Looks like we bought a Catamaran

[Piscis]

Finally and after a couple of months visiting marinas, looking, talking, making offers... we were able to get our offer accepted from the Owner of a 2017 Leopard 40, Owners Version.

We were never focused on just one specific catamaran make or modell. In the past years we sailed most of the boats we thought we could be interested in buying, and finally narrowed the possible candidates to: Lagoon 40, Bali 4.0, Leopard 40 and FP Lucia 40 - the "Usual suspects", i would say. LOL.
The Nautitech Open 40 was as well from interest, however not on top of our list.

We think a 40 ish feet catamaran is just the sweet spot for a couple of 2. Keeping initial purchase costs reasonable and berthing costs still affordable. We did sail a Lagoon 450 F as well... Nice, but way too much boat for just the two of us...
A MAHE 36 we sailed as well, but a bit too small for liveaboard - for us!

Trying to find a vessel in our prefered berthing and living location for the next couple of years was difficult. SE Asia seems to be sold out, after 2020 and 2021. I am sure we missed at least one or two great opportunities there in the past two years, especially in Thailand!

However, now we are very glad we kept waiting for the right vessel for us, and a Leopard 40 Owners Version is way more then we ever thought we could get in the acctual market situation!

As said, SE Asia would have been our prefered place to purchase a boat. But at this time, there is not one boat we would be interested in...

So we focused on Europe and the western indian ocean. Madagascar and the Seychelles.

Many boats in Europe advertised, many adds are just... fake, or the boats sold already or, whatever...

Owners Versions are pretty rare and we already settled on a 4C/4H Vessel. But again: we have been very lucky, an Owners Versions just showed up at the right time. Talked a lot, made offers, talked again, another offer, offer got accepted... we canceled our trip to Croatia to inspect a couple of other boats...

Finally we ended up with a Leopard 40 from the Seychelles. The vessel will be in phase out in September 2022, handover around beginning November. Which was my personal sweet spot for an early retirement, FIRE or maybe a very low volume part time agreement with my company... Lets see.

Next Milestone: Taking over the boat, having fun for a couple of weeks around the Seychelles, sailing, SCUBA around those beautiful islands and, after all is OK, taking it to a 4000NM trip via the Maledives to Thailand.

I am sure i will have a ton of questions...

Thanks for reading and maybe see you soon somewhere out there.

John

[tkeithlu]

Sounds like you did the job just right and got the right boat for you. Congratulations.

[GordMay]

CONGRATULATIONS, John!!!

[Piscis]

Thank you very much, guys!
Lots of questions on logistics and outfitting at the moment... LOL

John

[John_char]

Woohoo.

[Piscis]

Originally Posted by John_char

Woohoo.

LOL

[cat-keys]

Excellent voice and reasoning. My wife and I did the same thing and for much the same reasons. We bought a 2009 Leopard 40 OV in 2016. Same reasons. For a couple of two it was the right size keeping maintenance costs down

We spent the last 6 years upgrading and overhauling. You will be surprised at the maintenance costs non the less. We are also LIFE ers and will be setting off in May for tye caribbean.

We have that fixed budget and most of that is ear marked for maintenance and insurance (boat and health). To keep costs down we did the overhauls of standing rigging sails engines electronics fuel tanks and generator also some upgrades like dc AC for our cabin and now upgrading solar and switch in to lithium

All the best to you enjoy your new found freedom!

[Tom and Maje]

Congratulations! We have a 2004 L40 and love her.

Maje

[imiloa]

Congrats, we also have a 2017 L40 OV
There is a Leopard 40 (2015-)catamaran owners group on Facebook where you will find lots of great info and ideas from other owners.

[Ifitsworthdoing]

Congratulations John! We are in a similar position - one year away from retirement and awaiting the start of our new build of a 34ft cat (Broadblue 346) which will likely encounter further delays and eat up 95% of our life's savings ... but represents the realisation of our life style dreams in Europe. Wishing you and the Admiral a smooth passage in every way!

[Piscis]

Thank you very much!

John

[sailingchiro]

Enjoy her.