Moorings Base: Maintenance quality

[chrtucke]

All,
My family is in the market for a cat...we have identified the Robertson & Caine/Leopard line (either 40ft owners version or 47ft standard) as candidate boats and something coming out of charter may work fairly well. I suppose this is likely a question for someone that either works or used to work for Moorings. I have searched the forum but not found this specific topic covered and maybe it's an unknown but here goes.

Question #1:
Is anyone aware of particular Moorings bases that do better maintenance (or worse) on there fleet of cats? I guess I'm wondering if there are "areas" to either avoid or pay closer attention to when reviewing some of these cats coming out of the Moorings charter fleet. I'm sure they all have the same maintenance schedules but I doubt they all do the same job sticking to those schedules.

Question #2:
Would anyone be able to provide a list of common "issues" with these boats coming out of charter that a buyer would want to pay closer attention to during the survey process?

Any insight in this area would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Chris

[SeaKing]

Check the Voyage base in Tortola, there boats are well taken care of and retain there value better than any other charter fleet.

[chrtucke]

PS: Sorry one other thing...is anyone aware of the mast height (bridge clearance, no to be confused with the bridgedeck clearance) of the Leopard 40? I cannot seem to find that spec anywhere.

Originally Posted by chrtucke

All,
My family is in the market for a cat...we have identified the Robertson & Caine/Leopard line (either 40ft owners version or 47ft standard) as candidate boats and something coming out of charter may work fairly well. I suppose this is likely a question for someone that either works or used to work for Moorings. I have searched the forum but not found this specific topic covered and maybe it's an unknown but here goes.

Question #1:
Is anyone aware of particular Moorings bases that do better maintenance (or worse) on there fleet of cats? I guess I'm wondering if there are "areas" to either avoid or pay closer attention to when reviewing some of these cats coming out of the Moorings charter fleet. I'm sure they all have the same maintenance schedules but I doubt they all do the same job sticking to those schedules.

Question #2:
Would anyone be able to provide a list of common "issues" with these boats coming out of charter that a buyer would want to pay closer attention to during the survey process?

Any insight in this area would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Chris

[Steve W]

Post your question on the BVI forum at www.traveltalkonline.com Lots of Moorings owners and other charterboat owners there.

[Sand crab]

Bridge clearance 18.9 m or 62' Seems too high. Specs might be wrong.
Cruising Helmsman Magazine -- Leopard 40 Boat Review

[zurisails]

You can contact Michel Benarrosh from sailonline.com, he has more than a decade of experience in the issues you are looking for information on and will definately be able to help. Meb@sailonline.com

[Camp Director G]

I was looking at a similar boat and may still consider it. (L40). If you'd like to send a PM, I'll give you more info. Also, I believe the 62 foot height is correct and should work under all bridges on the ICW. It would be close but I was under the impression that it would not be a problem.

[Surfer Girl]

You need to check the charter history of the boat - just because the SunSail or Moorings boat is based in Tortola, Guadeloupe, etc, now doesn't mean it always was.....

My ex Sun Sail charter yacht was in Guadeloupe when I bought it but it had earlier been chartered out of Dominican Republic - they had not done regular engine oil changes as evidenced by heavy sludging in the engine. Luckily, I caught it in time before any major damage was done! I heard a slight knocking noise in the engine (broken valve spring) and I had a diesel mechanic check it out. 2 new valve springs and a good engine flush 2 or 3 times to get the sludge out of all the little oil galleries and she was good - the mechanic said we caught it in time and no damage was done to the valves, etc.

I was very happy with our ex charter Dufour and she proved to be a great yacht (now sold) but check the history thoroughly!

[CB III]

We own a former crewed Moorings boat out of Tortola. I suggest you look for a former crewed yacht as they were maintained by the crew. The bare boats do not get the same level of attention.

[chrtucke]

Thank you all for the good feedback...I'll follow up on your suggestions and we'll take it from there. If anyone else has anything to add please feel free to share. Regards-