Buying Leopard Ex-charter: What do I spend my $ on first?

[jim King]

Thanks for starting this post. I'll be taking my Leopard 45 from Sunsail in one year and would have been asking the same questions. I hope she is in good condition after Mooring/Sunsail bring her up to condition after survey. I was wondering where the best location to spend the $$ on upgrades and refit would be? BVI, other free tax locations (St. Thomas), or back to Miami?

[moseriw]

not first.. Whatever price ypu buy double it up for repairs and upgrades. This is the rule of thumb.

[moseriw]

Originally Posted by jim King

Thanks for starting this post. I'll be taking my Leopard 45 from Sunsail in one year and would have been asking the same questions. I hope she is in good condition after Mooring/Sunsail bring her up to condition after survey. I was wondering where the best location to spend the $$ on upgrades and refit would be? BVI, other free tax locations (St. Thomas), or back to Miami?

Well I'am far off but you should think of Mexico or further south, maybe Brazil.
The difference in the manhour is up to you to find it out but it could be 1:10.

The price for the parts are due to international product piracy of the producers almost the same with a big surplus by the chandlers in the carribian.

[wathey]

Best bang for the buck is easy but often overlooked. Get new toilet seats. Ones that are clean and don't slam when closed. Seems minor but by far the best roi on our refit of our L48.
I assume you are on the L48 WhatsApp group, if not ask for access, aLot of details from dozens of converted charter boats.

[Clivevon]

Originally Posted by bergmd

I'm buying a Leopard 48 ex charter and will have a limited budget to make it a full time live aboard. I want to make it blue-water capable but where do I start? My plan was to sail it to the US to avoid shipping costs of batteries, solar panels, etc. I plan on doing all the installations myself with a budget of 10-15k.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

The voice of experience. Forget your list. With that little money to spend on a 48 foot boat, find the faults & fix them first. When you have done that, think again.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Clivevon

The voice of experience. Forget your list. With that little money to spend on a 48 foot boat, find the faults & fix them first. When you have done that, think again.

I agree fully. First job is to sail the Boat locally and debug it. Fix the broken stuff

Then use it for a while and see what you need.

Do you “ need” lithium , do you “ need” a water maker. Etc etc

You may actually need completely different things , sails ?, engine repairs , etc etc.

[lordgeoff]

Originally Posted by bergmd

I'm buying a Leopard 48 ex charter and will have a limited budget to make it a full time live aboard. I want to make it blue-water capable but where do I start? My plan was to sail it to the US to avoid shipping costs of batteries, solar panels, etc. I plan on doing all the installations myself with a budget of 10-15k.

What are the necessity items that need to be purchased and in what order? Obviously a dinghy first. It has a generator that will need replacing soon.

Spares?
Bigger Anchor?
Tools?
Watermaker?
Electronics?


Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

A Leopard 48 structurally would be “blue water” capable already. It was likely sailed from South Africa to BVIs.
As it is a charter boat it is probably has the basics well set up for live aboard. (Water, refrigeration, generator and engine alternators. Make sure all the equipment on board is working properly before you pay. It will have a phase out done so everything should be working correctly.
What gear you need depends on where you plan to sail. Your sails should be ok. Basic instrumentation ok as well. A radar/chart plotter is always nice but there are plenty of IPad/Laptop navigation options that work fine. AIS is excellent value these days.
Dinghy yes. Davits make life easy for launching/retrieving dinghy. Solar panels make sense but you have a generator so see how your finances go. I would use it for a while and see what you then consider “essential”. Probably not much more you need to do as you already have the “Must Haves”
Spend your money on travelling👌

[fservaty]

My M4000 came out of contract in BVI last January; Here are some of the major deficiencies:
. Batter charger failed, wiring harness starboard failed, starboard engine cooling hose
punctured by alternator belt (retainer strap completely rusted away)
Starboard engine failed due to fuel contamination. I did observe the telltale algae strings in the primary fuel filter. Axiom 9 MFD was never updated and gps positioning is sporadic. Topping lift line broke on first sail...and lastly: The "new"phase out antifouling paint is failing to adhere to gelcoat in random places. My genset has 7300 hrs ( I assume staff lived on my contract boat) and looked in deplorable condition before charter company painted it pretty white

[fservaty]

My M4000 came out of contract in BVI last January; Here are some of the major deficiencies:
. Batter charger failed, wiring harness starboard failed, starboard engine cooling hose
punctured by alternator belt (retainer strap completely rusted away)
Starboard engine failed due to fuel contamination. I did observe the telltale algae strings in the primary fuel filter. Axiom 9 MFD was never updated and gps positioning is sporadic. Topping lift line broke on first sail...and lastly: The "new"phase out antifouling paint is failing to adhere to gelcoat in random places. My genset has 7300 hrs ( I assume staff lived on my contract boat) and looked in deplorable condition before charter company painted it pretty white

[flee27]

chrisinggs. For the list you are talking about you probably aren't too far off if you are paying to have it done especially. The OP really needs to look deeper into some of the systems he wants/needs. Maybe you could do the lithium upgrade for that budget. Maybe.

A lot goes into installing a lithium system besides installing batteries. Lithium batteries are not magical devices that allow us to use lots of electricity with out any down sides. Its a deep, deep dive of "what if" scenarios and system requirements if you want the system to be reliable and good value in the end.

Good luck with your boat. Just trying to be realistic and 10-15K for upgrades just isn't.

Foster

[bergmd]

Thanks everyone. I plan on fixing the important items on the survey. I may post it here if anyone is interested. Yes, I joined the L48 group. They've been wonderful.

@mosiriw I don't think doubling the cost of the boat is necessary. You can throw a lot of money at a boat if you want but not for my expectations.


This isn't my first boat so know what I want. I want it to be off grid entirely. Thanks for the advise on the solar and lithium. I plan on running a DC to DC charger, to the lithium, so the alternator will charge it. I've built a few lithium systems in camper vans so know the nuances.

My amenities budget is low so I can keep 15k for emergencies.

[Tellie]

10-15K "get it ready money" on a Leopard 45? We work on a lot of Leopards. It's a tight budget even if you do all the work yourself. How much reserve monies do you have?

[Davo666]

I've looked (and decided against, for the time being) at a similar strategy.
This may be informative: https://youtu.be/izMqIfbj3_A

[johnnyH]

I am certain that many people will disagree with me on this but there is a reason that boats are cycled out of charter in just a few short years They are beaten up, damaged, do not have equipment that will be needed other than the most basic of things needed fo hugging the coast along islands of the BVI, and the repairs are akin to putting a band-aid over a bullet hole. These boats are not a bargain in any sense of the word. From a reliability and cost basis the sound decision is to buy one that has never been in charter

[alctel]

That's a really small refit budget for a gigantic cat, especially one that's out of charter (which are often pretty beat up). Boats that size get real expensive, real fast - boat costs increase exponentially with size, not linearly.

Have you thought about a smaller, cheaper boat that will give you a lot more money for refits?