You might not want to buy a Leopard catamaran

[geem]

 

[Bouba]

I’m struggling to concentrate..

 

[veshengro]

I can't help pondering on the breaking strain of that thin piece of material..

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I can't help pondering on the breaking strain of that thin piece of material..

Must contain dyneema fibres for reinforcement.

 

[Bouba]

I wouldn’t buy a Leopard...she gets her points across very well

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I wouldn’t buy a Leopard...she gets her points across very well

Look it's close to your bed time thoughts like these are going to give you a restless night. Stop looking at the computer go and have a hot milk drink and go to bed.

 

[Bouba]

Look it's close to your bed time thoughts like these are going to give you a restless night. Stop looking at the computer go and have a hot milk drink and go to bed.

Aye aye Captain !

 

[Neeves]

We went to SA to see the yachts being built (we were visiting SA anyway). The main deterrent for us was that customisation was, effectively, non-existent. The production is geared for charter work, end of story. When you are spending large sums of money on a yacht we, rightly or wrongly, thought customisation should be part of the package. We did not get into the nitty gritty of leaking windows.

On the other hand Lightwave were completely gear up for customisation, extra head, deep freeze (in cabin sole), gas fired hot water, 3rd reefing line for main, inner forestay etc - none of which seemed 'out of the ordinary', it was a no brainer.

Jonathan

 

[EugeneR]

That is Leopard off our final two cat options, then.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

It seems boats built for the charter market are frequently a bit short of quality. Though I think I’d rather the hatches leaked than the bulkheads were’t laminated in properly, like another brand of charter catamaran.

 

[Neeves]

We went to SA to see the yachts being built (we were visiting SA anyway). The main deterrent for us was that customisation was, effectively, non-existent. The production is geared for charter work, end of story. When you are spending large sums of money on a yacht we, rightly or wrongly, thought customisation should be part of the package. We did not get into the nitty gritty of leaking windows.

On the other hand Lightwave were completely gear up for customisation, extra head, deep freeze (in cabin sole), gas fired hot water, 3rd reefing line for main, inner forestay etc - none of which seemed 'out of the ordinary', it was a no brainer.

Jonathan

I was not entirely fulsome with the above post.

When we visited Leopard it was at the time they introduced the forward cockpit. This is a 'lounge area' forward of the traditional saloon, at the rear of the bridge deck and accessible from the conventionally located saloon through a 'sort of' patio door.

We were appalled - and wondered at the thinking.

We crossed Bass Strait on a 55 knot beam reach achieving around 8 knots under a 3 reefed main. We had seas breaking over the cabin roof and the cockpit was constantly awash. The idea of a glorified bath at the rear of the bridge deck was a nightmare.

Now had we progressed with a Leopard we could have chosen a different design, not all of their models have this feature - the sunken lounge was simply indicative of the then thinking - which might have extended to other characteristics of which we had only superficial exposure.

Jonathan

 

[bignick]

I’d still rather deal with leaky windows on a Leopard rather than a failed main bulkhead on a Lagoon !!

 

[harvey38]

Obviously aimed at the male viewer, I've watched it eight times

 

[Bouba]

It’s a marketing directors worst scenario...a well endowed girl publicly complains about your product

 

[boomerangben]

It is interesting in this day and age such issues exist in yacht building given design standards set by governments and so on. It seems that cats have some big challenges for structural engineers which if this thread and perceptions of Lagoons are bourn out with significant data, ie more than a few bulkheads have failed and more than a few Leopards have leaking hatches. Perhaps it’s a matter of quality control or corner cutting.

It’s good that people can call out builders like this, but we have no idea if this is a one off or endemic. I hope they can get a successful resolution with the builder, otherwise the second hand value of their investment is going to take a huge hit after all this negative publicity

 

[dunedin]

It is interesting in this day and age such issues exist in yacht building given design standards set by governments and so on. It seems that cats have some big challenges for structural engineers which if this thread and perceptions of Lagoons are bourn out with significant data, ie more than a few bulkheads have failed and more than a few Leopards have leaking hatches. Perhaps it’s a matter of quality control or corner cutting.

It’s good that people can call out builders like this, but we have no idea if this is a one off or endemic. I hope they can get a successful resolution with the builder, otherwise the second hand value of their investment is going to take a huge hit after all this negative publicity

It's not just cat builders. I have heard of buyers of very expensive new Swedish yachts turning round mid North Sea on their delivery trip due to leaking hatches.
And wasn't that one of the alleged issues that caused the lawsuit that caused Discovery Yachts to go bust.

 

[Tranona]

On leaky hatches, she explained clearly the main cause was failing to follow the manufacturer's instructions on installation, not the hatches themselves. Not leveling the mounting flange in the moulding and not installing the fastenings correctly. Both a mixture of poor moulding design, manufacture and quality control. At one point she noted that even the warranty repair crew did not follow the instructions.

These hatches are used in their thousands by production builders who I think have fewer issues because their production methods ensure more consistency. The small volume builders rely more on individual fitters than on factory type process control.

 

[jlavery]

The number of leaks they seem to have experienced, in addition to the hatches, is woeful. There's snagging and chasing poor build.

Is it a "Friday boat?".

 

[Wandering Star]

I delivered a Leopard from Croatia to St Lucia, i wrote about it on here several years ago. Long story short, the hardtop Bimini wanted to go walkabout before we’d even reached Gibraltar, the bolts holding it to the uprights were inside the uprights and effectively inaccessible, had the Bimini gone walkabout so too would the main sheet tackle so I ended up rigging a spanish windlass across from port to starboard to hold it down. The patio style sliding doors kept jumping off their tracks. It was shabbily put together - I certainly wouldn’t buy one for myself even if I could afford to. Sailing performance was crap too.

However the trip itself was one of my most enjoyable, great crew - we had a ball.

 

[Neeves]

Leopards are a side line for the builder - they build for Sunsail and I have to assume meet Sunsail's demands. They do, or distributors do - sell them to private buyers. No-one forces anyone to buy a Sunsail yacht (and if its a cat might be branded a Sunsail XYZ). No one forces anyone to buy a Lagoon.

Both yachts meet the demands of the charter market, in the same way a HYUNDAI or Opel meets a different demand to a Land Rover Defender. You would not drive a Kia over the Sahara ......

Yachts, and catamarans especially are not cheap - do your home work - it does not cost much to charter one nor go visit the factory.

Horses for courses.

The faults of yachts are all documented, by now - buyer beware.

Jonathan