Leopard 42

[billgow]

Originally Posted by Southern Star

Billgow, virtually all monohulls sink due to the heavy ballast, whereas most cats (since they have no ballast) will not. This is an important attribute in any boat for obvious reasons (one can survive a holed hull), but it is especially critical in a cat because they are not self-righting.

Brad

I understand the sinking monohull thing so the idea of an air tight chamber should be even more important to them. I would think a cat with one blown out hull would continue to float as long as the other wasn't compromised.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for safety and I like the idea of lots of flotation. I just don't see how a Leopard with bunks in the bows is much less safe than one with the bows completely sealed up, especially if the area below the bunk was sealed off anyway. It appears to me these bunks are well above the waterline.

I'm looking at the 47s so this isn't an issue for me personally. I'm just interested in the whole flotation/safety issue.

[tcmoga]

I can testify that our Leopard 42 is one tough cookie. We were sailing north to St Petersburg when we ran into a storm. The Garmin and paper chart showed deep water into Sarasota, so we decided to seek shelter. But alas, the water had shoaled and we went aground. The storm pounded us for several hours until the tide went out and we were high and dry. Then it came back and pounded us for a few more hours until we finally floated free and anchored for the night. The next morning we discovered a small leak, continued on the Intercoastal and were hauled out in St Petersburg. We discovered that both keels had been completely destroyed by the pounding, but we didn't even know it. A friend of ours who has been a captain for over 30 years was with us and remarked that he didn't know of any other boat that would not have sunk or taken on a lot of water sujected to those conditions.

[Abaco]

The RC 42 is the 43 before they extended the sugar scoop, just as the 45 is is the same boat as the 47 with shorter scoops. The 42/43 is a wonderful size.