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chad.lawie · 12-01-2015, 10:08

Sailing this summer on Lake Huron:

Lagoon 380 Lake Huron

2Hulls · 12-01-2015, 10:49

Very nice. Your son will be a good sailor someday......

2 Hulls Dave

chad.lawie · 12-01-2015, 12:14

I hope so! I'm pretty terrible at sailing, so maybe he will be able to teach me a thing or two. Or better yet... he can just take care of it and wake me up when we get there!!

Tscott8201 · 15-01-2015, 06:29

Hey, I know that video. I've been following your blog since just before you guys sold your old boat. I make sure to show my wife all your stuff, to let her know people do cruise with kids on board. We have 2 boys ages 2 and 4. I think it scares her a bit to imagine them on the boat but she's slowly coming around to the idea.

I thought the trip up the Erie Canal was great. I definitely want top make that trip some day. We are in Florida now, but have family up in Michigan. Used to travel to the upper peninsula every summer as a kid and we went to Mackinac all the time.

Also, I like the new boat. I've been looking at the lagoons for about a year now and really like them. I'd be curious to know how you like the 380 for family cruising? Do you think you could live with 2 kids on board or would you go bigger if you could?

Tom

chad.lawie · 15-01-2015, 12:34

Hi Tom!

The further south we traveled the more we ran into cruising families. It looks like a great lifestyle to me. We saw families working together like we never had before. Perhaps most notably was the talent show in Georgetown.

Normally kids perform in school plays or talent shows, etc. and the parents watch. But in Georgetown the families performed together. We thought that was really cool. I've never been in a show with my parents.

The challenges of cruising bonded my wife and I together much more closely than our land-based peers... It's not something we really sought out... it just happened. It might be compared to war buddies. Not that cruising is in any way similar to war... but I think there is some kind of comparison in the bond that is formed by going through a challenging experience with another person.

I imagine cruising with kids would have a similar effect of producing a very strong family bond. Again, I don't think that is a reason to go cruising, but it's a nice side-effect.

I LOVE our Lagoon 380. We bought it specifically for cruising with two kids. I think living space will be fine. If anything I'm more concerned about carrying capacity.

Would we go bigger if we could? There are a lot of variables to that question. We could have bought a Lagoon 410 from Sunsail for the same price... but then we would lose out on the owners full shower and desk area.

We could have bought a 410 owners version, but that would mean more years spent working to pay it off and save up a cruising fund.

There are some other considerations as well such as engine placement, turnbuckle size on the 380 vs 410

The Lagoon 380 owners layout was the right balance for us.

JKP · 15-01-2015, 16:05

Chad, maybe I missed it, but can you post the link to your blog?

Also, how does your wife like the galley up configuration??

chad.lawie · 15-01-2015, 18:23

Hobosailor.com

We never put much thought into galley up vs. down.

We've only been on two cats that had the galley down configuration. One was custom built and seemed like a fine boat. The other was a 30 something seawind, which have a unique layout we can appreciate but ultimately isn't for us.

We've always been really drawn to the 2000 and later lagoon layouts, so I guess we subconsciously prefer galley up.

Makes sense. Sleep below, hang out above.

Lagoons are really just perfect boats, I'm not sure why anyone would buy any other type of catamaran. If I were in the business of designing catamarans I would have just gave up when the lagoon 380 came out because it simply can't be beat ;-)

BlueBuddha · 15-01-2015, 19:11

Great video! It's nice to see a boat in familiar waters :-). We live in Ann Arbor and at the early stage of a long term "sailing south" plan. Glad to know how much you like the 380! It is one of the boats we are considering. Excellent music choice too. Love I&W. Best, N&Y.

JKP · 15-01-2015, 19:29

BTW, Congrats on the new cat! Didn't realize that you just picked it up six months ago! Not meaning to hi Jack your thread, but did you have to do any refitting or repairs to the boat besides the diesel maintenance?!

I don't know how you abstained from not posting 100's of pictures of the new boat on the site!

chad.lawie · 15-01-2015, 20:45

Thanks! We've been saving since we sold our last boat in 2009 and it feels really good to finally have a boat again. Now on to paying off the loan!

No major refitting or repairs. There is some minor TLC and little things here and there that need fixing.

Big project this spring is to replace all the waste water lines leading to the heads.

As for the engines, there is a lot of vibration going on, so I'm sending the folding props in to the factory to get checked out.

I was still dealing with restricted water flow and steam on the starboard engine when it was pulled out for the winter. After some researching, I suspect the mixing elbow needs to be replaced.

chad.lawie · 15-01-2015, 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueBuddha

Great video! It's nice to see a boat in familiar waters :-). We live in Ann Arbor and at the early stage of a long term "sailing south" plan. Glad to know how much you like the 380! It is one of the boats we are considering. Excellent music choice too. Love I&W. Best, N&Y.

Let's go sailing this summer!!

BlueBuddha · 16-01-2015, 04:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by chad.lawie

Let's go sailing this summer!!

Done! I'll send you a PM

Tscott8201 · 16-01-2015, 06:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by chad.lawie

Hi Tom!

The further south we traveled the more we ran into cruising families. It looks like a great lifestyle to me. We saw families working together like we never had before. Perhaps most notably was the talent show in Georgetown.

Normally kids perform in school plays or talent shows, etc. and the parents watch. But in Georgetown the families performed together. We thought that was really cool. I've never been in a show with my parents.

The challenges of cruising bonded my wife and I together much more closely than our land-based peers... It's not something we really sought out... it just happened. It might be compared to war buddies. Not that cruising is in any way similar to war... but I think there is some kind of comparison in the bond that is formed by going through a challenging experience with another person.

I imagine cruising with kids would have a similar effect of producing a very strong family bond. Again, I don't think that is a reason to go cruising, but it's a nice side-effect.

I LOVE our Lagoon 380. We bought it specifically for cruising with two kids. I think living space will be fine. If anything I'm more concerned about carrying capacity.

Would we go bigger if we could? There are a lot of variables to that question. We could have bought a Lagoon 410 from Sunsail for the same price... but then we would lose out on the owners full shower and desk area.

We could have bought a 410 owners version, but that would mean more years spent working to pay it off and save up a cruising fund.

There are some other considerations as well such as engine placement, turnbuckle size on the 380 vs 410

The Lagoon 380 owners layout was the right balance for us.

Chad,
Thanks for the info, if you ever get down to North or Central Florida I'll buy you a beer, I'd love to have my wife meet someone who cruses with the family. God speed and good journeys.

Tom