General Info: Astrea 42: Owners?

[MAE]

Thanks Lee, that's very kind, for me it's been a long 12 months and I hadn't realized until Brian started all this,how much fun [ maybe not] waiting can be, because we are spread round the globe, we are all in the same boat!
I am not too savvy with film etc but feel free to ask what interests you and I will happily try to oblige.
It's 1am here and I have to say Boat Show Security have put an an end to one of the best beers or 2,Had in 72 years. You have heard it said before " why did I put this off for so long"? Best wishes

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by MAE

Thanks Lee, that's very kind, for me it's been a long 12 months and I hadn't realized until Brian started all this,how much fun [ maybe not] waiting can be, because we are spread round the globe, we are all in the same boat!
I am not too savvy with film etc but feel free to ask what interests you and I will happily try to oblige.
It's 1am here and I have to say Boat Show Security have put an an end to one of the best beers or 2,Had in 72 years. You have heard it said before " why did I put this off for so long"? Best wishes

We're in Maryland, so we'll see it for the first time at the Annapolis show. You have enough on your plate without me/us burdening you with special requests! I'd say from my perspective any sailing videos will be appreciated whenever you get to it.

Enjoy for us all!

[Nils Gruttner]

I will come and take a sneaky peak on Saturday... keeping my excitement alive whilst waiting for out Helia .

See ya all for beers on Friday night

[BKC]

WOOWHOA! Congrats on the boat Alan! I'm very jealous but thrilled for you. Just back from a work trip to China so missed all the Sydney Boat Show news til now. It made my day to hear how satisfied you are.

Sadly, I do have to report on the head layout saga with FP. Despite assurances before ordering that the central shower in final product would be isolated from the forward/aft toilets, its seems that this is NOT going to be the case. What?? Madness. Some designer most be living under a rock to think that an arrangement reminiscent of a public toilet stall might be a good idea on a boat in this range i.e. there are gaps above and below the shower doors which effectively connect the heads to this area. I'm still in disbelief and will be reverting to a more conventional layout as I'm sure the majority of owners/charters would feel the same. Your views welcome, not that FP appears to be very interested in this customer feedback right now as we have been waiting for 4 months for this layout to be confirmed and are still somewhat in the dark despite our brokers best endeavors.

I've also given up on chasing the Dinghy Davit arrangement for boats without the rear hydraulic platform. It feels like I've been asking for a state secret as I'm none the wiser on that front after 4 months also.

I'll keep you posted on the final outcomes as we are (apparently) less than 3 months from delivery...

[Moritz9971]

Hi guys, I'm also new to the forum having just registered. We are in the Seattle/Tacoma area, having put down a deposit for a delivery slot for Oct/2019. We plan to take delivery in La Rochelle and move boat to Med for the 2020 season.
I much appreciate all the different considerations and the wealth of information on this string.
We had initially put in a deposit for Helia but were then changed to Astrea which after reading all the posts, I'm not unhappy with. Seems to be an outstanding boat.
Three questions I've been debating:
Anybody see any concerns for family of four (2 adults, 2 kids, 11 and 8 y/o) and size of Astrea to cruise 2-3 years?
Has anybody considered the huge undertaking of using Lithium instead of standard AGM batteries?
Timing of getting out of La Rochelle in the middle of winter does not seem ideal. Any thoughts on weather, where to "camp" to get through the colder times vs. taking delivery, parking the boat on the hard and start March/2020. I have to make this a pleasant experience for kids and wife.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Moritz

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by BKC

WOOWHOA! Congrats on the boat Alan! I'm very jealous but thrilled for you. Just back from a work trip to China so missed all ------------------------------snipped----------------------------------------------

I've also given up on chasing the Dinghy Davit arrangement for boats without the rear hydraulic platform. It feels like I've been asking for a state secret as I'm none the wiser on that front after 4 months also.

I'll keep you posted on the final outcomes as we are (apparently) less than 3 months from delivery...

I'm guessing FP is hoping folks will be pressured to just say, "oh, well. Ok; we'll just buy the hydraulic platform" since they have more info about it. We're not close to ordering so I'll just wait since we know we don't want the platform.

Good luck!

[LeeV]

Unless I missed it when I searched, nobody has offered up a ballpark of their final cost on a 42. We're still recovering from receiving a proposal from one dealer who quoted @ $640k (without watermaker), when 11 months ago we looked at a brand new Helia 44 for $585K
Not that it's anybody's business, and I certainly understand if folks don't want to share their finances, but if somebody want's to throw out some approximate numbers I'd be interested! :-)

Thanks either way!

[Thalas]

The "airport bathroom" shower stall gaps are ridiculous on an otherwise brilliant shared shower design. Leopard can put a watertight door on their front cockpit and FP can solve this? Just steal Leopard's door design and make it opaque.

[SVHope]

Originally Posted by Thalas

The "airport bathroom" shower stall gaps are ridiculous on an otherwise brilliant shared shower design. Leopard can put a watertight door on their front cockpit and FP can solve this? Just steal Leopard's door design and make it opaque.

Leopard's "door" to access the front cockpit is actually a large hatch. Designed and constructed as a hatch. Seals securely and weather tight. Much more substantial than a simple door. That would be significant overkill and cost for a shower.

Cheers.

[Thalas]

Originally Posted by Yagelski

Leopard's "door" to access the front cockpit is actually a large hatch. Designed and constructed as a hatch. Seals securely and weather tight. Much more substantial than a simple door. That would be significant overkill and cost for a shower.

Cheers.

