420: Lagoon 420 or 440 ?

[impi]

A true home on the sea

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by impi

We are all cleared and set to depart Cape town on our 440 across the Atlantic to Brazil an then Carib - departing this week.
Absolutely thrilled with our 440 and entire boat set up is working like a charm!!!!
Been at anchor testing all systems for a month now - really fantastic and our anchor did not let us down once
Sailors here have fallen in love with the boat and this is a true home on the ocean. Let's see how she crosses the Atlantic - some fairly stiff winds predicted for the week ahead.

May you travel safe, our journey to the Caribbean begins in December surely our paths will cross ENJOY!!!!

[impi]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

May you travel safe, our journey to the Caribbean begins in December surely our paths will cross ENJOY!!!!

Thank you for the wishes - if you see us in one of the anchorages, please come have a pint with us - boat Impi

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by impi

Attachment 33610

A true home on the sea

I like the washer position in the Margarita Bar what a great idea, solves two problems. :-)

[Dakota450]

Originally Posted by impi

I hear you Dakota - we chose not to wait for the 450 and rather buy one of the last 440's produced. A friend of mine did exactly the same thing and we are both ecstatic we did so.
One immediate example: if you have sailed in rough weather, you would immediately have recognised the benefit of the fuller closed roof above the patio which remains dry in virtually all sea conditions. Not so with the 450 but hey ... Everyone to his own choice. Sounds like you got a rough boat. 100% on the guest bathrooms ..... But then our owner bathroom is huge.
We added a stainless rail from the stair to the bridge for safer access in rough weather - works a charm. Agreed on the Catana .... Only when it comes to living on the boat. It is a fast sailing craft and lots of fun but we sold ours to buy the 440 because we wanted comfort, speed an a home with lots of light. Can't beat this !

No doubt about it, I am being very picky about the things on the 440. You have a very nice boat, much nicer than mine. It's a shame that Lagoon gives such poor warranty service. It truly can ruin the whole experience for you. The last new car I bought for my wife turned into a miserable experience. It was a Mercedes Benz E320 and it got to the point that I would not drive the car with her in it. There were constant little problems with it. The problem with buying anything new, is that you have expectation of perfection, as you should, and reality is that nothing is perfect but you at least expect the manufacturer to remedy the problems at no charge. I think in some cases, you really are better off mentally just fixing things yourself and move on. I will not likely buy a new 450 as I am a few years away from being able to do it and I don't want to go through the process. I will let someone else work out the bugs and install all the toys that cost so much to add to a new one.

[impi]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

I like the washer position in the Margarita Bar what a great idea, solves two problems. :-)

Yeah - it works really well. No through hull fittings and more space inside.

[impi]

Originally Posted by Dakota450

No doubt about it, I am being very picky about the things on the 440. You have a very nice boat, much nicer than mine. It's a shame that Lagoon gives such poor warranty service. It truly can ruin the whole experience for you. The last new car I bought for my wife turned into a miserable experience. It was a Mercedes Benz E320 and it got to the point that I would not drive the car with her in it. There were constant little problems with it. The problem with buying anything new, is that you have expectation of perfection, as you should, and reality is that nothing is perfect but you at least expect the manufacturer to remedy the problems at no charge. I think in some cases, you really are better off mentally just fixing things yourself and move on. I will not likely buy a new 450 as I am a few years away from being able to do it and I don't want to go through the process. I will let someone else work out the bugs and install all the toys that cost so much to add to a new one.

Good thinking - we have dine a lot to our boat to make it home. Totally gave up on warranty and did everything myself because struggling with the factory was getting unpleasant - we do this to have fun

[Aluna]

The 450 is not the same boat as a 440. The 440 may be way over the norm for a 44' cat but the 450 is another 3 tons. The majority of cats of this size are half the weight. The 450 is purely for charter. Just look at all those sharp corners inside and out and particularly where the helmsmen sits. Still on a boat like this you are expected to pay for the skipper.

[dirkdig]

After such a terrible experience deling with the factory and distributor i will never give Lagoon 1 cent on my hard earned ever again, say because i love the boat!

[Aluna]

Your experience is the norm not an exception. French and South African dealers and manufactures are appalling. Customer service is not in their vocabulary !

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by impi

We are all cleared and set to depart Cape town on our 440 across the Atlantic to Brazil an then Carib - departing this week.
Absolutely thrilled with our 440 and entire boat set up is working like a charm!!!!
Been at anchor testing all systems for a month now - really fantastic and our anchor did not let us down once
Sailors here have fallen in love with the boat and this is a true home on the ocean. Let's see how she crosses the Atlantic - some fairly stiff winds predicted for the week ahead.

Congrats on your 440, it looks like you have it set up very well. Please keep us informed of your impressions on the crossing. It wouldn't hurt if you took lots of pictures.... Best of luck on your voyage.

[capcook]

Hi Impi,

Just curious why no dryer.. aside from the power consumption which is not insignificant... I have heard that while underway, colths put out to dry often have salt in them afterwards.. thanks

[Lagoon4us]

Honestly the BEST customer service anyone will ever receive from a company is one that's keen to secure a foothold in their respective market, at the other extreme the absolute worse will be from a company that is going bust, but somewhere in the middle there can be businesses so full of themselves, because sales are going so well, due to the product or niche that plain old ARROGANCE creeps in.
Some time in the future when sales deplete whilst their competitors appear to be thriving they will spend an inordinate amount of money with research to find out WHY? Sadly it is usually too late.
There may be reasons where the manufacturer aims for say the charter market only, look at Leopard's offering with the forward shopping centre doors!! Would anyone seriously take that style or design of vessel offshore? NO because it's aimed at day charter/smooth water only.
In Lagoon's case it may well be the nature of the people more than the targetted market that equates to the arrogance.
Maybe future customers inquire into the costing the manufacturers allow for WARRANTY and simply deduct it from the 'Build Sheet" and say 'no thanks'......
Cheers Frank

[dirkdig]

I know whenever i have bought expensive cars the dealers look after me to the extreme, why then when you spend triple the amount you are considered a pest?

[impi]

Originally Posted by capcook

Hi Impi,

Just curious why no dryer.. aside from the power consumption which is not insignificant... I have heard that while underway, colths put out to dry often have salt in them afterwards.. thanks

Sorry for delayed response .... We crossed the Atlantic in 21-22 days from Cape Town to Fortaleza ... Pretty foul weather ...used the kite and in stronger winds two genoa ...

Currently at Marina Park Marina in Fortaleza ... Struggled to get Internet ....

To answer your question .... We have a washer / dryer combined ... We used it every second day .... Ran it mostly from batteries ...never spared a thought for power consumption ... Had plenty of it mostly thanks to my solar power ...

We also made water ... One filter and not replaced ... 8-9000 liters for the crossing ... The washing machine obviously ate into that!