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Lucky Larry · 29-10-2009, 19:41

Greetings All,

I've been reading posts here for a while now and this is my first post. I've been following the two or three discussions on the Lagoon 400 and it looks like the forum is pretty polarized.

My wife and I made the fifth purchase of a Lagoon 400 while we were at the Miami boat show last February. We've been anxiously awaiting the manufactor and delivery and as I type this it's making 15 knots somewhere in the Atlantic on the back of MCP Nicosia. Do Over, as we've named her, will be sailing out of Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Do Over will be available for charter through Sail Caribe (www.SailCaribe.com) for the next three to five years, depending on if it takes three or five years to get our cruising kitty ready and enough experience under our sails to convince the wife that we really can sail off into the sunset... and find our way back.

While I have read all of the comments that have been posted on the Lagoon 400, we'll be forming our own opinions based on our experiences.

We'll let you know what we think of it and how it performs and handles. Our first sail on Do Over will be Thanksgiving week so I should have our first impressions written around the first week of December.

Lucky Larry

hanafe · 30-10-2009, 02:48

Hi Larry,

we have our new L 400 since around 6 weeks and so far we are quiet happy.
We sailed her in different conditions. She is performing very well in deed. In a Force 5 we easily made our 10.xx knots, while my wife was sunbathing on the roof. We had no waves, do not worry!!

In light winds we are a bit heavy with all our options. In F 2 it is pretty boring, but I guess on most cruisers. She starts to become lively in a F 3 and is real good starting F 4.

Upwind also the L 400 is a typical cruising multihull, but not too bad.

The most we had so far was a F 7 with seas around 3 metres. Reef I in the Main was just fine on a reach. She is very stable and almost not pitching. You feel absolute safe on her.

The space and comfort is amazing.

We still have some teething problems on quality but nothing daramatic so far.
You will like it. I am sure.

Cheers
HanaFe

nikki-m · 30-10-2009, 03:00

HanaFe,

Can you go into any more details about some of the teething problems you are having to address?
I appreciate that all new boats will have some issues, but as I am about to order a 400, I would like to know what areas to pay special attention to.

As you have had your boat a short while now, how do you feel about some of the other comments that have been written about the 400?
I suppose I am referring to one person's comment about the flexing of the side decks, the pop rivets holding the bow roller on, and the poor quality of the stainless steel. I hope you might be able to put our minds at rest that the 400 isn't like this!!

Thanks,
Nikki

hanafe · 30-10-2009, 08:34

Dear Nikki,

I just read the "polarized" comments on the 400. Some of these very bad comments I can not follow at all.
We have no flexi deck or any of the other mentioned problems. The only thing I could follow a bit is the quality in some parts of the stainless steel. They need a lot of polishing to look good.

The inside quality is also a question of taste. We like the clean lean look. Of course the wood work is on the cheaper side, but I am realistic. You get what you pay for and Lagoons, Benetaeus etc. are in the Toyota, Honda comparison and not the Bentley and Maybach area. With a little bit of extra money and taste you can do a lot on interior etc..
Our teething problem is mainly an electric problem. The breakers of the e-winches and the windlass are poping off constantly. The breakers will be replaced with a bigger size in the next couple of days by Lagoon. Guess it will be fine than. We had a flat dead generator battery which is replaced already by Lagoon and in the moment no more trouble on that. The other things are not worth to mention. Maybe one thing, I bought the usb pc LINK, but learned that it is not compatible with the C Series they provide now. We are discussing a solution in the moment.

The comfort and space is fantastic. The sitting in the saloon inside is absolutly great and outside great as well. We took the option of the big table outside which was the right decission. Just last weekend we had a nice sail and than 7 people sitting in the cockpit having a big dinner.
The beds are big enough for a couple to sleep very comfortable, of curse one can argue to make it bigger, but than you can not go in from the side anymore. Life is a compromise and boats even more.

The sailing performance I mentined already, and I am very happy with it, but having on mind that we are talking about a cruiser and not a racer. I am quite happy if my wife and me make 8 - 10 knots easily without the need of a big crew. Also in light winds we do all the time a bit more than half wind speed without a Genaker. I guess that is all you can expect from a cruiser.

Thats all for now. I am happy to give more experience at a later time and would be happy to get comments from other owners who have real experience with the 400 already.

I am glad I bought the L-400 and not another one.

HanaFe

We made some general alterations, which we planned after buying already. We increased the hight of the helsmenseat a bit to have a better overview. It is great and comfortable now. As well we made a foot rest under the wheel, strong enough to stand on it to have a better angle to the winches. Works fine now. We made some iimprovment on the bimini as well by puting in two more steel bars. So no rain water is stucked anymore. These are all little things, for little money. The only thing I did not understand while buying is that you can not get an opening of the reeling. Noiw, I guess they offer it.
Funny for me is that nobody mentions a really stupid thing on the boat. The steps at the sid of the stern of the boat. There is hardly any opportunity, at least where we are mooring to step on the baot from there. We had to buy a boarding ladder as the freeboard is in deed quite high.
The space in the galley is tight if you go for the full option list. If you do not take the microwave or no freezer you have a lot of space. As I have heard they add some over head cabintes already.

Lucky Larry · 30-10-2009, 12:14

HanaFe,

Thanks for the comments and sharing your experiences. Can you tell me if you went with the square top mail sail?

Cheers,
Lucky Larry

nikki-m · 30-10-2009, 12:40

Yes, I have to agree that those steps at the back of the boat just are not practical - it is so difficult to use them if the boat is moored alongside. And with no opening in the guard rails, it makes it even more difficult to board the vessel from the sides. I was not aware that they were now going to offer an opening section - although this, coupled with an in-built step (as per the 420s) would certainly go some way to sorting the issue. I will ask this of Lagoon on my order.

