450: Lagoon 450f Arriving in November

[slimnrp]

After a couple of decades of Motor Boat antics around the South West UK - France - Spain and Portugal we bit the bullet earlier this year and traded our 50’ Motorboat for a new Lagoon 450f. The inspiration for this move from reasonably fast cruising across to a more sedate vessel was our 2016 trip when we brought our boat from Cornwall to Portimao in the Algarve. Rather than racing down we made the passage at just below our displacement speed of 8kts - and it was a revelation!

It the 3 months we took to get the boat down to the Algarve we pretty much made up our minds that we would look for a Cruising Catamaran for our next project, our trade in made Lagoon the obvious brand as Ancaster were dealers for both marques so the deal was done a couple of months ago.

Delivery will be Nov 21st in LSD and we hope, (stay calm), to bring the boat from there to Vilamoura before Christmas….

Of course the weather will be the measure by which all decisions are made and should things not unfold clemently we shall at least try to get the boat to Chalutier in La Rochelle where it will be locked in and hopefully safe…

We’ve gone for most of the options bar carpets and teak and what started off as a ‘cheap’ boat suddenly got rather expensive!

Anyhow - we will have loads of noob questions so thank you in advance for your kind responses: I will keep the thread going with updates on progress - we’ve got a commissioning meeting - factory visit - pro crew meet up - handover and snagging to discuss, which I hope will be useful to others whilst keeping our dealer on his toes!

The plan for us for season 2018 is to get a year of med cruising under our belts and then head west with the ARC in November…after that we have a dream to unstep the mast in Tampa and do the G Loop - but that’s hopefully going to be another story…

Best Regards

Nigel & Ann

[DavefromNZ]

Great decision, you will love the L450. Cheers Dave

[Bean Counter]

Yes you will love the 450, great boat. We dropped our mast in Florida and started the Great Loop up the ICW. We carried our mast with us (10 ft overhang each end), we left our run too late and only got as far as New Jersey (Cape May). We know of an Orana 44 that has done the complete loop, so it is do-able in a 44ft cat. We will be interested to see how you go, but we recommend an early start so as not to get iced in on the Lakes. Doing the ICW (once is enough) is a great way to see the US East coast hinterland but you are limited to day tripping and you have to steer most of the time, the channels are often too narrow to rely on autopilot (on that note we recommend getting a second sounder installed in the other hull). We did most of the ICW on one engine at 6 knots.

[Fence Man]

Congrats! That is our dream boat. If you take the TennTom route, I'd be glad to buy you a pint or two.

[slimnrp]

Originally Posted by Bean Counter

Yes you will love the 450, great boat. We dropped our mast in Florida and started the Great Loop up the ICW. We carried our mast with us (10 ft overhang each end), we left our run too late and only got as far as New Jersey (Cape May). We know of an Orana 44 that has done the complete loop, so it is do-able in a 44ft cat. We will be interested to see how you go, but we recommend an early start so as not to get iced in on the Lakes. Doing the ICW (once is enough) is a great way to see the US East coast hinterland but you are limited to day tripping and you have to steer most of the time, the channels are often too narrow to rely on autopilot (on that note we recommend getting a second sounder installed in the other hull). We did most of the ICW on one engine at 6 knots.

That’s interesting Bean Counter, our current but ever changing plan is to arrive in FL for December 2018 - hold out in Miami until we are ready to set off and then transit the ICW to arrive in NY for May. We’d have to take the lower route through the lakes and will miss Canada due to our beam but we can live with that.

We will look at unstepping in FL and having the rig stored until we cross our wake, we will fit the radar and nav lights to the Bimini ss- but we might decide to follow suit and store the mast on deck...

We are having forward sonar fitted before the boat is dropped in, especially for the Loop.

Reading the AGLCA and captain Johns site - I can’t see any beam restrictions that will stop us from circumnavigating, albeit without some of the narrower detours.

Biggest issue for us will be visas, we are going to the embassy in London next month to apply and see what we can achieve...6 months will not be enough so we will see...

