Delivery skippers and/or professional crew ratings of 40-50' cruising cats

[CaptainMarkS]

I'm in the market for a 40-50' liveaboard cruiser. I've done the desktop research, conducted structured interviews with owners, and would value feedback from professionals who sail for a living. If you had to chose a model you felt desirable from a comfort, performance, build quality and safety perspective, which model(s) would they be? Let's remove price from the equation for the time being. Conversely, are there any brands you would avoid? If you feel uncomfortable naming brands, perhaps you can prefer to "production cats", etc... Many thanks for weighing in! Am hoping this thread will help others searching.

[Sos]

Bump!

Shame there has been no reply's - unbiased experience would be useful to everyone.
I guess they are out sailing

[Tupaia]

This is a sort of don't get employed again question. No one who does this for a living is going to put in print what they think of customers boats good or bad, could be seen as bias and will dissuade employers.

[NaClyDog]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

This is a sort of don't get employed again question. No one who does this for a living is going to put in print what they think of customers boats good or bad, could be seen as bias and will dissuade employers.

Only for negative reviews.

[Snore]

I have run Lagoons and FPs to 50'. I would not consider either of them "bad".

As someone who prefers blue water, my pet peeves are, no fiddles, sharp corners on the counters, and lack of handholds in both the salon and the stairs going down to the cabins.

Finally, the knucklehead who put the hard corner table in front of the couch- across from the entry door to the salon should be hit in the shins with a baseball/cricket bat. Just seems fair for all the times I have whacked my shins...

Topside, EVERY cat I have run benefits from a barber haul. I usually rig it through the beam cleat. Oh- and the refueling of older Lagoons is on the aft steps. Try refueling those babies from 5 gallon fuel cans while underway.

Seawind and PDQ are probably the fastest cats I have run. I even had a small rooster tail on the PDQ! But I would consider them more Spartan that Lagoons and FPs.

IMHO, the production quality of all the production boats is about the same. Even new builds should undergo a full acceptance survey to check tabbing, etcetra. To put it in monohull terms, a Jenneau is a well built boat. I like them and have delivered many of them. But the build quality is less than a Tartan,or a Hallberg-Rassy. This is reflected in the initial price, and value after 10 years of ownership.

None of the above issues are insurmountable. Depending on how the owner will use the boat, there are likely only problems for us delivery guys.

IMHO the big issue for new builds is a good pre-acceptance survey. Better to find a manufacturing defect before your hand over $1M, then after.

[CaptainMarkS]

Originally Posted by Snore

I have run Lagoons and FPs to 50'. I would not consider either of them "bad".

As someone who prefers blue water, my pet peeves are, no fiddles, sharp corners on the counters, and lack of handholds in both the salon and the stairs going down to the cabins.

Finally, the knucklehead who put the hard corner table in front of the couch- across from the entry door to the salon should be hit in the shins with a baseball/cricket bat. Just seems fair for all the times I have whacked my shins...

Topside, EVERY cat I have run benefits from a barber haul. I usually rig it through the beam cleat. Oh- and the refueling of older Lagoons is on the aft steps. Try refueling those babies from 5 gallon fuel cans while underway.

Seawind and PDQ are probably the fastest cats I have run. I even had a small rooster tail on the PDQ! But I would consider them more Spartan that Lagoons and FPs.

IMHO, the production quality of all the production boats is about the same. Even new builds should undergo a full acceptance survey to check tabbing, etcetra. To put it in monohull terms, a Jenneau is a well built boat. I like them and have delivered many of them. But the build quality is less than a Tartan,or a Hallberg-Rassy. This is reflected in the initial price, and value after 10 years of ownership.

None of the above issues are insurmountable. Depending on how the owner will use the boat, there are likely only problems for us delivery guys.

IMHO the big issue for new builds is a good pre-acceptance survey. Better to find a manufacturing defect before your hand over $1M, then after.

Thanks for the input. When you mention PDQ, do you also include the current Antares 44?

[CaptainMarkS]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

This is a sort of don't get employed again question. No one who does this for a living is going to put in print what they think of customers boats good or bad, could be seen as bias and will dissuade employers.

I'm not suggesting anyone post their answers in a public forum like this. I was inviting structured interviews that would be kept in the strictest confidence if that's what contributors request.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by Mark Selawry

Thanks for the input. When you mention PDQ, do you also include the current Antares 44?

No it was an older boat. Think she is a 36

[JC Reefer]

I’m a big fan of the older leopard 47s. Lived on one for 3 years and covered about 6000 miles per year in it.

Im not a fan of the more recent designs. I feel they are totally geared for the charter market.

They don’t make the 47s anymore. These were from when they were built and then sailed from Africa.

Tough boats in My opinion.

[pressuredrop]

I have delivered a few of the major production cats on 1000+ mile ocean passages

F.p. belize 43 (puerto rico to fla -down wind)
Lagoon 45 (bahamas to tortola - all reaching)
Leapord 46 (aruba to fla)
Antares 44 (guatemala to grenada)

While none of these boats suit me personally, they were all fine for making these passages.

The leapord was the best sailing boat, the antares is a very well built boat.... as is true of most boats. They are good for the passages if you are...