Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 16-10-2009, 12:06   #1
Registered User
 
Tom and Maje's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Cruising the southern coast of Portugal and Spain
Boat: Leopard 40
Posts: 761
Antares 44i vs Leopard 46

Well we are back from the boat show">Annapolis Boat Show and spent a lot of time looking at cats. We are still stuck between the Antares 44 and the Leopard 46. Each has it's good points, but we have chosen sides. I really like the storage and safety features of the Antares and my husband likes the looks of the Leopard. We have yet to be able to sail the Antares.

Any opinions?

Maje
Tom and Maje is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-2009, 13:01   #2
Registered User
 
mdsilvers's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2009
Boat: Antares 44i - Field Trip
Posts: 120
Maje thanks for the post. Here are some candid comments. In full disclosure, I spent about a year looking for the right cat. Looked at the Leopard, St. Francis, Privilege, etc. and recently entered into a contract for a new Antares 44i. This was not without exhaustive research, multiple boat trials/visits, trip to Argentina, etc, etc.

Side by side, I tend to like the looks of the Leopard over the Antares. I do prefer the sleeker visual. For me frankly, that was the only item I preferred over the Antares.

Incidentally, I spent some time in Annapolis looking at the Leopard with another potential Antares buyer - doing some more 'side by side' comparisons. He ended up moving forward with the Antares, and entered into contract that day.

Key factors for me and my wife to purchase the Antares vs any other cat were:

-- Fit and finish. We will be living on the boat. Circumnavigating. I pay particular attention to the build quality, squeaks, etc on a boat. There is frankly no comparison in the joinery work between the two boats. Antares is exceptional in their quality. No plastic laminated wood, no squeaky floors, just solid/light (sandwich wood) construction.

-- Galley down/Kitchen. This was a big deal for my wife. The kitchen is excellent, tons of storage, and still visible to main guest in the living space. Best layout IMO for the boat size.

-- Working lines organized in cockpit. Big deal for us given we may at times be short handed, and want the simplicity of managing the boat easily from one space, while keeping the deck clean and clear of lines.

-- Glass dodger. In bad weather, this is a plus, but we will still have adequate ventilation. Again, we will be on the boat year round...so this was important.

-- Furuno as standard on new boats. While this can be easily changed on any boat, it is nice to see Antares doing research and moving with the Furuno radar, plotter (NavNet 3d), etc. I was going to have this be my standard setup..and was pleasantly surprised to hear from Rob that they too came to a similar conclusion as had I, and already had this in place for future new boats.

-- Safety features. We felt overall this was as safe if no safer boat that some of the other cats. Sealed crush points, enclosed cockpit, etc, etc. were key. We will be having two kids with us on our cruise.

-- Performance. While not the fastest cat around, in our sea trials and researching others that own the boat, felt very comfortable we will get good performance for a cruising cat. Similar size in Lagoon as an example -- the Antares has better performance. Probably not a big difference compared to the Leopard.

-- The People. In deciding to move forward with Antares, the people (Rob, Jeff, Todd, Salwa, etc) are great. Every piece of feedback we have received from owners and our own personal experience has exceeded expectations. For us we wanted to feel comfortable with the folks that will be supporting us if problems happen...and we will have problems as with any boat. Frankly, this may seem like a trivial item, but this did influence us towards the Antares. It is a relationship vs. a transaction when you buy an Antares.

Bottom line, I am very happy with our selection, and look forward to taking delivery in Fall '10.

Good luck in your search and don't hesitate to ask me any questions.
mdsilvers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-2009, 13:05   #3
CF Adviser
 
Intentional Drifter's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Pac NW
Boat: Boatless, for now, Cat enthusiast
Posts: 1,318
I can't say about the current builders of the Antares, but if it were a PDQ Antares, there would be no contest -- it is built far better than the Leopard. When the s**t starts to fly, it is not just the design, but how well that design was executed.

Robinson & Caine is a large production builder and they work hard to keep their boats at certain price points in order to compete. Over the last several years, I've seen a fair number of the high production boats get ever shoddier in their construction, trying to cut corners. I've seen that in Leopards, too. PDQ was never in that game. They always put quality first and then priced the boat, accordingly. That meant that the boats ended up being too expensive for much of their customer base.

But, the quality remained.

ID
__________________
Intentional Drifter

Observations are gold; hypotheses, silver; and conclusions, bronze.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.--Ben Franklin

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.--Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Intentional Drifter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-2009, 13:07   #4
Registered User
 
Tom and Maje's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Cruising the southern coast of Portugal and Spain
Boat: Leopard 40
Posts: 761
Thank you for your comments. I absolutely agree with your reasons for choosing an Antares over a Leopard. I also like that none of the hatches are on the deck! I tend to stub my toes and trip over them. The galley can't be beat and all the storage. I was told by a (male) friend that my husband's love of the Leopard's sleek lines is a Y chromo thing; pretty over functional. Ahh well. I've got about 4 years to talk him into it changing.

