Leopard 42

[glassboat]

We are serching for our first cat after sailing lots of monohulls.
The Leopard has caught our eye and we like the layout and size fitting our budet.
Any feed back or commments on these catamarans would be great. We are looking at a 2000-2003 model. Safety and preformance is important as the yacht will sail across the pacific.

[kevinm]

I am also comparing the 2002 Leopard 42 to other Cats including the Leopard 45 (2000). It seems that both can be purchase for similar money and was wondering which would be the best bang for the buck.

[glassboat]

Yes, any feed back on this would be great. We have studied the Leopards and compared with FP, St Francis and Lagoon. The Leopard is the one we like the best at this stage but one could chance his mind in this study process.

[West Coast Cat]

I talked to a family ( two adults, two kids ) two weeks ago or so that just came back after cruising on their Leopard 42 for the past four years, their boat just sold in Australia and they bought a house a few miles from mine. They loved the boat, had absolutely no complaints that they shared, but they also bought it new and dumped another 100K plus into it.

[schoonerdog]

The leopard 42 I saw has births forward instead of water tight compartments, to me that points it more as a charter and less as a owner boat. The one I saw had huge 2" limber holes in the bottom of it's forward crash compartments meaning any breach of that area would flood the rest of the boat anyway. I simply don't get why an owner would opt for a catamaran with extra births instead of water tight compartments for safety and positive bouyancy when they already have more than enough room. I know of too many people who've ran into channel markers in the middle of the night, ran over coral heads on unmarked entrances to harbors and managed to be saved by their water tight compartments forward and aft.

[glassboat]

Good point Schooner dog, thanks.
We hope to take the extended family out over night so like all the berths on this yachts. But maybe when we go blue water cruising we could shut these forward compartments up with something and make them watertight????

[The South African]

The one I saw had huge 2" limber holes in the bottom of it's forward crash compartments meaning any breach of that area would flood the rest of the boat anyway.

Hi I dont know the Leopard 42, but owns a Leopard 40. The Leopard 40 has forward crash compartments below the bow berths and those water tight compartments have a tube leading under the floorboards to the centre of the hull where there screwed on caps could be removed to drain any water left inside the water tight compartment after it was repaired from the outside or temporary repaired. Could it be that the limber holes mentioned above just need the tube to be glassed in (with a screwd on cap at the end of the tube)?

[schoonerdog]

Or simply a teak plug would do. Your moorings 40 is a bit different and in my mind quite a bit safer design. Forward of your births you have a captive space that serves as reserve bouyancy should a breach happen anywhere in your boat, that captive reserve bouyancy would help float that hull and is in my mind a vital safety element. In the 42, they opened up that bulkhead and put another birth in it, so there is literally no forward bouyancy reserve. Should they be breached in any place other than that small crash compartment just under their small single births in the very bow, they would completely sink that hull. With your boat you have a space 5 or 6 ft deep, 5 or 6 feet long and a couple feet wide , with enough bouyancy for a few thousand pounds of lift. For the 42 they decided to make it hold 10 passangers instead of 8 and removed that dedicated bouyancy tank completely. IMHO with the Moorings 42 removing the two largest water tight compartments (aside from the hull itself) makes the boat more prone to sinking should something unfortunate occur and removes one of the greatest potential safety features of a catamaran, dedicated bouyancy tanks big enough to be able to keep that hull afloat should it be breached in any location. OK, off the soap box.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by schoonerdog

Or simply a teak plug would do...

Tapered Plugs should be soft wood (not teak) - easier to drive in for tight fit, then they absorb water, swell up, and fit even tighter.

[kesey]

Originally Posted by schoonerdog

For the 42 they decided to make it hold 10 passangers instead of 8 and removed that dedicated bouyancy tank completely. IMHO with the Moorings 42 removing the two largest water tight compartments (aside from the hull itself) makes the boat more prone to sinking should something unfortunate occur and removes one of the greatest potential safety features of a catamaran, dedicated bouyancy tanks big enough to be able to keep that hull afloat should it be breached in any location. OK, off the soap box.

schoonerdog, your point is well made. However the solution is simple. All that is needed is to glass in a door on each of the port and starboard forward spaces (mini-berths). I know the 42 wellL: I have one. Anyone I know who sails them uses those space for just luggage anyway. Given that the 42 has 4 double cabins all en-suite, devoting those forward berths to pure storage would be of little consequence.

In addition, the saloon table is designed to drop down forming another double bed...

FWIW, the 42 is a thoroughly sea-going leopard. I've been out in very interesting seas and in very interesting weather and never once had reason to worry about the safety of vessel or crew. In short I love the boat. She's tough, she's pretty and she sails extremely well.

[schoonerdog]

I like the moorings, your right they are stable, tough and well thought out access panels to vital equipment. Doing a proper watertight door isn't easy though, typically it would involve special reinforced rim with an internal gasket and multiple dogs all around the frame of the door. If you end up doing creating one I'd love to see pictures. I've seen good examples on prout 45s. A friend who has a boat with a similar issue is putting in a precut marine plywood door with predrilled holes that he could screw into place with his cordless drill. If you were buying a new one, you could stipulate that into the specs.

[yachtseaeagleii]

Why not put in a full bulkhead and put a Gebo or Giot hatch in it, if they put them in hulls for escape hatches I am sure they are good enough for the fwd bulkhead??

[billgow]

Originally Posted by schoonerdog

The leopard 42 I saw has births forward instead of water tight compartments, ........any breach of that area would flood the rest of the boat anyway.

I've seen reference to this before. Why is this an issue with cats and not monohulls?

[jzk]

To me the 42 seems just like a smaller version of the 45 or 47, so for the same money why not get more speed, more room, and more cargo capacity?

[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