Leopard 50'. Big and beautiful Cat with lots of outdoor seating. Is it too big for just 2 people?
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Leopard 50' Catamaran. Our walkthrough and opinions.
In this episode of Cruising Off Duty, we continue our series where we are checking out the Catamarans at the Annapolis Sailboat Show to see what we think would suit us as a full-time live-aboard catamaran as we circumnavigate the globe.
This episode we cover the Leopard 50'. Leopard is one of the biggest Catamaran builders in the world and they make them in many sizes. The 50' is beautiful, but do we really need this much space? Probably not, unless we were chartering rooms out for passages.
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Hey everyone. There is some big news at the end so make sure you stick around until then to hear. Exciting times! Craig
One day you need to make a video of how you guys wash dishes so we can see why you need two sinks....
With a dishwasher you don't need two sinks. Separate filtered water drinking fountain is welcome though.
Hey Craig, Your South Africa to St. Helena to Ascension Island, Brazil, the Caribbean and US is the SAME trip I plan I taking one day. My girlfriend is in South Africa and I plan to buy a Leopard 45 (with many options of course) and Sail her and my GF following that same exact route to the states. So PLEASE keep me informed as I will be watching this trip and learning from you. Thanks for all the great videos that you and the lovely Janice put together, greatly appreciate all the hard work and effort you all put into them!!!
That’s great Michael. We will one day do the same trip on our own boat so it will be a very informative trip. I can learn if there was something I would do differently when I do it again. You can learn along with me from the videos.
Happy together just ordered one and they are a couple that sail by themselves and sometimes with family ! They have a 48 and have had no problems ! Easy to handle !
I’m surprised that the 48 wasn’t big enough but they seem to have plenty of $$$ so maybe they just wanted a new boat. I’m jealous. 🤢😜
hi guys. i have an issue with one of janice's wants :-) why on earth would you want a settee in the main or any other cabin? from everything i have seen about cat' cruisers, you will spend ALL of your time in the main upper living areas(ie, lounge/galley) and outside. use that settee space for storage or something else.
craig i can't wait to see your ascension island trip. delos was there, i think a year ago.
I guess she just want a padded seat in her room to sit and put on clothes. She doesn’t want a huge couch. Just a comfortable seat.
@@Bowmans-Woods it's called the edge of the bed :-))
How has your life been affected by her decision since you left this comment? Have you noticed a substantial difference in these two years?
Again, this video is from last year. Three things that hit me straight off on the Leopard 50 were:
1. I wish there were more hand holds on the coach roof as you move forward. I'd like to see them all the way up on either side.
2. The rigging. You only have a mainsail and what appears to be a furling jib or staysail. How would you pur a Code 0, Asymetrical Spinnaker or Genoa on that yacht? Certainly, one of the new Parasailors that Craig used on the X5 should do nicely, but how do you rig it?
3. I don't like the galley. For a home, or an RV, it's wonderful, but in a sea I'm not sure I like something that open. I would prefer to be surrounded by countertops and storage as a way to 'box me in' in a running sea.
Other than that, I think Leopard is a good boat, and Robertson and Caine seem to be a reliable builder. Also, it's a South African boat, like the X5! Only, a lot less money!
New reply to an old post. Some things I'll add while we look at the Leopard for ourselves: handholds seem a personal touch. Some love them, some hate them. Everyone wants them where _they_ want them, and nowhere else. Some want lines, some want bars...they are easy enough (and relatively cheap) that it's something left to us.
Rigging: Moorings is a charter company and usually doesn't order extra rigging because that means extra sails, extra rigging, extra cost and extra labor. The typical charter is mostly motoring around, with the obligatory "raising the sails" a few times to say it happened (and for the social media photos). But if you look at these in the used market, the hours on engines and gensets are outrageously high. Leopard has the extra - and upgraded - rigging options on their price sheet.
Galley: another personal touch. I'b blame charters, but most people are preferring the open galley designs lately. Few people want to make soup in running seas, regardless of counter location. That said, I think Leopard can give you the galley-down option on the 50. Hard to beat that.
Also, Robertson and Caine was sold in 2023 to a new investment fund backed by a Dream Yacht Charter investor, and Beneteau Group. So I'd expect the "charter designs" to proliferate.
The forward port cabin can optionally be a workroom instead of a bedroom.
-johnny
That is a good option especially if it just a couple living on board.
yoiu know that if you paying like multi 100,000's of dollars for a cat, you can likely drop 500$ on modifying it for 2 sinks ... just saying..
Ya. But who wants to cut up their kitchen counters and remove drawers and add plumbing if they don’t have to. Plus having someone do that will be way more than $500.
a split sink in the same space. You probably don't want to be filling large sinks with water when you are cruising anyway...@@Bowmans-Woods
It’s a nice cat, but I seemed to like the L45 better. The changes the company has made to their cats makes it more attractive.
