Which Catamaran Brand??

[ScottSpooner]

Hey everyone,

First time posting, hope everyone is doing well!

My name is Scott and I'm looking to purchase a Catamaran within the next 12 months. Unfortunately I live in the UK which isn't the most popular for Cats.

I'll be selling up everything and purchasing more Holiday let properties, I'll be purchasing the Catamaran for myself and my partner to live on. I'm trying to understand the Cat brands I should be looking at. So far, I'm looking at Leopards. However I have seen Bali, Lagoon, Fountaine Pajot amongst others which look great. However some of these brands, for example the Lagoon are associated with Beneteau which from our monohull days were known to be bad, we heard nothing but bad things. You guys may disagree I don't know.

I think my main question at the moment, What Cat brands are the ones to go after? We want an owners version, 38-42ft, built within the last 10 years.

Thanks!

[Stingo]

Welcome to the forum.

Boats are like houses: you'll walk inside/aboard and will either love it or leave it.

[ScottSpooner]

Hey Stingo, Thanks for the reply. But I was talking more along the lines of build quality etc, I get what you mean though, We are heading to the Cannes Yachting Festival so we'll get aboard quite a few of them there hopefully!

[Stingo]

In terms of where to look for a catamaran, there are a few places that are known for being "the boatyard of broken dreams"
- Chagauramus, Trinidad
- anywhere in Panama
- Rio Dulce, Guatemala
- Malaysia

[Stingo]

Originally Posted by ScottSpooner

Hey Stingo, Thanks for the reply. But I was talking more along the lines of build quality etc, I get what you mean though, We are heading to the Cannes Yachting Festival so we'll get aboard quite a few of them there hopefully!

Now days, they're mostly very much alike, especially the french vs south african catamarans.

[ScottSpooner]

Oh ok so quality is pretty similar throughout the brands?

Ok Good to know where to stay away from . I've got the whole Tax issue here, Would prefer to buy in Europe.

[Stingo]

Just a guess here, but if your tax issue is VAT, you only have to pay the VAT if you bring the boat (UK or EU flagged) into EU waters for longer than 18 months, if the boat is not already VAT paid. If the boat is not UK or EU flagged, it gets more complicated

[ScottSpooner]

I thought it was 6 months?

[Stingo]

Back to your original question: the carrying capacity of a catamaran is critical to safety, and the way cruisers load up with stuff, it's easy to overload a cat. If you can, may I suggest you aim for at least 44ft?

[Stingo]

Originally Posted by ScottSpooner

I thought it was 6 months?

I'm not up to date, so you may well be correct. A decent yacht broker will know.

[boom23]

Originally Posted by ScottSpooner

Oh ok so quality is pretty similar throughout the brands?

Ok Good to know where to stay away from . I've got the whole Tax issue here, Would prefer to buy in Europe.

You get what you pay for... Equally priced boats are of equal quality. You need to decide what features are important to you.

If you want a good quality cruising catamaran, get an Antares 44. I'm sure there many more brands, but I'm not in the market.

When I was looking for a better quality (comfortable, not race oriented) cat than my ex Lagoon 450, I could only find anything smaller than 50ft. This was huge for my wife and I. So, I bought a quality monohull. Could not be happier.

[FlyingScot]

Budget?
New or used?
Expectations of use?

We settled on a 2008 Leopard 40 owner's version and I'm happy with the choice.
I wish for dagger boards for better windward angles but those are typically priced twice as much for similar living accommodations.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by Stingo

Back to your original question: the carrying capacity of a catamaran is critical to safety, and the way cruisers load up with stuff, it's easy to overload a cat. If you can, may I suggest you aim for at least 44ft?

How much stuff? The OP mentioned 2 people total.
Old leopard 40 (like mine) is rated at 2660 kg of load capacity. This assumes you already have 400 kg of fuel, 780 kg of water, 250 kg of spare fluids on board per the manual. This is to maintain Category A for 10 people.

Newer Leopard 40 is heavier (lightship) and rated to carry
3000 kg + fuel, water and spare fluids.

The Leopard 39 is rated similarly. The manual lists 4090kg but that is reduced by fuel/water/etc.

Not sure about other brands. I've yet to hear any Leopard owner tell me about raising the waterline stripe. I didn't even notice much of a waterline change after loading mine up with tools, solar, parts, and toys. Mine I just have to keep the weight out of the aft end. It's better balanced with at least 100 gallons of water in the forward tanks, which is a little less than half capacity.

[boatman61]

38ft I would look at the Lagoon 380 owners version.. sail well and plenty big enough unless your a person who believes bigger = safer.
Bali.. forget em unless your looking for a fair weather poseurs machine..

[sailjumanji]

Very happy with our Seawind 1160 Lite (38 ft) catamaran. Just returned from spending three months in Bahamas, as well as a jump across the Gulf of Mexico from south Florida to Freeport, Texas in some pretty nasty conditions. A very good sailing boat, which was important for us as we have racing background and didnt want a condo cat we had to motor. This is our second Seawind, the previous being a 33 ft long model that we also took from Texas to Exumas and back. I'd recommend looking at Seawind, but used are hard to find.