Best regards

Nigel

[slimnrp]

Originally Posted by Fence Man

Congrats! That is our dream boat. If you take the TennTom route, I'd be glad to buy you a pint or two.

Thanks Fence Man - Tennessee Tombigbee waterway is for sure our preference, (although we will have to detour west to the Big Easy when we exit), I don’t think our beam will be a problem on that route? Look forward to a couple of cold ones!

[Bean Counter]

Originally Posted by slimnrp

That’s interesting Bean Counter, our current but ever changing plan is to arrive in FL for December 2018 - hold out in Miami until we are ready to set off and then transit the ICW to arrive in NY for May. We’d have to take the lower route through the lakes and will miss Canada due to our beam but we can live with that.

We will look at unstepping in FL and having the rig stored until we cross our wake, we will fit the radar and nav lights to the Bimini ss- but we might decide to follow suit and store the mast on deck...

We are having forward sonar fitted before the boat is dropped in, especially for the Loop.

Reading the AGLCA and captain Johns site - I can’t see any beam restrictions that will stop us from circumnavigating, albeit without some of the narrower detours.

Biggest issue for us will be visas, we are going to the embassy in London next month to apply and see what we can achieve...6 months will not be enough so we will see...

Best regards

Nigel

You should get B2 Tourist Visa issued. When we arrived in West Palm Beach we gave them our itinerary/"Float Plan" for the Great Loop and said we needed 12 months. We Explained that the boat may be in St Louis in 6 months, so they gave us a 12 month entry. The other thing is when in the Great Lakes you can sail/motor over to the Canadian side, check in, stay a while and check back in to the USA to get a fresh 6 months on your visa (I think that works - if not you may need to fly further afield). The boat itself should be issued with a 12 month cruising license, but it too can be renewed, but need to be out of USA for 15 days, to renew.

Don't forget the VHF aerial, you will need it to communicate with Bridge and lock keepers.

Forward sonar I think is overkill for the money (in the ICW anyway) as it is all mud or sand. We used a combination of Navionics and Garmin Blue Charts on Plotter and Ipad and this served very well. The only time we touched bottom was in very narrow channel in North Carolina when going port to port with a 50 ft power boat who hogged the center of the channel and whose huge wake bounced our starboard keel into the mud for a second or two.

If you are taking your mast with you, the only dicey section will be down the Delaware Bay in bad weather and then the ocean section between Cape May and New York, the ICW in New Jersey may not support a 4ft draft in places.

You will find Garmin Blue Charts with Active Captain attachment extremely useful for East Coast USA (and Bahamas), it lists anchorages, marinas and has subscriber comments on each. Also it is worth joining BoatUS (on line) it gives you discounts in Marinas and if you pay extra a Towing facility if you ever need it.

[slimnrp]

Thanks BC - that’s super useful.

With your permission I will fire you a PM with some specific questions as I’m really keen to learn from your experience regarding the B2 and the Mast.

We had a final meet up with our dealer, (Ancasta UK), today; all sounds very good. We are going for a third party XXL Bimini which is load bearing for boom access and fully closing. We hope to have some UW lights fitted before launch and we now are getting very excited for the handover in November.

NP

[Bean Counter]

Originally Posted by slimnrp

Thanks BC - that’s super useful.

With your permission I will fire you a PM with some specific questions as I’m really keen to learn from your experience regarding the B2 and the Mast.

We had a final meet up with our dealer, (Ancasta UK), today; all sounds very good. We are going for a third party XXL Bimini which is load bearing for boom access and fully closing. We hope to have some UW lights fitted before launch and we now are getting very excited for the handover in November.

NP

Sure happy to share tips.

The bigger and stronger the Bimini the better! Just make sure you can get a sight line to the mast and lazy jacks for when you raise the sail, if you have an electric winch for the main halyard you may have to move the switch closer to the side steps (we use port side) so your big toe can operate the button! Our large soft top Bimini does have windows, but they get grubby/salty and difficult to see through at times.

[PaulinOz]

Quote "Bimini which is load bearing for boom access and fully closing."

