Decided on a Cat, where to look?

[Sundowners]

Hello all,

I've made a bit of a life decision (suspect. Mid life crisis) and decided to get back into sailing, buy a catamaran and see where I end up.
I have trolled the internet and decided on a Lagoon 380 owners version for various reasons.
My question is, what is the best way to find one to purchase?
The obvious answer, I assume, would be to scour the internet.?
But I travel internationally and get time off between contracts. So I'm wondering would I be better off traveling to various ports of call and walking the docks.
If so where would be the best places to visit? BVIs? Pacific islands? France?
Are there places that are the end of the line, so to speak, where sailors decide 'bugger it I'm done'?

Also are there any issues with the L380 I should look out for?

My first post!

Thank you


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[rancher44]

Hi
I scoured the universe for a boat and got so discouraged that I was ready to bbuy a monohull. I did use finally a broker and he found me the Cat I have now I strongly urge you to use a good broker PM me if you want His contact info

[pathlesschosen]

The best Lagoon 380 blog is the Honeymoon.

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/honeymoon/

Seth gives a practical review of the 380. Having sailed them myself I agree with his comments. Would I purchase one. Yes.

Recently saw a cheap 380 owner version for 100k euro advertised in Turkey. Might be worth a look.



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[yardie]

We recently purchased an owner's version L380 and absolutely love it (I see a lot of work ahead of me, my wife thinks its actually better than the apartment we owned). I also read Seth's blog and his views were spot on. I downloaded all his pictures to compare with what was onboard our Lagoon.

Also, pathlesschosen, that particular Lagoon is gone <--- check left on profile. And I might have had something to do with it

SD, like you I had so many questions when I started. First I had to establish a budget and stick to it. It's very easy to find the perfect boat once you go up the price range. Many times I was trying to stretch just a bit on price (it's only $10-20k above our budget), cross to other makers (FP, Leopard, Maxim, etc) or cross models (L410 ex charter, L440, L400) that had their own compromises.

Just wait a while because more L380s should be exiting the charter/timeshare market shortly. The charter season is almost over and charter owners are now deciding if they want to squeeze another season out of this one or sell it and purchase another. When we started looking there were plenty available, then those changed to "On contract", and finally disappeared from the web listings. I was literally minutes away from buying a Hanse when my dream boat arrived in my inbox. check my posts.

While every boat has a story I'm really enjoying going through the history on ours. It's had a few lives as weekender, liveaboard, charter, and now liveaboard again. Wiring is a mess as each owner added/replaced/removed equipment and left the wiring in place. I've been shocked once and loss the POS inverter; someone didn't wire shore power correctly.

From my research I can tell you this. The ex-charters aren't as bad as you would be told. But they aren't in as great a shape as the pictures would let you believe, it's for business afterall. The boats in the caribbean have been ridden harder than the med. If you want a cat check the BVIs and martinique has a bay full of them (Petites annonces gratuites d'occasion - leboncoin.fr). Let the listing sites do the hardwork for you. I used YW, AD, and EYB. Set some criteria (length, price+10k, and hull type) and alerts will arrive 2-3 times per week. Once I did that I rarely went back to the websites except when something hit my inbox.

Occasionally you'll have an elderly owner whose family needs to offload it but more likely the "bugger it" boat is a major headache. Like a failed relationship the owner hangs on a little too long. Then when they do decide to sell it's sat out in the elements for too long. Ever been in an abandoned house? now add the smell of stale bilge water.

As for the L380 issues, I've only had ours for a week (see that smile) so I can't describe everything. So far my port engine has a small fuel supply problem that I can't fix. I've replace the CAV filter with a Racor, replaced fuel hoses, etc. It runs but needs priming sometimes. And the saildrive is leaking a little bit.

Everyone that I've met on the dock love her. The broker-owners say it's the best Lagoon they've ever designed. And as much as they'd like for everyone to buy the more expensive L39 the L380 is still available because it prints money. The guys in the chandlery says it is less problematic than the bigger ones. The rigging is done just right. Big enough for a family, small enough for singlehanding (okay 1.5 persons, sometimes you want another body at the other post).

[monte]

Stick with the L380, it's a good choice. Where to buy depends on your cruising plans. Close to there would be best, even if they cost a bit more than other locations. For an owners version I would buy new, ex factory in France. It's true most of the bugs have been well sorted out in the 380. I think it's the longest running production cat model (about 15 years) with over 800 launched and a little bird told me they will build them till they reach 1000.

[Sundowners]

Thank you all for the informative replies.

Monte,

My budget is in the 300k usd. Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think that will get me many options and inclusions on new from factory for this price. ? Would I need to pay tax if departing EU directly?

Pathlesschosen,

I watched all of Seths videos in one sitting. What a great couple they are. They looked very safe in some of those big storms which steered me towards the Lagoon.

Yardie,

Congratulations on the new purchase, it must be exciting..
I hadn't thought about the charter market having sellindg seasons.
I also hadn't found EYB or AD on my searches. Ill add alerts as you recommended.
Regarding ex charters there does seem to be some on the market with relatively low hours. They also seem to spend a lot on re fitting and overhauling.
I did have one broker call me from Australia. Too be honest I was not impressed. He sounded like a used car salesman that had just read 'selling for dummies'. Just the usual selling tactics that make you think, 'he thinks your an idiot' I guess ill find a good one out there.
Have you checked the fuel pump Yardie?

Thanks again all and keep me in mind if you see something come up.

[monte]

I'd say you could go new with your budget. No need to pay VAT and you can cruise the med indefinitely if you like. You will need to pay applicable tax when you return to the country of registration if you return, or look at registering in BVIs or similar. Have a chat to Javier at catamarans Barcelona, he can give you a good idea on current pricing and extras. Let me know if you need any specific info. Some extras are better added later, such as solar.