Considering purchase of Manta 42

[playasf]

Hello,

I am a fairly seasoned sailor looking to buy a fully outfitted catamaran in the 40 foot range. No big oceanic crossings planned but looking forward to extended cruising in the Carib and Mexico. I have viewed around ten boats in Florida and in Calfornia and I am pretty sure I want a Manta 42. I have read quite a few of the lengthy threads regarding the pros and cons of various makes. And I am aware of and the inherent compromises in choosing a make and model (great feedback on this site).

My primary question is this: Is anyone aware of Manta specific issues that should be watched for? Having owned quite a few mono-hulls I am fairly knowledgable regarding the basics of a used boat purchase but I am curious about specifics potential issues that might need to paid close attention to with this boat line. I have viewed some that were impeccably maintained and ready to go and some that were fairly neglected.

I look forward to joining the Manta forum as well but it's not possible until one actually owns one.

thanks!

[colemj]

I'm always happy to answer questions. Please feel free to email me.

In general, there are no Manta 42-specific issues of concern. Any issues will be individual boat ones, like usual for any used boat. The last couple of 42's to be made occurred at a time when the company was going bankrupt and these had some quality control issues. I believe all of them were corrected later. Again, this is only for the last couple of hulls (~#124+).

Mark

[Catamoron]

A friend of mine owns a Manta 38 and I helped him sail it to Miami from Key West. But the impression I get from him is that he would not buy another one. He is not crazy about the jib or the fore-sail setup - he would much rather have a tradition roller furler as the Manta's stock jib setup is a pain in the rear. Also, what I noticed is the way the hatches drain/shed water. They have a drain hole that uses PVC drain lines instead of like ours have big channels. In fact, one of the PVC drain lines was in the corner of the aft cabin that was supposed to drain the cockpit seating and was leaking water and destroying the walls. I thought the way hatches and cockpit seating and these small little drain hole things that shed the water was a horrible way to do it so pay attention to any and all drains and look to see what I am talking about. Good luck.

[colemj]

By hatches, Catamoron means the bow locker openings, not the Bomar cabin hatches. He also means PVC hose, like used in water systems, not rigid PVC pipe.

Yes, these lockers have a lip channel around them that the lid edges overlap, and the channel has a drain fitting with a hose leading to a thruhull. We have never had a problem with ours and any leaking here would just go into the sealed lockers and out the bottom drain hole - there is no way any water could get into the interior of the boat through these.

The cockpit seats also have thruhulls in the designed lowpoints with hoses leading straight down to the bridgedeck drain thruhulls. One of these could reach the aft cabin if it was leaking, but the aft cabin walls are solid fiberglass covered with polyolefin "monkey fur" - so there is nothing to destroy with water. At worse, the monkey fur will need to be cleaned, which is very simple and easy (you can bleach it without damage). Our newer model 40 has Trident reinforced water hose for the cockpit drains - I don't know what was used in the older 38's.

The jib is a camberspar. Whether one likes it or not is a personal preference. We love ours, and most who sail with one for a while tend to agree, as its benefits reveal themselves with use. The times we find ourselves wanting the ease of a roller furler are far, far fewer than the times we find ourselves enjoying the self-tacking upwind or the perfectly shaped jib self-winged to windward when off the wind.

The jib is, however, small - ~90%. This is fine for medium to heavy winds, but for very light winds we have a code 0 to fill that gap.

Hope this helps.

Mark

[Sailorman Ed]

A Manta 42 2 slips over had a fuel tank leak and my understanding is that they will need to cut the cockpit floor to gain access and replace the aluminum tank. I do not know the age of the boat but sure the tank was original.

[Catamoron]

That's the point, if there is a system on board, such as the way the "bow locker" drains water - and its a horrible design, it needs to be pointed out to the original poster. It doesn't mean that any poorly designed aspect of a boat can't be worked through, it means that it is something to watch out for when buying a boat that could have a failure. My boat is fiberglass too...all over. But that doesn't mean I want a drain line leaking into my aft cabin. I was simply pointing out something I noticed - and my friend was having to fix the leaking drain line in his aft port cabin - and while the boat is fiberglass, his bed frames, closets, etc is not...so water in his cabin, in his opinion, was a bad thing. Also, if the bow locker isn't sealed perfectly, water goes pouring into it because of the small drain hole used to shed the water....water will sit inside that channel while its trying to drain...meanwhile, if your seal on the hatch isn't perfect, then water will poor in - such as the case with my fiends Manta 38. The forward port locker constantly got water in it and as a result, his generator and hot heater had rust all over them because of all the water pouring in from a slow draining channel.

[Boatguy30]

Buy a leopard 40, but if you did buy a manta remember it was really originally a 36' Eric Lerouge design manta built as a 38' then they kept making it longer on the waterline to try and make it sail better and load with more junk.


My 34' cat is just a bit faster than a leopard 40, but 25% faster than a manta 38. Us, a leopard 40 and 46 blew away the manta 42 in Bahamas racing. So if I were to buy production cat for the type of cruising you intend the 40 or 46 is the way to go. The 46 is about exactly the same speed as my boat so a tad quicker than the 40.


Assuming having a sailboat that sails well is a priority for you.