42: Anyone actually living on a Lagoon 42?

[Kentm]

The 12 V Water Maker works fine without the generator on. The solar power will keep up with water generation. As a couple we run the Water Maker every other day.

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by Steve_C

I am curious to hear if anyone is actually currently living on their 42 full time... Anyway, it would be good to hear from someone with actual real world experience.

Lived aboard an Irwin 42 full-time for nearly three years, then off and on for another year and a half… Was one adult couple and two dogs – Baltimore/DC area/summer-winter/etc. We were one of the larger boats on our dock, but everyone on our dock was a liveaboard… If you intend to include every last one of the amenities of land-living, as well as the responsibilities (isn’t part of the goal to get rid of the stuff…), you may need more boat, but I always thought the Irwin was way bigger than I really wanted to mess with…

When I lived aboard I had a suit and tie job, never needed a washer (nor wanted one), but I can see where a compressor might come in handy for a professional diver… Ours had two showers (one of which we used as a locker), the other was sort of the Irwin version of a bath-tub – there was plenty of room and we often had other couples aboard for a week at a time… However, as I’ve said more than once – I was never sure who the skipper was on the Irwin, but I can tell you who the maintenance officer was (and the Irwin was quite new at the time…). Choose your medicine carefully…

[Koz1]

Originally Posted by RoadRacer

We have an L42 but haven't spent long periods yet or moved aboard (retiring Spring 2020). Much has been said about the limited storage in the cockpit and the galley to a lesser degree but we really like the boat so far. We have the washer option from the factory and it occupies a cabinet in the owners cabin. Lots of interior storage but I have also but thinking about where to put the Bauer Jr before we head South.
As for a Catana 42.....after spending two-weeks aboard one in Tahiti I would never want or buy one. Hit my head so many times moving around that cockpit/saloon, exposed helms, didn't like the winch placement, closet heads, etc. no way!! It did sail great on the run up to Bora Bora but most of our time was and will be at anchor.
I know this response didn't answer the OP's question but we definitely can see how living aboard this boat will work for us.

Chuck

Chuck, have you identified where you are going to put the dive compressor?

[Annie in WA]

We retired 6 years ago and sailed south from Washington State and have been full time cruising from California to Ecuador on a 34 foot monohull. We love our life and our heavy double head sail sloop. We never have crew for passages since the small boat is so manageable. Last year we did 2 passages of over 14 days each and it was a pleasure. No we don’t have room for everything but we have yet to see a boat that does. We do have lots of time for snorkeling and relaxing since a small boat requires so little maintenance and money. Do what fits for you and identify what you want or what you need and the costs of what you want in time energy and money.
Fair Winds
Annie & Tom
SV Tappan Zee
La Paz Mexico

[RoadRacer]

Koz! asked: "Chuck, have you identified where you are going to put the dive compressor?"


I have not taken that one on yet. I'm currently completing the installation of a Spectra CH water maker and that has kept me busy. The cockpit locker would seem like a good location but haven't looked at the dimensions of the compressor to see if that would be an option. I'll solve that one next year.


Chuck

[RSH]

Originally Posted by Kentm

We often cruise with people in a 450. They have only a little more interior space, but it’s not nearly as easy to sail and a lot more money. Same motors, SD 60, with more exterior room on the 450.

We recently bought an L380, with the idea that we'd spend the next five years learning on it and then maybe upgrade to an L450F.

Now that we're actually spending time on the 380 we keep saying "huh, maybe this is big enough?" because formerly intangible things like how easy it is to dock, how expensive it is to run, where it can be hauled out and how fun it is to sail suddenly become more important.

I don't know if we'll ever live full time on a boat, but I can definitely see spending 6 months at a time on the 380 for the two of us and our two dogs.

Additionally, friends of ours who are experienced sailors are only looking at the Lagoon 42 and 420 as their full time cruising boat, and they seem to know their stuff.

So I'd say that size is probably less important than utility-which boat lets you do what you want to do given your budget and experience?

[TravellingKiwis]

Lived on our L42 for 3 of last 8 months and moving onboard permanently end SEP. We are family of 4 with owners version incl additional master storage option (would really miss not having this!). No generator, no Aircon, 5 X 330w solar panels, doubled lagoons 4 X batteries (1160 Ah) and never had to plug into shore power.

Storage better than we originally expected. Only place I would like more is the cockpit, probably resolve this when current batteries sir by moving to lithium, electric oven, induction hob and repurpose gas locker.