What is the incompatibility with the C120? I thought the link was redundant anyway, as with the widescreen versions of the C and E series, the connection can be by ethernet cable. I am aware that there is a compatability issue between the Raymarine software and Vista, although I have been informed by Raymarine that this should have been resolved with SP2.

Same with the cupboards -I've not heard that Lagoon are adding overhead units (as per the 420s, I guess). Can anyone confirm whether this might be happening? Our plan will be to have the fridge installed in the galley, and to put the freezer in the outside cupboard. That frees up a large under-counter cupboard for extra storage.

I think everyone is aware by now that the interior fit-out is quite low-quality. But as HanaFe points out, by spending a little money (on decent upholstery, perhaps) it can be improved a lot.

Nikki

hanafe · 30-10-2009, 16:23

Larry, Nikki

I went for the Top Square sail. Definetly worth it.
C 120 W only transmit the instrument datas to the PC but not the plotter or radar. About ethernet for C wide is new to me. I will check on the web. My Raymarine Agent did not tell me that as well.
Kitchen cabinets. I took the freezer, but we are using it as cabinet. Wrong buy, we will never use it anyway. Same with the ice maker outside. It takes far too long to generate the ice cubes, but the locker outside would be very helpfull. I guess I will remove the ice maker soon or later.

HanaFe

ato · 04-11-2009, 01:30

Hi hanafe, seems you're pretty happy with your L400 and that's what counts, right? cheers

nikki-m · 04-11-2009, 06:38

HanaFe,
Can you give any reports back on how the boat handles in different weather conditions? I have only managed to sail it in ghost winds, when it was very tame. How do the hulls cope with choppy seas? And large swells? What is the motion like in these heavier sea conditions?
Nikki

Steve_C · 04-11-2009, 08:23

I sailed on it in Annapolis and was surprised at how responsive it was.

My biggest complaint aside from lack of kitchen storage was the access to the generator. It's really a tight fit. What are your thoughts? have you tried to access the oil filter yet?

asb · 09-11-2009, 01:07

There are 2 new L400 videos in Youtube. Videos are taken in Annapolis.

For the people like me, who are interested in L400 but not yet seen it, it could be very informative.

YouTube - Catamarans.com: Tour of the New Lagoon 400: Part 1

YouTube - Catamarans.com: Tour of the New Lagoon 400: Part 2

Lucky Larry · 27-11-2009, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_C

I sailed on it in Annapolis and was surprised at how responsive it was.

My biggest complaint aside from lack of kitchen storage was the access to the generator. It's really a tight fit. What are your thoughts? have you tried to access the oil filter yet?

Steve,

I just went out and looked at the oil filter on the generator and was easily able to put my hand on it with room to turn it or to put an oil filter wrench on it if needed. I wouldn't try it with a hot generator though.

Cheers,
Lucky Larry

Lucky Larry · 27-11-2009, 17:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by hanafe

Larry, Nikki

I went for the Top Square sail. Definetly worth it.
C 120 W only transmit the instrument datas to the PC but not the plotter or radar. About ethernet for C wide is new to me. I will check on the web. My Raymarine Agent did not tell me that as well.
Kitchen cabinets. I took the freezer, but we are using it as cabinet. Wrong buy, we will never use it anyway. Same with the ice maker outside. It takes far too long to generate the ice cubes, but the locker outside would be very helpfull. I guess I will remove the ice maker soon or later.

HanaFe

HanaFe,

Let us know if you want someone to recycle that IceMaker ;-) We went with the added freezer and are happy with that choice. Especially for longer cruises, and with guests.

We have heard that Lagoon is looking at adding cabinets over the stove. We've asked our dealer to look into a retrofit kit.

Your comments and additions to the helmstation are right on target: We're looking into a fiberglass bimini, a higher seat, and a footrest/step. And we're looking for the right cup/drink holder to add where Lagoon should have.

As for the "polarized" comments on the other thread from the person who looked at the 400 at Annapolis: I tried to find any spring in the deck but failed, we used the anchor without incident, if the floorboards squeeked we didn't notice, and we have the sense to keep our fingers to the side of the hatch that is not recessed to be flat with the deck.

We've just finished a week onboard and we are very please with our purchase. We didn't encounter any extreme weather (other than heat) but it consistently sails at a little better than half the wind speed in 8 to 20 knots from 50 - 150 degrees off the bow. It rides very nice in flat to 8ft seas. And while we haven't topped off the tanks to know how many gallons we burned, we ran the 40HP Yanmars for 8 hours at 2,100 RPM (roughly 8 knots), and ran the generator for 30 hours on 1/8th each of two 40 gallon tanks.

So far the only issues we've had are that the bed corners are missing in the aft cabins, the shower drain cover floats, leaving a hole to step into, and the low speed switch on the electric winch is not working.

hanafe · 01-01-2010, 22:22

Lucky Larry,
thanks for your comments. I totaly share them. I havn't been on the forum for a while. Sorry about that.
In the meantime we made quite a lot experience under sail. We are very happy with the performance. We always do a little more than half wind speed, but starting at 8 knots wind only. We realized that the recommondation of Lagoon, when to reef the 400 is on the very conservative side. We flew full sails in force 5 upwind, and she was just doing great. 8.5 - 9 kts in a 40 degree app wind angle. However, to reasonably going upwind she needs quite a wind. We also sailed her in force 6 and 7 now, reefed of course. Double handed only, no problems, smooth fast runs.
Is there anywhere a Lagoon 400 only forum?
rgds
HanaFe