, but they languished in storage for years as his life went in other directions.
“I originally wanted to build myself one, but I then ended up living and working in Samoa as a charter boat skipper, and I met some guys on a fishing charter who wanted to buy a boat. I said I had these moulds and it went from there. There were several people who wanted an Alan Wright powercat, but they’d been out of production for a while.”

First, K2 Marine (the company Kay runs with son Amos, an engineer with superyacht experience) produced the hull and decks of two 15m flybridge powercats, for clients to finish themselves, before altering the moulds to build this 14m sedan version for an Auckland-based client, who was looking for a fishing platform for himself and a few mates.
When starting to build the powercats, the Kays got in touch with Wright, now in his late 90s but still one of New Zealand’s best-known designers, of both yachts and powered craft.
“We visited him when we got the first two orders and bought the rights to use his name for the boats,” Kay says. “We thought it was important to give him credit and some reward for his design, and then we would have the brand name recognition – these boats were very popular.”

A large number of these cats were produced from the original moulds, several of them used as camera boats for the America’s Cup – back in the day when the IACC boats only did 10–15 knots.
“Fuel efficiency was one of the biggest factors for the owners – a major positive with power cats,” says Kelvin. “Another thing they really wanted from a cat was high stability – some of their family get seasick, and with a cat you don’t have the roly-poly-ness of a mono.”
The production of this 14m model – the Wright 46S – has been a long process, and the Kays have had to draw on those reserves of patience. Complicated and delayed by the various Covid lockdowns and material shortages, in the end it took around 20 months from go to whoa, with the boat going into the water amid all the hoo-ha of ETNZ winning the America’s Cup. Then there was a quick sea-trial period before the boat was handed over to its owners for some Easter cruising.

Aboard
The first thing you notice on stepping aboard is the huge cockpit. Having a powercat might cause a few marina berthing issues, but boy does it give you lots of room to relax.
A boarding platform runs right across the transom, with walk-throughs each side, and a customised central console containing all the necessaries for fishing: drink holders, rod holders (another four, on top of the six across the stern rails on the boarding platform), a live-bait tank, sink, a kill bin, the gas locker and, of course a beer fridge. Fishing was the original raison d’être for this boat, and while the interior has benefited from some wifely input, out here it’s all (mostly) business.

Apart from a pair of L-shaped sofas forward on each side, with a small table to port, the cockpit has been left open and uncluttered. A rod-storage cupboard is built into the cockpit roof, which has been extended out 800 mm from the base mould to provide a bit of extra shelter.
Beneath the cockpit floor are the twin 440hp Yanmar diesels with Bri-Ski props. Curved steps lead up both sides onto the walkaround to the large wingdeck area forward of the cabin, where there is a pair of built-in sun-loungers.

Stepping inside, through the large sliding door, there’s a very large U-shaped sofa to port around a fold-out table, with the galley opposite. It includes a four-burner Thetford gas stove, single sink with a stylish black tap and an under-bench fridge. The large window in the aft bulkhead hinges upwards to open the living/dining space to the cockpit.

Forward on each side, steps lead down to the accommodation in the hulls. There’s another small seating area forward to port, where family and friends can hang out with whoever is doing the driving at the central helm station, with its low-set wheel.
At the helm, instead of a bench seat, there is a pair of racing-car style seats on pedestals, and the dash is simple and unadorned. Handily positioned behind the starboard seat is a drinks station, with under-bench fridge. There’s a 16-inch Garmin touchscreen here, pretty much in the centre, along with the twin throttle controls and a CZone switch panel.

The accommodation layout’s been customised to the owner’s requirements, to provide maximum berth space. There are a twin bunk-style berths forward in the starboard hull and the sole head and shower, then on the other side there are two double berths, one running athwartships under the front of the saloon.

“The owner’s really keen on fishing and wanted to be able to go away for boys’ weekends,” Kay says. “It was going to be a very cheap fishing boat but wives got involved and made it into much more of a luxury cruiser.”
That feminine influence can be seen in the interior look, with pale upholstery, blond timber cabinetry, a darker timber floor, plush carpet underfoot in the accommodation and a hotel-style bathroom. This is no basic boys’ weekender.

Electrics
The boat also sports the latest in electrics, with the system (designed and installed by Westhaven’s Beacon Marine) including a CZone electronic switch-panel system, energy-efficient LED lighting and a Mastervolt battery system to run it all. Two large solar panels on the cabin roof provide enough power for the boat’s systems to run independently of a generator.

Beacon’s Cam Harris says the company was involved right from the start of the build. “We had meetings with both K2 and the owners to run through how they wanted to use the boat. They wanted to be able to sit at anchor and not run the engine, and they wanted it to be easy to use.”
The solar array can produce up to 50 amps a day, feeding into a Mastervolt lithium-ion battery bank. (The house battery bank can also be charged through the engine alternators). The panels are positioned well forward on the cabin roof so there’s plenty of space aft to store the tender on the roof, lifted out of the way on a davit.

CZone provides simple, pre-programmed modes that can be changed at the push of a button, for day or night, cruising or anchored, or dock mode. For example, the ‘night entertaining’ mode turns on all the courtesy lights around the saloon area. Modules are installed in four corners of the boat, to reduce and simplify the cabling installation.
Lighting is all Hella LEDs, both strip and spot lighting, in the ceiling and under the cabinetry, which is another power saving – all of the lights on the boat combined draw the same amount of power as one old-school halogen bulb. At night, there is blue and white underwater lighting.

Playtime
Our original plan is to head out from Westpark into the upper harbour for the photo shoot, but it’s such a beautiful day we decide to keep going and head for Motuihe. This is basically the boat’s first run, so it’s a good opportunity to stretch her legs.
She has a top speed of just over 27 knots, and a comfortable cruising speed of 24 knots, at 71 litres/hour per engine (142 litres/hour all up). Drop that speed back a bit, to around 20 knots, and the fuel usage falls to around 80 litres/hour overall.

It’s certainly very stable, providing a smooth ride which is also very dry – no spray on the windscreen. It corners confidently without ‘high siding’ on the turns, staying very level when cornering and providing no risk of upsetting anyone’s cup of tea.
Sitting out at Motuihe in the sunshine, it’s easy to see what a comfortable and practical cruising and fishing platform this will be – we just wish we had some gear with us to flick a line to the big kingfish we can see swirling around on the surface not far off the stern. It’s certainly a wrench to leave the K2 and Beacon teams out in the gulf and head back to base in the Boating NZ boat, as duty calls.

Beacon Marine
The company specialises in electronics installation and diagnostics, system control, batteries, charging and power management systems.
Established in 2009, the company is owned by Adam Wrightson and Cam Harris and is based in Westhaven Marina. Collectively, Beacon’s team has 100 years’ worth of experience in the marine industry. It offers a wide range of skills to service the electrical and electronics needs of its customers, from a new bilge pump to complete electronics system replacements, as well as audio visual and marine WiFi solutions.

The company designed the electrical systems and did all the planning, installation, commissioning and sea-trialling for this Wright cat project. Other examples of recent work include a Southstar 36 power boat and a 38ft Bakewell-White carbon racing yacht.
The Southstar was converted to lithium-ion house batteries, giving the owner the ability to stay at anchor for several days without running his engine. A 200Ah alternator was installed, saving run time as it can fully charge the batteries from 30% in about two hours.
Beacon replaced the original heavy electrical switches and cabling of the Bakewell-White yacht with a CZone digital switching system. Fully-integrated with the vessel’s navigation system, all circuits are monitored and controlled from the B&G touchscreen in the cockpit.