It is very useful to have a park on the top of the Bimini for the boom to be locked down with the main sheet and thus unloading the topping lift. Stops the annoying thrum of the topping lift at night. The boom now being down at it's lowest point, makes for work at back of boom (eg: zipping and unzipping sail bag and tucking away reefing lines) a lot easier for the vertically challenged.

If you are sailing in hot tropical areas having individual drop down blinds for sun protection on the inside of the Bimini is as useful as the wind and rain protection offered by the canvas and clears. We have three blinds across the back and three down each side that are deployed individually depending on sun position and angle.

Quote "Our large soft top Bimini does have windows, but they get grubby/salty and difficult to see through at times."

There is clears materials then there is better clear materials, when we had ours made we used the best Quality available at the location (Strata Glass) across the front 3 times the price of the material on the sides, but it is like looking through glass, so well worth the extra cost. Biggest killer of clears apart from UV, is wiping with cloth and scratching them, rinse all dirt and salt of first with fresh water. The other big no no is touching them with hands contaminated with sun screen lotion.

[slimnrp]

Originally Posted by Bean Counter

Sure happy to share tips.

The bigger and stronger the Bimini the better! Just make sure you can get a sight line to the mast and lazy jacks for when you raise the sail, if you have an electric winch for the main halyard you may have to move the switch closer to the side steps (we use port side) so your big toe can operate the button! Our large soft top Bimini does have windows, but they get grubby/salty and difficult to see through at times.

Great, PM sent!

[slimnrp]

Originally Posted by Bean Counter

Sure happy to share tips.

The bigger and stronger the Bimini the better! Just make sure you can get a sight line to the mast and lazy jacks for when you raise the sail, if you have an electric winch for the main halyard you may have to move the switch closer to the side steps (we use port side) so your big toe can operate the button! Our large soft top Bimini does have windows, but they get grubby/salty and difficult to see through at times.

Thanks,

We will try good old Rainx on the isinglass - we had a T Top sports cruiser a few years back. I will ask the dealer about the closing sections and what can be done - the manufacturer is fitting on the boat, measuring for the sides and then fed exing to us after deliver, so there’s a chance we can go a little bespoke - thanks for the tip

[davedindubai]

Congrats Slimnrp.

You'll love your decision. We sold our 40' motor boat to buy our 450s so I know that in no time at all, you'll be loving 5kts and no noise. There's absolutely nothing like turning off the engines and heading slowly towards your destination with the wind behind you.

You might find some helpful info in the thread I started when I was in exactly your position last December. 'Just signed on a 450s'. The guys on here are so helpful and if you've any questions then feel free to drop me a pm

[slimnrp]

Originally Posted by davedindubai

Congrats Slimnrp.

You'll love your decision. We sold our 40' motor boat to buy our 450s so I know that in no time at all, you'll be loving 5kts and no noise. There's absolutely nothing like turning off the engines and heading slowly towards your destination with the wind behind you.

You might find some helpful info in the thread I started when I was in exactly your position last December. 'Just signed on a 450s'. The guys on here are so helpful and if you've any questions then feel free to drop me a pm

Thanks Dave, I’ve been reading your thread with great interest.
We just put the final specifications together, very last minute, as follows:

2 x gen 2 Colours XFM hd lights, plus controller unit
1 x cruising chute, in leiue of code zero
Some webbing
Forward scan for the Zeus 3’s

Ancasta have been very tolerant with my faffing, but it’s revenue for them after all!

Next question; what Anchor shall I upgrade to? I’ve read lots of comments about the Lagoon fit for the 450 not being up to the job. Any comments or links welcome please....

[davedindubai]

Quick reply about your anchor. Lagoon gave me the 25kg delta even tho I commissioned it ex factory. It's our spare but I wouldn't want to use it as the main.

I went for the 36kg Spade on the original 12mm chain and love it. After sitting on anchor thru 2 storms of 40 knots I think it was one of my best investments. I upgraded our bridle yesterday as the 16mm 3 strand was starting to look 'over worked'. I could only buy 20mm 3 strand polyester but this will do until we find a proper chandlers. I plan to learn how to splice multiplait and make my own.