Oh, I've seen the door/hatch live. My point wasn't that it be watertight, but yes, it absolutely needs to block sight, sound (to some degree), and odor. What evidence do you have that a glassed-wall with a door on a hinge with a rubber gasket is expensive for a $500k boat that offers this design? Do you agree that on a $500k boat, it is unacceptable that you don't have privacy when you poop? Unless you have a better solution, I stand by mine because the problem (their ridiculous design with bathroom stall gaps) is unacceptable for the market the boat is aimed toward.

[LeeV]

That’s a total design flaw, similar to the Helia 44 shower door that leaks on all of them as they failed to seal the bottom, or design a step to keep the water in.

My only disagreement is with the $500k! If only we could get one for that!

[SVHope]

Originally Posted by Thalas

Oh, I've seen the door/hatch live. My point wasn't that it be watertight, but yes, it absolutely needs to block sight, sound (to some degree), and odor. What evidence do you have that a glassed-wall with a door on a hinge with a rubber gasket is expensive for a $500k boat that offers this design? Do you agree that on a $500k boat, it is unacceptable that you don't have privacy when you poop? Unless you have a better solution, I stand by mine because the problem (their ridiculous design with bathroom stall gaps) is unacceptable for the market the boat is aimed toward.

I can tell you are passionate about this matter. I did not suggest that the FP head door design was not flawed or inadequate for a yacht of this price. I only provided an opinion that the Leopard hatch design for securing the front cockpit entrance was overkill for a head.

[CruiserUser]

Originally Posted by Moritz9971

Hi guys, I'm also new to the forum having just registered. We are in the Seattle/Tacoma area, having put down a deposit for a delivery slot for Oct/2019. We plan to take delivery in La Rochelle and move boat to Med for the 2020 season.
I much appreciate all the different considerations and the wealth of information on this string.
We had initially put in a deposit for Helia but were then changed to Astrea which after reading all the posts, I'm not unhappy with. Seems to be an outstanding boat.
Three questions I've been debating:
Anybody see any concerns for family of four (2 adults, 2 kids, 11 and 8 y/o) and size of Astrea to cruise 2-3 years?
Has anybody considered the huge undertaking of using Lithium instead of standard AGM batteries?
Timing of getting out of La Rochelle in the middle of winter does not seem ideal. Any thoughts on weather, where to "camp" to get through the colder times vs. taking delivery, parking the boat on the hard and start March/2020. I have to make this a pleasant experience for kids and wife.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Moritz

Hi Moritz,
we were testing many catamarans as a family of four over the last years, chartering various boats in the size range between 40 and 45 foot. Our favorite was the Helia, which we were easily able to handle during a nice and quite windy two week trip in Turkey. We were close to buy, but after seeing the Saona we delayed the project to have another look. After finally seeing the Astrea in La Grande Motte this April we finally took the decision and bought one as an owners version. Delivery will be in September this year. We feel absolutely safe and comfortable with this size of boat as a family crew. And your kids are just in the perfect age, they will help a lot and be real experts soon.
Lithium is nice when it comes to weight versus amount of stored energy. It is not nice should it ever start to burn, as you can not stop the metal fire on board. Not having really ever heard of such an accident on a boat, but remembering the nightmare with some mobile phone batteries of a major brand, you might also think the idea over. Regarding weight saving, the Astrea is not the lightest performance boat anyway. Maybe the effort behind this exchange, more financially than technically speaking, is not worth it for this kind of boat, assuming that you have the weight saving in mind.
Regarding your schedule, we are facing a very similar problem with fall/winter coming. Before bringing her to the Med, we need to go all way up to Germany for some reason. Due to that we will probably store her on the ground somewhere in the Netherlands over winter, but we have not decided on a specific place yet. Winter can be quite long and cold here in good old Europe. Take a close look at long-term temperature maps. Starting again in March on the Atlantic coast could be far too early for a happy-wife-and-family trip, I would rather recommend to plan starting late April / early May.
Best regards,
Thomas

[Docsaw]

I am relatively new to using this forum. But I think I was able to upload a picture that shows the davits on the astrea. My agent had gone to France for a look at one of the boats and sent me this picture.
www.cruisersforum.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=13317&c=501
Hope that works

[Luc bulterys]

Originally Posted by Moritz9971

Hi guys, I'm also new to the forum having just registered. We are in the Seattle/Tacoma area, having put down a deposit for a delivery slot for Oct/2019. We plan to take delivery in La Rochelle and move boat to Med for the 2020 season.
I much appreciate all the different considerations and the wealth of information on this string.
We had initially put in a deposit for Helia but were then changed to Astrea which after reading all the posts, I'm not unhappy with. Seems to be an outstanding boat.
Three questions I've been debating:
Anybody see any concerns for family of four (2 adults, 2 kids, 11 and 8 y/o) and size of Astrea to cruise 2-3 years?
Has anybody considered the huge undertaking of using Lithium instead of standard AGM batteries?
Timing of getting out of La Rochelle in the middle of winter does not seem ideal. Any thoughts on weather, where to "camp" to get through the colder times vs. taking delivery, parking the boat on the hard and start March/2020. I have to make this a pleasant experience for kids and wife.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Moritz

Hi Moritz,
Our Astréa will be delivered in september 2019, and we will keep her a few weeks in La Rochelle to have some additional works done there. So probably we will meet on the pontoon .
As for the lithium, I am still in the process of studying the consequences and price with Pochon. I expect more info soon, and will take a decision on that next month. I am trying to be very independent of a generator, also in clouded weather ... But there are other treads where the pro's and cons have been discussed already, so I won't open a discusion here about my reasons.

We will sail our boat shortly after that to the south of Portugal or the Canaries. There are lots of safe marinas on the way, so I am confident that, if you take enough time to wait for the right weather, it shouldn't be a problem. But I wouldn't wait for november either to get out of Biscay.