Loads of space in master cabin and the master head. We lined under the forward port berth so loads of space there for occasional use spares etc. Without a gen, huge amount of storage up front. Originally thought that kitchen storage would be tight but having no issues in real life usage.

Any more specific questions, let me know.

Dave

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by TravellingKiwis

Lived on our L42 for 3 of last 8 months and moving onboard permanently end SEP. We are family of 4 with owners version incl additional master storage option (would really miss not having this!). No generator, no Aircon, 5 X 330w solar panels, doubled lagoons 4 X batteries (1160 Ah) and never had to plug into shore power.

Storage better than we originally expected. Only place I would like more is the cockpit, probably resolve this when current batteries sir by moving to lithium, electric oven, induction hob and repurpose gas locker.

Loads of space in master cabin and the master head. We lined under the forward port berth so loads of space there for occasional use spares etc. Without a gen, huge amount of storage up front. Originally thought that kitchen storage would be tight but having no issues in real life usage.

Any more specific questions, let me know.

Dave

Hi Dave,

That's really great to hear! I have pretty much decided that this is the size for us. I also plan to forgo the generator and add lots of solar as well as Lithium. I want to do away with the propane for many reasons and plan to go full electric, even the grill. I also wanted to opt the storage in the owners hull instead of the coach.

I would be very interested to see your solar and how its mounted. When you go Lithium, do you plan to keep them in the engine compartment or move them? and if so where? How has the refrigeration worked out for you? Is the factory option any better than years past, or is this still something that could benefit from aftermarket?

I will be at the show in Annapolis next month crawling thru everything they will let me. Did you do a water maker aftermarket and where did you mount that?

I will be narrowing down my option list and posting it soon for comments. My home goes on the market in a few months so I am hoping to take delivery next year sometime. With everything I want to do to it, I probably have 6 to 12 months of work to get it done after I get it.

I appreciate the info, Thanks Dave!

[chuckr]

Been underway as full time cruisers on a 40' monohull for 12 years -- no house no car - just the boat - also know a number of couples who live full time on 40' cats

[TravellingKiwis]

Hi Steve,
I would definitely strongly recommend going to induction / electric straight away if time / money allows. Being able to use the anchor locked for others things, particularly with its built in drain would solve our cockpit storage space. It would be very nice for snorkel gear!

PM with your email and I'll send some pics of the solar. I've not fully thought through the lithium yet but the general view is that you keep Lithium away from engine heat if possible. There is a good space under the master berth between the fuel tank and the drawer,but what would fit there depends very much on battery size / numbers etc. I would suggest you measure this up at the boat-show when you are onboard (I'm not at the moment). For me, current extra batteries are aft of starboard engine in the low headspace area.

For refrigeration I went with the standard under bench fridge and freezer (option). I did not go for the small cockpit drink fridge as seems not to fit much and takes up a big space that is otherwise a good sized locker (albeit the seals don't work!). Both the fridge and freezer are pretty crap, Both are highly inefficiency and I'm really disappointed that Lagoon still provide this sort of crap when their are off the shelf commercial options in Europe that seem so much more energy efficient.
.
Freezer - I've already had the sides of the freezer delaminating from the insulation and the thermostat break. It is a chest freezer but the lid only has a small single seal that leaks cold air like a sieve. The issues should all get fixed under warranty but generally that takes many many months and at the same time I will add an additional seal, make a patch cable to bypass the thermostat (so when it next breaks again I can keep the freezer working) and add an LED to the compressor to show the error states which despite being ridiculously cheap, is an 'option' that is not included. I have seen a pic somewhere where someone put in an underbench freezer in the same space instead, looked smart and left the bench on top for other things. You'd just have to consider options here for 12v versus 110 / 240v.

Fridge - still has a small freezer in it which is pointless and ices up and for us, the stainless door has already started rusting and insulation is generally poor. Thermostat control is average.

Unfortunately, the cost of doing custom things is generally high so for us it was a case of just live with it until something fully dies out of warranty and then reconsider. That said, to give more space and a bit of redundancy, we also bought a Dometic Coolfreeze CFX-95DZW which is a dual zone (two compartments can be configured all variations of fridge/freezer) and dual voltage cooler box that is a perfect height to use as a bench seat at the cockpit table for our kids. We had a 12v socket added in the cockpit and leave it there all the time when we are living on the boat.

