Should we or Shouldn't we buy Lagoon 380 or 400?

[faa50]

We have a deal! We located what we believe is an above average condition Lagoon 380 and successfully negotiated a FSBO purchase price.

I've hired a quality surveyor who is experienced with Lagoons. The haul-out at Nanny Cay Marina is tentatively scheduled. In two weeks I fly down to St. Thomas to conduct an inspection, survey and sea trial.

In three weeks, if things go according to plan, my bride and I will be proud owners of a Lagoon 380. Bring on the champaign!

[rabbi]

Thats fast!!
Good luck with the survey

[faa50]

In one sense yes. But truth be know its taken seven months of diligent work, research, due diligence, walking boat yards, traveling thousands of miles, talking with boat yard mechanics, climbing through the bowels of a variety of boats in a variety of condition, listening to more than I care to remember selling brokers spin, lengthy interviews with owners, failed surveys and a ton of persistence get to the point we know what we are looking for, what is reasonable and how to successfully work through all the challenges of putting together a deal. For me, this has been pretty much a full time job for the past seven months. Kinda like climbing a mountain peak.

Enjoyable, frustrating at times but well worth the experience. Hopefully we have dodged the many pitfalls awaiting an unsuspecting or uninformed buyer.

The saying "One has to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince." comes to mind here.

[faa50]

HERE'S ONE FOR THE BOOKS !!!!!

Well as you can see from my prior post, wife and I thought we had found our dream boat. We are learning that one never knows where the challenges of buying a boat are going to show up.

Have you ever heard of a surveyor REFUSING to do a survey? $1,200 for a day's work would indicate that there must be a super strong incentive to turn this kind of money down. Guess what - AN IMMINENT LAWSUIT is just the ticket to cause a prudent, professional surveyor to back away from conducting a survey.

Intimidation by an owner so as to cause a surveyor to NOT put the owner's boat through the normal paces of a survey (runs engines

Cudoos to my surveyor for having the ethics and integrity to alert me and pull the plug even when it hits his bottom line.
Sooooo...we are back to looking for a Lagoon 400 or 380 to buy !!!

[faa50]

We heard from several folks, some surveyors and some owners of Leopards. They are suggesting we consider this brand: Models 40'-45' for cruising and live aboard.

Would appreciate hearing from owners of Leopards as to what there experiences have been in 20'-35' seas, winds 30-45 knots etc. Do you consider this a seaworthy boat for offshore cruising? We understand that most of these models were built for the charter industry.

[yardie]

Originally Posted by faa50

We heard from several folks, some surveyors and some owners of Leopards. They are suggesting we consider this brand: Models 40'-45' for cruising and live aboard.

Would appreciate hearing from owners of Leopards as to what there experiences have been in 20'-35' seas, winds 30-45 knots etc. Do you consider this a seaworthy boat for offshore cruising? We understand that most of these models were built for the charter industry.

I'm not a Leopard owner but I am friends with one. We crossed the Atlantic together in late November and have been in contact since the summer. He was also set on a Lagoon 380/400 before settling on Leopard 40. They are great boats each one has quirks the designers chose. For instance all of his tanks are accessible and can be easily removed. Our Lagoon, the tanks are behind bulkheads and well braced. And a lot of work to get to. He has 2 fresh water systems: port and starboard. So 2 pumps, 2 tanks, 2 calorifiers.

During the crossing his engines were off limits. The engine compartment hatches were just above the waterline. With 2 meter following seas the waves breaked right over the swim step and occasionally entered the cockpit lounge (it sounds worse than it was).

After crossing the Atlantic on a L380 and following our friends L40 I'm pretty confident in their seaworthiness.

[faa50]

In conducting our research on Lagoons, both Leopard 40 and Fountaine Pajot Lipari 41 are mentioned as comparable boats. Are they really? We just don't have enough information to know....

Comparable as in seaworthiness, safety, comfort and resale value? Certainly other owners have traveled down this well worn path as we now find ourselves enjoying.

We are impressed with the Lagoons but wondering if we might be overlooking some good opportunities in similar models?

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by faa50

In conducting our research on Lagoons, both Leopard 40 and Fountaine Pajot Lipari 41 are mentioned as comparable boats. Are they really? We just don't have enough information to know....

Comparable as in seaworthiness, safety, comfort and resale value? Certainly other owners have traveled down this well worn path as we now find ourselves enjoying.

We are impressed with the Lagoons but wondering if we might be overlooking some good opportunities in similar models?

They all do most of the things right, others not so much. I would not consider one better than the other in most aspects.

At the end you can choose any of those and get a decent production boat, each with its own set of small issues, and each with a relatively stable & predicatble resale value.

I would be open minded, look around what is available and buy the one that looks like the best deal. I do have preferences just like anybody else, but at the end it could be any of the three.