We agree. The 45 seems like the perfect size.
I absolutely love this cat.. will never had the money, but if I did I have enough family to warrant this size boat..
I feel the same. Can’t afford it but if I had enough visitors it would be great to have all the space. The 45’ seems more suited to us.
Cruising Off Duty Yea, for sure a better fit..
One thing you may not be thinking of is that with large complex boats the purchase price ends up just being the down payment. The phrase “a boat is a hole in the ocean that swallows money” is based on a lot of experience. Yes it’s nice having all the mod cons however be prepared for only half of them working some times. The more things there are the more they will break and take up massive amounts of time to fix, time you would really rather be spending experiencing the wonderful places you are going to visit.
You need to be able to fix or at least understand the workings of all the systems on board as you will be doing your own maintenance or paying triple for someone else to do it. You may be in a position where you have to fix it or else, so make sure you know intimately every system on the boat or don’t carry it. You are going to look really badly at the washer/dryer when a. The watermaker is broken so you don’t have enough water to use it, b. The washer/dryer breaks down one day out of port and the parts take a year to source and get to you or c. The generator fails so you can’t use it.
If sailing is not important think really carefully about what you are doing. You are buying a really expensive apartment to take around with you when really it would be far cheaper and easier to invest the money and just fly to these places and Airbnb it. Don’t get taken in by sailing RUclipsrs with their sunny days in far away places. They usually only film the good times.
I applaud your courage in doing what you are doing however please give consideration to what other people have posted. The beauty of distant places is outside. Try a cheaper, simpler boat and when you need luxury rent a place on the shore for a couple of days.
I hear what you are saying Stephen. The more complex the boat the more things that can break. I understand that. I do plan to learn how to fix most things that can break, but I do expect that some things are going to break that are above my abilities and getting the parts to the boat may take a while. It's all part of the adventure. The boat we will buy from selling our house, cars, present boat etc so we should not have a big "mortgage" to cover like we have had in the past with owning a home. Our expenses will be covered out of my Pension and our Retirement Investment savings. With those, we should have plenty to cover breakdowns.
But, I totally don't agree with you saying that if we wanted to travel full time when we retire it would be cheaper (or easier?) to just fly around the world and stay in Air BnBs? Seriously? You can't have possibly thought that flying around and living in hotels is cheaper than living at anchor on a boat?
Many many people have sailed on some pretty big boats and done the breakdown of what it cost them. At the lower end I have seen 12K to 20K per year. There is a pretty big range of yearly costs due to decisions like: Do you dine out a lot? Do you drink a lot of Alcholol and go to bars a lot? Do you fly home and visit family all the time? Do you like to park your boat in Marinas every time you visit a new place or do you find spots that you can anchor for free? and on and on. Most boaters say that if you stay away from mooring your boat in expensive marinas and live as much as you can at anchor and don't blow your money on dining out and drinking in bars all the time, sailing can be really inexpensive way to travel the world. You are bringing you home with you and if you wait for the right weather conditions you are moving you home around the world by wind power, which is free. Even with the odd breakdown and repairs it is still way cheaper than our present living cost of living in our 2 storey home here in Canada. Living in a house you have yearly Taxes and Insurance, and Gas and water and electricity bills, not to mention most people have a mortgage, plus you need cars to get around so you have all the expenses that goes along with owning 2 cars (Initial cost, gas, maintenance, insurance). We have done the math and yearly living costs to living here in our house while we are retired would be way more expensive than living on a boat and then if we did what you said, and decided we wanted to travel a lot then we have to add all the costs of flying everywhere and hotels and eating out at restaurants constantly (because we wont have a kitchen flying with us).
So, the end result. If you are frugal with your spending, living on a sailboat when you retire is way less expensive, if you want to travel constantly, than having a house and flying everywhere.
I appreciate your comment but I think your math is off a bit. Thanks for your concern though.
Regards,
Craig and Janice
Leopards have really stepped up recently. With their design changes they have made what was a nice cat a spectacular cat. The next question is one that you have raised previously and that is is 50' too big for a couple to sail ?? I have always like the thought of having a 50' cat as a full time live-a-board as it allows for friends and family to visit or have crew on board for long passages or even do some charter work for income if that is your style and finally a 50' cat has a much better load carrying capacity. Thanks again for an interesting video and changing my mind on a potential boat. Stay safe and have fun.
You are very welcome. We agree. Leopards have massively improved their boats. Gone from our least favorite production boat to our favorite.
@@Bowmans-Woods Even over the likes of the Exquisite X5 or the Discovery, allowing for the fact that these are prohibitively expensive boats.