Watermaker - I did aftermarket as preferred to have my own option and very glad I did given all the issues owners seem to be having with Lagoon option.
It is mounted in the port engine bay, filters and feed pump unit on port side of engine by the additional through-hull (don't forget to get this before she goes in the water if you do the watermaker after market), pipes running around the engine bay and the longer membrane units mount side to side aft of the engine where the headroom is lower. I went for a Schenker 60l per hour twin unit which gives built in redundancy and has been very reliable but sometimes think I should have gone higher production rate. Also installer put in the additional pipes / valves to be setup for cleaning with no pipe changes required which just makes life easy!

I only went for one 300l water tank naively thinking I'd be alright as I have a water-market. Of course making water is very easy but you don't want to do it in a lovely bay surrounded by other boats that have people on but never move. Clearly they are not storing their waste onboard so if you want to make clean water you need to move!. I do have emergency water on board but it would be much easier just to have the 2nd tank (but if I did I would put valves on it so on large crossings I would use only one, make water when required and leave the 2nd as a reserve that can't accidentally be emptied. Without a gene, the storage space in the anchor lockers is huge. I have all my fenders, chain etc in one, the other is almost empty, may as well put the 2nd tank in!

Sorry, that ended up a bit long but hopefully helpful. There were less owners and even less live-onboard when we bought so I now how hard it was to get info!!!

Dave

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by TravellingKiwis

Sorry, that ended up a bit long but hopefully helpful. There were less owners and even less live-onboard when we bought so I now how hard it was to get info!!!

Dave

No Apology needed! I really appreciate all of the information I can get. I had already thought about a stand-alone chest type unit for seating and it sounds like that works well.

I am in the electrical industry, so the electrical upgrades are definitely planned from the start, as I can do all of the work myself. I am even hoping I can sell some of the original propane equipment since it will be brand-new.

Lagoon refrigeration issues are well known, and while I am doing everything I may as well only take the basic option and add any upgrades my self.

I will PM you my email.

Thanks!

[CatNewBee]

We are 2 on a 400S2, so a little bit smaller, it is a mirored 42 almost regarding space, berth arrangements and installation.

Regarding fridges, we have fridge with freezer compartment, a freezer top loader and the cockpit fridge. General speaking all are crap energy wise, they must be defrosted every week.

But we would not like to miss the capacity of the beverage fridge in the cockpit, we use it as another fridge, and it works better than the regular one in the galley.

Regarding electric upgrade see my thread about winston 1000Ah LiFeYPO4 and all electric galley, works great, go for a Victron 5kVA quattro, you'll need it.

We have the factory Onan 8kVA generator along with A/C. Could life without the A/C, but the genny is great. We can charge the battery in 2h from 40% to full easily, while making water and hot water.

Going all electric with crap fridges means you need a lot of energy. No problem when its sunny, but sailing (shade on solar) and cloudy weather for 3 or 4 days in a row may bring you either to saving energy or running a generator. With the Quattro you get a 220A charger and Lagoon provides 2 x 40A Crystek chargers, so almost 300A plus the solar, that keeps your loads happy it is easy to recover quickly. Forget the alternators, they contribute 40A each, enough to cover the watermaker, but not significant enough for charging the house.

We have the factory watermaker desalator duo 12/220V 100l, works ok up to now (550h in the mean time), rund daily for an hour. We have the second water tank too, so 600l, worth it.

If you go all electric, get a good generator.
You never have enough storage.

We use our forward anchor and water tank locker to store our folding bikes. You need something on land. We stick to propane for the grill, alternative option if something fundamental goes wrong in the galley.

Batteries and inverter are under the guest berth, lagoon placed the hot water boiler under the master bed. The 42 may be different. No batteries in the engine compartment here.

Think about a washing machine. The small one from the factory works well for two, I thing the 42 has a diffetent location for a full size washer.

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

We are 2 on a 400S2, so a little bit smaller, it is a mirored 42 almost regarding space, berth arrangements and installation.

Regarding fridges, we have fridge with freezer compartment, a freezer top loader and the cockpit fridge. General speaking all are crap energy wise, they must be defrosted every week.

But we would not like to miss the capacity of the beverage fridge in the cockpit, we use it as another fridge, and it works better than the regular one in the galley.

Regarding electric upgrade see my thread about winston 1000Ah LiFeYPO4 and all electric galley, works great, go for a Victron 5kVA quattro, you'll need it.

We have the factory Onan 8kVA generator along with A/C. Could life without the A/C, but the genny is great. We can charge the battery in 2h from 40% to full easily, while making water and hot water.

