Leopard 38 Near Sydney ?

[rustyrusty]

Thanks for all the posts Im looking at Leopard 38 from BVI or Fl not sure what to offer though agent told me get a boat that has been out of charter for 2 or 3 years that has been upgraded with radar ect recent offers seem to be about 15% off asking. Any one got an opinion on this. If I can find one with low engine hrs would be worth the trouble. Im off to Harvey Bay this week to check out a 38 to get an idea of the size.

Hervey Bay Bareboat Yacht Charters - Morpheus - 38' Leopard Sailing Catamaran For Charter

[Dragon Lady]

Hey Rusty, If you look at soldboat.com you will see what they are really selling for don't believe the 15% or what ever they say.
Leopard 38s are selling from $170K AUD to low $200K AUD in the Carrabean whilst people are asking high $300K here in OZ.
But that may change a broker recently told me he expects cat prices to soften with depressed markets O/S and a strong Oz dollar.
I'm waiting till the end of the year because I have to, Just hoping the situation is still favourable then.
How did you find the 38?
I'm hoping to take a look at an Athena 38 soon so if we like the boat we can just worry about it's condition when we are looking O/S.

[rustyrusty]

I went and had a look at a leopard 38 2002 yesterday at Harvey Bay Its in Fraser fleet a nice boat and not showing a lot of use a few hinges loose ect but I would love to have something that good. There is 3 or 4 in the US all on the net. You are right they will vary in quality so its good to have an idea of what is expected the big thing is the motors they have a life of around 4000 hrs The machanic at Harvey bay hated them he said they became very unreliable had trouble with gearboxes electrical wireing they shook and were noisy he said he had to follow the boat around just to keep the motors going. They gave the owner the option of new motors or take the boat its now got 2 new 50Hp Yannmass he said its a diferent boat he put 50s back in because in charter need as much as you can have but counld work with 30s I think I will have to factor in new motors but are a bit unsure about bringing something all that way if there is any likely problems. Might look at re powering over there. Good luck in your search I think there isnt enough stock in Aust. and the prices will always be up there. This wont be easy but if it works we will have a lot more boat for our money than we could ever hope for buying here.

[Dragon Lady]

Yes I think you are right about the better boat for the money, I am very fortunate to know some people in the marine indusry and they are all telling me that I'm on the right track importing a boat. The main thing is to aim to get a better boat than what you can afford on the Oz market, don't view it as a means to make money. That way you won't be dissapointed.
As for the engines on the Leopard I have heard they aren't the best 4000hrs isn't really that high and many 10yr old boats will have that many hrs or more.
The thing I like about the FPs are that they have Yanmars.
As for repowering the prices people talk about in USA seem a lot cheaper than what I hear it costs here, so you might do well to pay a bit more for a boat with new motors, there seems to be some around.
The way the market is anyone who has repowered recently is going to loose a lot of money if they sell so it will be your gain.
I also suspect that the importers of engines in Oz who have bought stock during the low dollar period will try and hold prices up so they can get their money back so repowering over there would be a good move.
Good luck with your search and keep up updated on how you go.
Exchange rate on the euro is slowly improving but I don't know if the USD will start making a comeback.