The boat my partner and I have decided on is a Seawind 1260. What won
the day was it is a very easy cat to single hand if I was incapacitated.
It has a safe steering position and low topsides. And you can find them for under 600,000 Australian dollars.
We will have to look into them again at some point. Seen them in the past.
@@Bowmans-Woods Just came back from looking at a used Fountaine Pajot Helia 44. 180,000 Aussie dollars more but oh so comfortable and my partner loved it. So back to the drawing board.
WOW! A new adventure is coming! Awesome!
BTW, I visited your city last week. Didn't know the evening rush hour traffic is as bad as in Montreal! LOL
Madness! :-)
Yes, very exciting! Ottawa is getting bigger all the time so the rush hour gets longer and longer. That’s Why I turn down better positions that require me to work at the downtown station. I’m 10 minutes from home and that is worth a lot.
Wow! Sounds like it’s gonna be a fantastic trip. Looking forward to those reviews. Cheers 🍻
Yes. It should be an adventure. Looking forward to crossing the equator on a boat for the first time.
Love this boat. Fully equipped will be around 1.2 millions. If you go to their webpage you will be able to build one a received your price list.
Yes. A bit rich for our blood.
That was a great layout all around and having multiply color scheme was nice also. Great job filming keep up the good work I know I enjoy these videos. Oh my goodnes the X5 I will watch that today, what a top notch cat (so far). : )) peace
Thanks Lisa.
Nice video. Agree with Janice re “princess” seat. If you weigh more than 75# I doubt the seat is big enough. I have watched several videos re Leopard 50’s and they are apparently sold as a “bare” boat. The base price is plus, plus, plus if you want to live aboard and seriously cruise. The overall layout is great. Lot of separate areas which is nice if you have company aboard. And the cockpit table is probably the biggest I have seen, and the two stools are a great addition so 8 would be comfortable and 10 could probably make it. Overall, great video of a great boat.
Agreed. Most of the mass production boats will cost a lot of money to get kitted out to be full time liveaboard cruising boats. Most of the things you would need are considered extras over the base price.
2023 Base price under $1 Million USD. Configured for cruising with basic upgraded sails, code 0, delivery, etc...$1.6+ Million.
It wouod be good for charter, but also for hosting family and friends.
I agree. Good charter boat or lots of family and guests visiting regularly. Otherwise too big for just 2.
Could you see the bow from the helm, taping did not show this.
Yes but just barely. You need to be fairly tall. Im 6'. If you are short you would have a tougher time
Cruising Off Duty looks like I will be buying a set of dry wall stilts.
Hey Craig been looking at the Seawind 1260 looks great very simple boat check it out
We just did a episode on the 1260. I agree it is a simple boat. Probably sails well because it is light.
LOL....well were one cat closer to your # 1 pick and another year closer to retirement. Your upcoming trip looks as though it’ll be great. Happy holidays guys.
Thanks John. Merry Xmas to you!
do they have the option of the hard rail rather than the wire
Looks like a good family cruiser 🙂👍
Yes. Great size for a family boat. Plenty of space for peace and quiet.
Sailing Happy Together new boat
Those lucky dogs! I envy them. I think you can tell, money is not a restricting consideration for them. I wish them safe travels.
according to rick on svsl/ sailing sophisticated lady nicuraguar is the coastline that the pirates watch the AIS
Ya. If in a bad area you can just switch off your AIS.
Hello guys, thanks for all the reviews of the boats. Didn't St Francis show up this year for the show?
You are welcome. No St Francis wasn’t there.
I like your videos but your comments on the laminate's is making me crazy. You do know that when you look at a boat with what you call wood is really a wood laminate, it is not solid wood. The weight penalty of solid wood on a cat would be ridiculous. Most wood laminate's are no more than 1/32nd of an inch thick. It will not be any tougher than a synthetic laminate, it will look nicer if that is what you like but will not wear any better than the synthetic laminate.
We have said many times. We like real wood laminate over the fake stuff. So we clearly know the wood is just a laminate. It’s not solid to save weight and $$$
My favorite - with a little bit more performance 🙂 I'd love if it had daggerboards for that little bit of more performance and versatility at ankor. And now, i 'll gonna watch you nice vid.
Thanks. Glad to help.
Do you have a guided tour with gunboat catamaran?
Can you guys explain to me how a 50' boat would be to much to handle vs something like the Saona 47 or a 45' boat? I have never been sailing so I don't understand what would make 3 feet or 5 feet to much to handle
Well 50 vs 47 is not a huge difference but a Maverick 40 vs a Majestic 53’ is a huge difference. Bigger just means everything is heavier if you lost electric and had to manually winch things or lift things.