Going all electric with crap fridges means you need a lot of energy. No problem when its sunny, but sailing (shade on solar) and cloudy weather for 3 or 4 days in a row may bring you either to saving energy or running a generator. With the Quattro you get a 220A charger and Lagoon provides 2 x 40A Crystek chargers, so almost 300A plus the solar, that keeps your loads happy it is easy to recover quickly. Forget the alternators, they contribute 40A each, enough to cover the watermaker, but not significant enough for charging the house.

We have the factory watermaker desalator duo 12/220V 100l, works ok up to now (550h in the mean time), rund daily for an hour. We have the second water tank too, so 600l, worth it.

If you go all electric, get a good generator.
You never have enough storage.

We use our forward anchor and water tank locker to store our folding bikes. You need something on land. We stick to propane for the grill, alternative option if something fundamental goes wrong in the galley.

Batteries and inverter are under the guest berth, lagoon placed the hot water boiler under the master bed. The 42 may be different. No batteries in the engine compartment here.

Think about a washing machine. The small one from the factory works well for two, I thing the 42 has a diffetent location for a full size washer.

Hi CatNewBee,

Yes I have read your entire thread multiple times, I absolutely plan to copy most of what you have done. I really appreciate all of your details and work documenting everything. If you make it over the pond by the time I am onboard I may have to buy you a few drinks and pick your brain

My biggest decision will be the generator, I do plan on having AC, but I don't plan to use it except in a marina or for a few hours on rare occasions when it gets really stuffy with no wind. I will plan to at least put an AC unit in the owners hull, and one each in the salon and the aft guest cabin. I would really like to NOT have a third engine aboard, not to mention the savings in Weight, Space and Dollars$$$$ ($25K)

I do plan to have at least 1000 AH or perhaps bigger in LPO, maybe as much as 1400 AH. I have even considered drastically up-sizing the alternators in lieu of a generator for those rare occasions when I might need to charge up the bank and there is no sun. I would like to add the second water tank in the space where the generator would have been. I am looking at the CruiseRO water maker.

I will likely only get the one standard fridge from Lagoon, and add a freezer myself that is hopefully far better and more efficient. I wonder if I could remove and replace the stock fridge with something better and sell it for something while its new???

I am looking at putting an Engel or an Iceco at the outdoor table with a cushion for seating. Maybe I should put a second one indoors and leave the built in freezer area as storage??

https://www.amazon.com/ICECO-Portabl...6-220242d543a0

Once I am on-board I will really re-evaluate what can be done where. I actually enjoy figuring things like this out, and making them work, so I am REALLY looking forward to getting started. I will probably not live on-board in the beginning until I have most of the work finished. Its SO much easier to do major work if you don't have to live in your work area.

Thanks Again for your input!

Fair Winds

[CatNewBee]

I was thinking about replacing the fridge with freezer compartment to a fridge only unit, hard to find something adequate, because it is not a standart residential size. I doubt any camping / marine units are any better and they are insanely expensive.

Another option would be to replace the top loader freezer by a residential combi tower, far more space, but I am a little afraid about how this will behave in rough seas. There are units with internal drawers that may be sufficient to keep the contents in place. Second concern is the mechanical stability of the compressor and evaporation unit of residential units, they are made for stationary use and to keep them silent, not to keep them in place in rocky waves, also the access to the helm wiring and winches will become more painful, you would have to remove the fridge to dismantle the roof panel.

But I would love to have no-frost gear, that defrost itself.

The A/C is permanently causing trouble, especially the 220V water intake pumps. And they use a lot of valuable storage space.

If I could configure it freely, I would add only one A/C unit with a flap to switch between owners hull or the salon and would also add a diesel heater for water and as furnance.

Especially if you think about cruising also outside of the tropics belt, an adequate furnance is a necessity.

You can use the A/C as heat pump, but only when in the water, a separate heater can run also on the dry and is far more efficient.

As I said, I do like the genny and it's size, despite the fact that it takes up a big cockpit locker. I guess, if you are going for a diving compressor, you will need either a generator or a compressor with its own gas engine. In this case a diesel generator would be more versatile.

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

The A/C is permanently causing trouble, especially the 220V water intake pumps. And they use a lot of valuable storage space.

If I could configure it freely, I would add only one A/C unit with a flap to switch between owners hull or the salon and would also add a diesel heater for water and as furnance.

Especially if you think about cruising also outside of the tropics belt, an adequate furnance is a necessity. .

Would a 12 Volt pump setup be any better? What is the biggest problem you see with the 220V intake pumps?

I like the thought of a single unit that could switch between the salon and the owners hull. I will have to look at that and see how the ducts could be run.