Leopard Sail Cat Owners - Please Share Your Experiences and Opinions

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by chris smith

I really like the leopards , ESP the older ones designed by AS. .

Just to clarify, AS is Alexander Simonis.The early Leopards were designed by him also the designer of VOYAGE catamarans and they still use his designs. The Voyage cats sail well to windward, I know I have suprised many monohulls by sailing past them in the Chesapeake bay on our 47. There are some good deals on the 500 model and Voyage has just slightly changed the 500 and now make a 520 with a finer bow and opened the cockpit more.

If you like Leopards you should take a look at the Voyage boats and their charter fleet is well maintained. I believe all the SA boats take a bad rap for "low" bridgedeck clearance because they are so wide it makes them look lower than they are. Our older 470 is 27ft wide with an awesome amount of room inside. All designed by Alexander Simonis

[Camp Director G]

Any Leopard 40 owners or sailors out there? I'd like to know your thoughts.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Camp Director G

Any Leopard 40 owners or sailors out there? I'd like to know your thoughts.

We charted a Leopard 40 and liked it a lot. Nice hard top all lines lead to the helm. Very well laided out. Sails well. Felt a little on the heavy side.

[Mike w]

Originally Posted by Camp Director G

Any Leopard 40 owners or sailors out there? I'd like to know your thoughts.

If it''s for coastal sailing sure. If you are planning water sailing">blue water sailing no thanks. Honestly all the eye candy that people see in these boats loose luster very quick. They are just not well designed for sailing offshore. Heavy, don't point well, slow, hobby horse, the list goes on. If local waters or within a week back to port and motor sailing is your plan then fine. Otherwise the priority would be keep it simple, sails well, enough space for what you need and built well so that you don't have to spend your time repairing things. You will largely increase your fun time. Also I would look at a boat that has a good resale value. Both types a used Leopard or another boat may fit in this criteria. But it's nice to know that if you end up hating the boat you can get rid of it without much of a loss. I personally would buy a Outremer 40-43 ft any day. You would appreciate the miles the boat eats up and the simple life far more. One safe boat with low windage, points upwind like no other, better motion at sea, and can easily do 200+ NM a day, vs the 140 you would get on a Leopard 40. Also a boat that would keep it's value very well. Prices are around $180,000 to $460,000 for an almost new one.

That is just my 2C

Hope you enjoy whatever you decide.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by Mike w

One safe boat with low windage, points upwind like no other, better motion at sea, and can easily do 200+ NM a day, vs the 140 you would get on a Leopard 40. Also a boat that would keep it's value very well.

Sounds like a Voyage 500

[Walby113]

Originally Posted by Camp Director G

Any Leopard 40 owners or sailors out there? I'd like to know your thoughts.

We bought a 2009 L40 in January, and have so far only sailed her for a few weeks in the BVI. The Trades were blowing 15 to 25 kts most of the time, and we thought she handled great. No slapping in 5 to 7 ft seas, and she pointed as well and made better VMG than 50-ft monohulls. We're going down to Virgin Gorda next week to sail her back to Maine. We chose the the L40 for the combination of decent performance and great layout. We will begin living aboard fulltime, starting this fall, so comfort was a major factor.

Although most of the L40s for sale are 4-cabin models coming out of the charter fleet, we decided to spend the extra money to get a never-chartered 3-cabin. Most of the charter boats are still in the fleet and not available for immediate possession, unless you can negotiate buying it out sooner (more money). We also have a friend who recently took possession of his L40 after it spent 5 years in the Moorings fleet (he owned it the whole time) in Marsh Harbour. He tells a story of neglected mainenance, high wear and tear, and frustration trying to get Moorings to make the needed repairs. It took him more than a year from phase out until the repairs were completed. He estimates the work cost $120k, with Moorings covering all but $20k. I understand that other Moorings locations, such as Tortola, may take better care of their boats than Marsh Harbour.

We have a cruising plan that would not allow for several months of repair work or waiting for charter commitments, so we spent the extra money on a private boat. We are really happy with what we got, which is a nearly new 3-cabin L40 that has had all the new-boat bugs worked out and is ready to go. Every boat is about tradeoffs, and we really like the choices they made on the L40.

