Looking for Leopard 40 to charter in Australia

[Wannabe-007]

Hey folks,

I've spent the last few hours searching for a Leopard 40 to charter in Australia... without much luck!
Wifey & I are talking about flying over the ditch in May to attend the Sanctuary Cove boat show (near Brisbane), and want to charter a Leopard 40 for a few days or so at the same time.

I've had surprisingly little luck in finding any Leopard 40's for charter in Aus!?!
This one here is either sold or no longer in charter (I've emailed ccy).
This one is here only one i can find, but its apparently a '403'... I suspect this might just be a slightly more modern / nicer L40, so will probably work.

I'm really surprised I can't find anything else. Anybody know something I don't?

[ausaviator]

Apologies for the thread-drift so early in this thread, however some might find it interesting that a Sunsail 405 (Leopard) has recently arrived in Melbourne to what I assume is private ownership - named Lady Dakar, after a delivery trip from Mauritius. I suspect that it might be the first Leopard in Melbourne. We don't have many cats in Melbourne, most prefer their Beneteau's.

[Wannabe-007]

Thanks mister drifty
I actually thought you might reply - being an aussy who is looking at leopards... but I thought you might say something useful too. I was half right I guess

Oh well, at least you can educate us as to the difference between a Leopard 40, a 403, and the 405 ?

[ausaviator]

Sorry, I've already misquoted the model AND it's not even what you have... it's a Sunsail 404 ! Apologies I don't know the differences in the models either. I'll go back to being driftwood.

[ozsailer]

Hi Wannabee,
I had a quick look at some of the charter fleet in the Whitsundays and found that Sunsail have the charter version of various sizie Leopards starting at 38 foot. I could not find anything else. Friends just bought a Leopard 47 from Malaysia and had it sailed down to Mooloolaba then they sailed it from there to Lake Macquarie. I've had the chance to have a good look and they appear well made and thought out. Hope this is of some assistance.

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by ausaviator

Sorry, I've already misquoted the model AND it's not even what you have... it's a Sunsail 404 ! Apologies I don't know the differences in the models either. I'll go back to being driftwood.

Sunsail 404 is the version of the Leopard 40 that goes into the Sunsail charter. Some Leopard 40s are not Sunsail 404s but most of them are.
C

[Wannabe-007]

Hmmm interesting...

Thanks for the steer to Sunsail.
Sunsail have two Leopards by the looks of things... Strangely, they don't even call them Leopards!?! Its just a "Sunsail 403" and "Sunsail 404". That explains why I couldn't find them in my searches.
The 403 is a 3 cabin, owners version... nice.
The 404 is a 4 cabin (wth single/kids beds in bows)
Strangely, the owners version is also has 2cm less length and 6cm less beam. So... not just the same boat with different layout.

As an mildly interesting side note, Sunsail don't let you view the boats availability and/or book the boat from the boat page. You have to basically start from scratch, select dates, and an area, and try and find the boat you're after. Obviously only caters to the majority who have a fixed idea about where/when and are flexible about the boat.

Looks like the owners version is the only one available around the dates I want. I should really charter the std version, cause I'm quite sure we wouldn't be lucky enough to actually buy an owners version... however.