Catamarans

[Rodney 1940]

Looking to buy 38 to 42 foot catamaran on the Eastern Seaboard of the USA.
Cheers, Rodney Pierce

[schoonerdog]

check yachtworld.com, you can narrow it by Geography. Most catamarans are sold in the Ft Lauderdale area, so you'd probably want to include that in your itinerary. Think around 200k starting for price for an older 38 model up to 500k for a new 42.

[jkd]

Also check craigslist, boats online, tidewater trading post etc.

Good luck with the search,

John

[Rodney 1940]

Thanks John

[maxingout]

There are always plenty of cats for sale in south Florida. That's where I would go to have a look.

For offshore cruising, the 38 - 42 foot length seems like an affordable compromise. A good catamaran cruisers that is older vintage and in excellent shape is going to cost $200,000 dollars or more.

Good luck in your search.

[Rodney 1940]

Thanks Dave

[SearenitySail]

Originally Posted by Rodney 1940

Looking to buy 38 to 42 foot catamaran on the Eastern Seaboard of the USA.
Cheers, Rodney Pierce

Whatever your sailing intentions, you have obviously set the parameters for your future catamaran. There have been many discussions about what constitutes a capable cruising catamaran on both this forum and the cruisersforum.com forum. 38 to 42 feet leaves open a lot of possibilities; budget is certainly a consideration, and if you are looking for input from the forum it would help to know what price range you are looking for.

I remember once reading a statement that goes something like '...buy the sailboat for what you can do with it now, not what you plan to do.'

Keep in mind the market for catamarans is not quite as depressed as for other boats. Cruising World and Sail magazines have done what they can to help assure that by printing their annual multihull issues, extolling the virtues of multihulls--especially catamarans. I smile every time their annual issues come out!

If you are looking for a depressed area for catamarans, though, perhaps you should look at catamarans coming out of Caribbean charter. Most are turned out after 5-8 years. Evidently the charter industry is down a bit and owners are not able to continue to make the payments after the guaranteed income period is up.

Places to look have been mentioned; yachtworld.com, and craigslist. Some boats are also listed on the cruisersforum.com forum. You might also check some brokers like catamarans.com and Moorings Brokerage. While I didn't use them, Brent Hermann of Catamaran Company and Peter Wiersema of Moorings Brokerage spent a lot of time communicating with me and trying to help me find a boat that might be right for me.

Where once most of the cats stayed in the Caribbean because the import duty/tax didn't have to be paid, now owners are realizing they may only be able to sell their boats in the US and are bringing them to Florida. Some have had the duty paid, others cannot be sold to US citizens unless it is paid.

When the eurodollar was strong, they didn't have to worry about that and many cats coming out of charter were purchased by Europeans.

In the past year or so it seems there have been many Fountaine Pajot Athena 38s and Moorings 3800/Leopard 38s (same boat) for sale out of charter, and there seems to be an increasing number of Lagoon 380s--all around or under $200,000. The Moorings 4000/Leopard 40 is also starting to show up more. Larger boats will carry a much higher price. While an older boat, the Lagoon 42 does not appear to have dropped in price to put it in that range yet.

If that is more money than you were planning to spend, and are looking to readjust your size thinking, you might want to consider smaller boats like the Lagoon 37, Fountaine Pajot Antigua 37, Fountaine Pajot Tobago 35, PDQ 36, or Lagoon 35ccc. Florida and the Chesapeake are probably the best places to look for catamarans on the East coast.

I know there are three Lagoon 35s for sale in Florida right now, asking price is between $149,900 and $167,000. To find them just Google Latitude Adjustment and/or s/v dreamweaver.

Do your research and don't rush into anything--I paid for three surveys before I purchased the third boat. It could save you money in the long run.

I wish you luck finding the right boat. Once you find it, you will know it.

Marshall

[smj]

Originally Posted by maxingout

There are always plenty of cats for sale in south Florida. That's where I would go to have a look.

For offshore cruising, the 38 - 42 foot length seems like an affordable compromise. A good catamaran cruisers that is older vintage and in excellent shape is going to cost $200,000 dollars or more.

Good luck in your search.

I would have to disagree with that. I think there are quite a few older seaworthy cat's for under $200,000 and many for under $100,000.

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by SearenitySail

..........
Where once most of the cats stayed in the Caribbean because the import duty/tax didn't have to be paid, now owners are realizing they may only be able to sell their boats in the US and are bringing them to Florida. Some have had the duty paid, others cannot be sold to US citizens unless it is paid..

A very good point. When I bought my catamaran 5 years ago, I had to import her into the USA. Import duty was 2% at that time. The broker handled the particulars. I have no idea what the duty is today.