Inspired by the post of a
Lagoon 440 owner and his grand upgrade on that
boat that went to about $190k, I have written a summary of our
boat rebuild in preparation for a 3 year sabbatical that will take us across the Pacific from the
Caribbean to Austalia. I hope this could be an ispiration to those who dream but don’t have the big bucks to go for the upscale option.
To start with, we were looking for a cat to go cruising with our 3&6 y.o. We both have some sailing experience as my wife is a sailing instructor,
delivery skipper for Sunreef, round-the-worl
racer and sailing tour company operator and I have been sailing on different boats from
Greenland to
Caribbean plus we have owned our
Beneteau Cyclades 39.3 for almost 4 years in the
Med. We knew pretty much what we wanted, and after some consideration settled on the
Leopard 45/47 aka Moorings 4500 as a good compromise between value, sailing, build quality and seaworthiness.
We knew from the start that we want to upgrade the
rigging and
sails, so in our search we focused on other aspects. Finally, in the spring of 2018 we found our match and aquired a nice 2001 L45. We sailed extensively the following two seasons all across the Caribbean, hauled out in Trinidad and finally started the extensive
rebuild program.So it goes:
-Rigging&sails. Standing (
$14k) and running (
$2k)
rigging. It’s a big rig, and we wanted to be sure we can rely on it on our way across the Pacific. Some of it, especially the diamonds were in a pretty poor shape. We also removed the chainplates, checked them with dye penetrant for cracks and fabricated new
backing plates (
$200) as the holes in the old ones were really ovalised. Interestingly enough, there was no
sealant in between the chainplate and the backing plate! The roller was rebuilt (
$250), and the
sails went to the
sailmaker for restitching and general check (
$2k. included new covers for all the hatches, repairing lazy jack and
dinghy chaps). In the meantime, we learned that
Leopard has some old stock sails available so we bought a brand new
genoa that came to
$1k with transport. All the running rigging including lazy jacks was replaced with
Dyneema, and I really recommend Trinidad Rigging for their unbeatable
rope prices. We disassembled all 5 winches (only item needed replacing was the pawls and springs so maybe
$50). The traveller track was removed, all the screws attaching it to the wing replaced (
$100) and all the balls replaced in the traveller (
$200). We updated our sail wardrobe to include a screetcher (
$200), a spinaker (
$500) and a Parasailor (
$5k).
- Engines&props. The
Yanmar 4JH3E engines were running good, but since they are original to the boat we wanted to make sure there will be no surpises down the road. We removed the heat exchangers and
oil coolers, cleaned, tested them and reassembled.
Exhaust elbows were removed and checked for cracks, one was replaced. We replaced both cutlass bearings and prop shaft
seals, and send the MaxProps to
Italy for rebuild. All this came to
$4500, labour included.
- New windlass&anchor chain. We sourced the
Lofrans Tigress
windlass in
England, and 120m of
Lofrans 10mm chain came from
Poland. We had a good
Rocna 33 before, so it stayed.
Price:
$2,2k
- Replace Trident gas detection and
control box and all gas lines with original Trident (
$600)
- Front windows resealed. One was found to have a crack in the top corner so we replaced it altogether, but according to suggestions from Leopard forum we’ve cut only one
hatch in the center of the window – works good!
Parts and labour:
$1000
-
Full repaint –
deck and sides. Awlcraft was used. This was a big job, but we have done a lot more as the result of it. Managed to
paint both
engine compartments, fibreglass a new shelf for the
watermaker in the
engine compartment,
paint both forward compartments, add
backing plates to all the
cleats to eliminate spider cracks, fibreglass in huge backing plates for
drogue attachments and repaint
generator enclosure for a grand total of
$15k.
-
Watermaker overhaul. Since we had to remove the watermaker anyway, it was a good time to get a thorough check on the individual
parts.
Spectra in Chaguaramas pronounced all the parts were good to go, so we just had to reassemble. Grand total: $
300
-Life raft. We discussed this one a lot, and finally opted for the open ocean
Plastimo Transocean 8 persons canister version. Equinox in Le Marin fabricated a nice cage for it. Grand total:
$2700.
-All new heads (4) and hoses. (
$1000), we did the labour.
-Escape
hatch was removed, we found the top frame pitted with
corrosion so this was replaced along with the seal (
$300).
In the meantime, we have worked on getting new upholstery installed (brought from
Poland,
$300), replaced all mirrors and faucets (also brought from Poland,
$450), had a new custom materace shipped in from Poland (
$600), replaced
steering cables (also from Poland,
$100) and
LED lights (
$300) and rebuilt the
oven (
$200). The
dinghy was overhauled – seams sanded down and patched with hypalon (
$600), we
sold our old Yamaha 25hp and bought a brand new Tohatsu Everrun 18hp (
$2100)
Finally, there came time for
electronics. We installed 4 new 325W
panels in half cell technology (
$1000, sent from Poland),
MPPT controller (
$600),
AIS transceiver (
$550),
VHF with
AIS (
$350), Simarine Pico Energy management (
$650),
chartplotter (
$900),
Raymarine i50/i60 suite (
$1050), Magnum inwerter
charger with
remote (
$1000), ACR
EPIRB (
$500) and coded boat detail into the old
EPIRB (
$150).
Before we splashed the boat we had one final thing to attend to – the bottom. The previous owner replaced all through hulls in 2016 so we just made sure they open and close freely. We treated a few spots of surface
osmosis and paintred 3 coats of antifouling. And just like this, we were ready to go sailing.
So, what did we get?
For
$285k in total we have a boat that is as
seaworthy as it can get. New rigging and sails, straight shafts and skeg hung rudders. Reliable engines, good dinghy with new
outboard. Pretty much all new
electronics. Extensive sail wardrobe, good
anchoring equipment. All this to a boat that is a great design in the first place, tried and tested.
I sure will be missing it at the end of our journey.
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