Maje
Tom and Maje is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-2009, 13:21   #5
Registered User
 
mdsilvers's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2009
Boat: Antares 44i - Field Trip
Posts: 120
Thanks ID for your post. Like you I wasn't sure about the switch from PDQ built in Canada to Argentina. After spending time in Argentina in detail with the yard, i am confident the boat quality is every bit as good if not better than the original PDQ. Todd (originally from PDQ) is living in Argentina and the person in charge every day making sure the quality is as good if not better.

In fact, no knock on current PDQ Antares owners, I would prefer the Argentina built boat vs. the older PDQ if I had to choose. I guess in a way I did choose by having a new one built vs. buying used.
mdsilvers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2009, 07:38   #6
Registered User

Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Maryland
Boat: Tartan 37C "Windgeist"
Posts: 108
Not much help to the OP, but when I went aboard the Antares at the show I was immediately in love with it! Even makes me consider switching to a multi!!! Yikes!

I was totally impressed with this boat! WOW, everything about it left me in awe of the build and design. It was the little things that just made sense, silly, but I remember how much I liked the hand holds on the boom, the galley space, and the quality of the fit & finish.

Good luck with your decision, I wish I had your problem LOL
Windgeist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2009, 14:36   #7
Registered User
 
Catalysis's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: California
Boat: St Francis 50
Posts: 284
Antares v Leopard

We were in a similar situation about a year ago.
I went to Robertson and Caine's factory in Cape Town to look at the Leopard 46 construction. Nice folks but its a real factory "turn-em-out" operation - I wasn't impressed - modular construction, staples and glue. Joinery seems similar fit and finish to FP, Lagoon etc.

The only other catamaran that came close to the Antares in terms of quality build was the St. Francis 50. Both cats come with shaft drives which was also a big plus for us.

The folks at Antares have been exceptionally helpful with our questions - all-in-all we're very happy with "Indigo".

Another item for us was we didn't see ourselves up on the flybridge in bad weather - but I guess that's a matter of personal preference.
Paul
Catalysis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2009, 15:06   #8
CF Adviser
 
Intentional Drifter's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Pac NW
Boat: Boatless, for now, Cat enthusiast
Posts: 1,318
That is really good news about the Antares folks keeping their quality up. While the boat has a pleasing design in many respects, the other major benefit to the PDQ brand was the quality of the build and the customer support.

Being a St Francis owner (although a 44, not a 50), I've really come to appreciate the often subtle differences in both quality construction and customer support. Examples: All of the backing plates, for everything, are generously sized and visible from inside the hulls. If something starts going on with one, you can see it. They aren't hidden behind panels where corrosion can get advanced. Even though we are the second owners and Duncan Lethbridge didn't make anything from us, his support has been excellent. We recently had a control cable bracket break. Of course, it had no markings on it to indicate a manufacturer or part #. An email to Duncan was returned within 24 hours with both the manufacturer and part #, which let us easily find a replacement. I really doubt that the big production builders could give that kind of support.

This isn't to say that the Leopards aren't fine boats. Just that there are other, perhaps less obvious factors, that you might want to also consider. St. Francis gives you that. PDQ certainly did, and now it sounds like the new Antares operation is continuing in their fine tradition.

ID
__________________
Intentional Drifter

Observations are gold; hypotheses, silver; and conclusions, bronze.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.--Ben Franklin

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.--Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Intentional Drifter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2009, 15:15   #9
Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,076
This is all excellent information as I am also in the deep research for a boat, hopefully a cat. Not to hijack the thread, but someone did mention a privilege in the beginning. How does this Antares 44 compare to the privilege?? I've heard nearly the same type of comments on those cats as the privilege.

Can someone confirm or point out the differences?? Thanks again for the great info!!
shadow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2022, 08:58   #10
Registered User

Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Earth
Boat: Boat
Posts: 281
Re: Antares 44i vs Leopard 46

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom and Maje View Post
We are still stuck between the Antares 44 and the Leopard 46.
If the price of admission isn't an obstacle, the Antares 44 is light years ahead of Leopard.

Also, having been in the unfortunate position of having a saildrive seal that was supposed to be good for 7 years fail in 5, the Antares with it's shaft drive would be a no brainer.
Cloroxbottle is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
Antares, leopard, leopard 46

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Antares 44i Yard - Argentina Update mdsilvers Antares Yachts 20 23-03-2010 09:14
Antares 44i KairosKona Antares Yachts 46 18-08-2009 20:34
Leopard 40 vs Leopard 43 ? nettlesbe Multihull Sailboats 5 02-08-2009 03:35
PDQ Antares 44i freetime Antares Yachts 44 18-09-2008 11:26
another Antares pandj Meets & Greets 1 08-03-2007 00:32

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 00:40.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.