[Cotemar]

Walby113,

Money well spent. Charter boats are not really the bargain you would expect.
I have chartered and been on these boat for a few weeks at a time and I would not be interested in owning one. Used non-charter is the way to go.

[sailor1026]

There are exceptions in used charter boats. Our L40 is currently in charter with a small company and used to be a Moorings boat. It is in excellent shape - no compression dings in the sides. It has had a few things that needed attention that cost money and a bunch of small things that were inexpensive (CRC-656 and light oil helped a *lot* on everything that should move).
While we were there for the survey, we saw some other boats that were not in great shape, both in phase-out and about to phase-out. If you use a good broker, they will have someone local who can check it out and let you know the real condition.

[Mainstaysailing]

...follow your heart...
We bought a Leopard 45 in 2005, after living on (3 yrs)and owning a Legend 45 monohull, which was a fine sailor by the way. We decided that space was lacking, probably due to all the junk we carried around! What a life-change, especially now with an 8 year old and a 2y.o. !
No regrets at all - I now day-charter to help pay for the 'condomaran'
All visitors are impresed by the space and......4 heads ! what an overkill.
The caribbean chop tends to slap when battling into it, bearing away just prolongs the sea-unkindliness so I stomp on the twin Yanmars...and power away! Not very sailor like but either that or change your destination.
The feel is quite different, lacking feedback regarding being pressured up by the breeze, so it takes some time to read her. The rooster tail off the downwind pontoon is a good measure for me now.
The mainsail is impossible for one to hoist - without cursing all the gods(as mum cradles the 2 year old!) Even tried the windlass through sheer frustration but the hayard carved a nice momento into the gelcoat, just to politely remind me that a stainless chaffe-guard was required...just there. Really impressed with the strength of the early Leopards so suggest buying a cheapie, ex-charter, and spend the rest on the upgrades that you consider are important such as; hard top, solar, new engines, a/c, decent inverter for the blender We did all of the aforementioned and have a yacht that I feel happy sailing back to Cape Town on !!
Anything from a 40' up would make you happy - go for it ...afterall, how much time are you actually underway ?
Send me a postcard....

[gene80]

Originally Posted by sailor1026

There are exceptions in used charter boats. Our L40 is currently in charter with a small company and used to be a Moorings boat. It is in excellent shape - no compression dings in the sides. It has had a few things that needed attention that cost money and a bunch of small things that were inexpensive (CRC-656 and light oil helped a *lot* on everything that should move).
While we were there for the survey, we saw some other boats that were not in great shape, both in phase-out and about to phase-out. If you use a good broker, they will have someone local who can check it out and let you know the real condition.

What do you mean by compression dings? Is this caused when the standing rigging is too tight and you bash upwind?

Gene

[Cotemar]

No compression dings in the sides. Means that no one banged into the dock or dock finger corners and caused a compression ding (Bad Dent) in the fiber glass. Then the maintenance crew tries to polish is out and it look like a smooth crater on the sides of the hull. Usually when you look down the side hulls of any charter boat you can see these compression dings (Bad Dents)

[smj]

Originally Posted by gene80

What do you mean by compression dings? Is this caused when the standing rigging is too tight and you bash upwind?

Gene

Usually only found on cored boats as it is the core compressing under impact leaving a dent.

[gene80]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Sounds like a Voyage 500

140 on an L40? 5.85 knots an hour... Have you sailed a Leopard 40? Even if the wind stayed between 10-15 knots apparent you'd be in the 160-180 nm range...

The more I read this forum and others the more I realize that most posters are indeed arm chair captains. We don't have much experience sailing but we've owned the boat for 9 months and have over 1800 nm under our belts.

Get a boat and get out there...

[Bulawayo]

well said. Totally agree.

[Heath68]

I found your post from 2012 asking for comments about Leopard cats. It doesn't look from your profile that you went with it. Is this because you found aspects of it you didn't like or preferred on another cat? or was it that you shelved the idea?

The reason I asked is that I am looking for information on them to make a purchase decision.

Regards

Heath