Lagoons - How Durable Are They ?

[alexxx]

"Just do not expect much help from Lagoon after the cheque has cleared."
- sounds about the same story as FP then...

[dirkdig]

Originally Posted by alexxx

"Just do not expect much help from Lagoon after the cheque has cleared."
- sounds about the same story as FP then...

Maybe its a French catamaran builder thing?

[mtnsapo]

Originally Posted by 2Wind

I own hull #30 Lagoon 440.
It has sailed across the Atlantic and later across the Pacific to Australia.
Built late 2004, and approaching 9 years of age, both its structure and its fibreglass remain in excellent condition. A few creaks and groans when underway from the internal wood linings, but no more than average. A few small stress cracks in the gelcoat near bulkheads. So far so good with nothing major to report.
As for sailing, easy "as" two up, even with the big 155sqm asy. Solo with main and genoa is easy (except docking). Its weight is an advantage in big seas as it rides the sea on the bow well, maintaing momentum without slamming.
Saturday afternoon was a good example of its performance (two up) when we did out and back 10NM legs in 25-30kts with an initial deep reach with 1 reef in the main and the ASY, and tight hauled with 1 reef main and 75-100% genoa on home leg. Although not racing there were several cats and large 50' cruising monos on the same return leg. Only the 50' mono pointed better by about 10 degrees to windward, but we were making 1.5kts better speed, making our VMG superior. Still faster boats there are a plenty, but the space, comfort, ride, performance, cost equation is hard to beat. So far the durability score also looks good.

this is great stuff, great very informative and helpful post!

[casablanca]

Originally Posted by dirkdig

Maybe its a French catamaran builder thing?

No it's a boat builder thing!

[dirkdig]

Originally Posted by casablanca

No it's a boat builder thing!

It just amazes me if i buy a decent car they never leave me alone.
Spend five times the amount on a boat and they wont return your calls, even when its clearly a manufacturing issue.

Just one big eye opener!

[Lagoon4us]

Lagoon's when used as intended are fine for world travelling in comfort, some dill's on this forum expect them to bounce off reef and rocks without harm.

In cruising terms here on the Ionian very few boats sail past us, there are areas that can be improved and are quite simple to do just that.

Most cats in the class are similar ie FP's, Leopards etc all good in their own way.

Cheers

[alexxx]

what abt the blistering issues on Lagoons, have there been any?

[dirkdig]

None on my hull anywhere and i do the antifoul myself.

[2Wind]

#30 of 423 produced has no blistering. That's all I can say!

[Lagoon4us]

Our hull is a 2007 model - No 192 in sequence and we have nil defect, although I only just heard this week of a 450 that had some minor (in size) blisters on both hulls but only the inner facing sides ie in the tunnel.

In my time of checking out probably 12 or so out of the water all i've seen was some up at the sugar scoop and it was in gel-coat where the boat had sat immersed with a heavy load (to be expected).

Why the 450 had some is yet to be determined i'll keep you posted on this out of the norm occurrence.

Frank

[yeloya]

We have plenty of FP and only one Lagoon on the fleet. We always had an answer from FP (sometime with delays..) and most of the claims have been accepted. We had fewer items on Lagoon but could never get through.
Never heard any blistering issue with Lagoon while until recently majority of FP's have had this problem. All of them have been repaired under FP warranty though..Newer FP models are out of this trouble as they (finally) change the resin..

Cheers

Yeloya

[alexxx]

yeloya, thanks for your comments. What did FP change about the resin they were using?

[rabbi]

If it's just for a couple plus the occasional guest anything from 40ft onwards should be OK to live aboard comfortably.
Additional space just doesn't pay off for many cruisers after ~45ft. Each of you can only sleep in one bed, and sit on one bowl. So why lug around 6 or more cabins and an equal number of heads, showers, whatever?
If you need more comfort / space, you have to maintain and clean that as well. Personally I would not want anything larger than a 440.


If you like to imagine yourself in a shiny 560 with all the bells and whistles and comfort amenities, I bet you are not going to sail around "the world" in it. Maybe an atlantic circle but not much beyond.
Travelling the world requires that you are able to maintain and repair everything by yourself. Or you need a big wallet and frustration-tolerance every time you need to fly in professional help in remote places.

[casablanca]

I concur with Rabbi. We have Lagoon 420 and liveaboard and I think it's about the ideal size.

Bob

Casablanca L420

[Lagoon4us]

A 560 would be a handful for two people cruising the world, just simply too big.

Quite honestly the 380's were a great boat and brilliant for a young couple, i do like the older boats myself.

Cheers Frank