Hot-Rodding a Lagoon 440 ......

[Lagoon4us]

In the spirit of hot rodding i'm looking at various ways of improving the sailability of a 440.

Not interested in discussion regarding 'what if's' such as a lowered boom hitting someone, get over it, it's a sailing boat, more so designed with bare boat charters in mind than true efficiencies.

So my initial thoughts are:-

1) Weight reduction.
2) Feathering/folding props.
3) Hard sails.
4) Lower the boom allowing sitting height with Bimini only.
5) Reducing 'add on' windage by keeping a low profile on solar additions etc.

Constructive idea's?

[Ram]

How about lowering the boom, new square top sail,AND increase sail size-feathering props,empty the water tanks,adding a water maker so you need to hold less water/kep clean bottom- what more can be done its built like a tank!(BEAUTFUL TANK!)

[44'cruisingcat]

Chrome wheels and a foxtail on the ariel?

IMO the boat will sail fine in a decent breeze, so I'd be looking at light weather sails.

Folding/feathering props too.

[Cheechako]

A couple injected Chevy 454's ought to help. I'd go with the bravo 3 outdrives...

[44'cruisingcat]

Don't forget the flames down the sides..

[Camp Director G]

Fuzzy dice have been shown to increase speed by .5 knots.

[smj]

Stern and bow extensions. Make her 54'!

[Sand crab]

That boats damn heavy. About 26,000 lbs. lightship. Shedding a couple of pounds ain't gonna do squat. It's a Winnebago with sails. Just sit back and enjoy it. Or get an Outremer.

[Morrissey]

+1 to the Winnebago comparison. If you want performance buy another boat... almost any other boat.

If you do buy one, take it as it is - add-ons proposed won't do much other than empty your wallet. Add a hot dink if you must satisfy a need for speed.

[impi]

We get really good speeds and some really close upwind angles out of ours - we are kitted and rigged like a house ... 6Kg wahshing / dryer machine, 900 litre water tanks always full (yes bows look lower in the water but she climbs upwind nicer that way) ... water makers, 5 x solar panels, dive compressor, Dive tanks and weight belts and everything we need to live onboard as we cruise the world. Sure an Outremer is more of a performer ... my cousin has the rights to sell them in Florida and I met the owner at his house ... very good people, but the Outremer has a different purpose to the lagoon 440. Perhaps our 440 is well balanced (?) - we had 21 knots out of her crossing the Atlantic from Cape Town to Brazil and did the crossing in 21 days - Cape Town to Fortaleza (see specifics on our blog if it interests you).
We sail her downwind with two genoas (it flies) - modified the mainsail (not to squarehead but somewhere in between) for more efficient power - Quantum sails in Cape Town did the calculation for me. Today we sailed from Salt Whistle Bay to Willilabou - left at 8:00am and had lunch at anchor in Willlilabou at 13:45pm - upwind !
Last week we sailed her up from Tyrrel Bay to Salt whistle - 30 degrees - some guys cant believe it when they are on board... full water tanks, bow lower in the water, easy tension in the sails, genoa track all the way to the front (met some guys who beat with the track positioned aft ... it kills the speed) ...
For a 'cruising cat' ... we find the boat amazing and exhilirating ... quite some statement for a couple who had a Catana 471 (dont you think?)

[impi]

Originally Posted by Armagh

+1 to the Winnebago comparison. If you want performance buy another boat... almost any other boat.

If you do buy one, take it as it is - add-ons proposed won't do much other than empty your wallet. Add a hot dink if you must satisfy a need for speed.

So what do you sail then?

[downunder]

Originally Posted by impi

So what do you sail then?

Good question.

I think Lagoon4us just has too much time on his hands to kill at present talking about hot-rodding

[impi]

Originally Posted by downunder

Good question.

I think Lagoon4us just has too much time on his hands to kill at present talking about hot-rodding

how are your plans coming along? We are just loving our Lagoon 440 - was at the Miami Boat Show and we are considering a Lagoon 560, but I must admit it would be sad to say goodbye to this one man!
It's just that so many people want to come sailing with us that we figured maybe a bigger cat would be a way to go, but Lagoon will have to provide us with a demo first ... wont buy without seeing how she sails

[downunder]

Aiming for 2013 build for delivery Jan 2014

Need the time to sort everything out.

[impi]

Originally Posted by downunder

Aiming for 2013 build for delivery Jan 2014

Need the time to sort everything out.

Yeah, I was 'in the same boat' ... had to scale down the business and make the time to figure out how to live the dream.
People also tend to pressure one, but I steadily did things at my own pace and now am living the dream with a boat that is properly kitted out ... so glad I did that ... friends of mine doing the same thing but were rushed and now they wish they took the planning stage with more thought and at a slower pace.
2014 sounds like a 'good delivery date'