@@Bowmans-Woods thank you for replying
Cruising Off Duty we sail a Perry 57 cat with just the two of us no problem , it's not hard at all and we love the space
That's great. Bigger is better in most cases. Just more $$ to replace things because everything is larger and more expensive. Plus paying for the odd slip in a marina would also be more. But all that aside, it is nice to have plenty of space if you can afford it.
On all these boats, have you given thought to the cockpit in regards to weather protection?
Yes. That’s why Janice mentions the track around the hard Bimini for strata glass to protect when needed.
Well, they make the Leopard 45 with a lounge on the fly bridge now so buy that one if this one it TOO BIG! :)
Yes. 45' would be a good size for us. 50 Leopard feels too big and a 50 Lagoon feels way too big. Funny that a 50' Knysna or 50' St Francis feels the right size for us? It's all about how wide they are inside and out. Length can be deceiving and a not every 50' is the same.
Hey guys greetings from Poland! Love your reviews. I know you didn't have a chance to see Mcconaghy mc50 yet but according to technical specs and your experience in this field, what's your opinion about that Cat? Best wishes!
McConaghy 50? Never heard of it. Sorry. Never been to Poland. Im sure it would be similar climate to Canada. Probably beautiful place to visit in the Summer but probably not so much in winter. :-)
Hi guys looking at buying a antares 44 or a seawind 45 any thorough on which one
Lol from the wonderful land of oz
Don’t know much about the Seawinds but the Antares has owners that seem to love their boats.
Heck no it’s not too big for two people. It’s not too big it’s not too small it’s just right.
Ah! I'm too late to find this video.
A South African build catamaran without a dedicated braai area; That is about as impressive as the current Springbok rugby team....
I agree. Even as a Canadian, a good BBQ area is a must. If it doesn’t come standard, I’ll have to bolt on a big one! We never use our indoor oven on our boat.
Their not called side stays. They are called shrouds ,,,,,,,,,, It’s. Amazing we learn something everyday. Lol. Ha ha ha ha. Ho ho ho ho. Merry. X mass
Yep. Merry Xmas!
Disappointed the staff representing the yacht just sat there huddled together instead of giving you a tour, If they worked for me they would be looking for a new job giving up an opportunity to sell the virtues to 1000s of viewers.They obviously have no concept of leverage.
Anyway nice walk through and missed opportunity for Team Leopard.
It was surprising that the sales people never spoke to us or asked if we had any questions.
Tired of the tire kickers I’m sure
Maybe that's where the "it's going to peel" came from ...lol
I don’t know. I feel the Leopards are more for charter than for live aboard on long voyages. The fact the the interior is so roomy is very attractive but if you look how the kitchen is configured, there is no place to steady yourself... in rough seas, you’d be bouncing all over the place. A good live aboard boat isn’t necessarily all roomy but have good places to park your butt in longer passages while working at the galley or getting around. The front seat is another great example. Awesome room for parties but that comes at a sacrifice with smaller trampoline. Overall, Leopard is great for roomy, leisurely cruise but sacrifices seaworthiness. If you plan to live aboard and travel, the later is important as well.
Cats don’t heel over so you rarely need to brace yourself against things. It wasn’t an issue on my previous trans Atlantic crossing on a Cat.
Cruising Off Duty Sure. I sail cats mainly as well. That is true under mostly normal conditions. But if you live onboard and plan to travel far, safety is probably one of the biggest concerns. It doesn’t happen much but when it does, it’s critical ... kind of like insurance. In heavier seas, the boat will bounce around a lot. The leopard’s would likely pitch pole easier because of the front cockpit if it gets filled with water riding down a wave. I’d recommend to consider safety as well and not just roominess.
A lot of square corner's in bad spot's.Look's generic as well,You have shown other boat's much nicer than that for sure,Thank you for the looky loo.
We like Leopards as our favorite production boat. Not our favorite overall boat. Mostly for the reasons you mentioned.
👍🏻🍾
Thanks. It is big news!
Zoom out.
Old video with a camera with a fixed lens that was not wide enough.
Yuck in so many ways. Not elegant. It's contractor grade cabinetry. SQUARE corners! Too many damned dining areas. Is the crew going to eat the entire time onboard? How about some working areas! This walk through doesn't describe a sailing boat, it shows a party barge good for sitting at the dock or some short distance fun at a sand bar.
What were they thinking building a boat that serves the purpose of what most catamaran buyer's plan on doing with their boat.
Ha ha Chip. Yep. I will admit. When we have a Cat it will be sailed 10% of the time and be anchored beside some island 90%. So comfortably outdoor seating is not a reason to hate a Cat. Now the 50 is just too big but the 45 seems just right.
I think the 45 would be a better live aboard anyway with the master taking an entire hull. Having the front dining is a nice option for being in the breeze and shade while under way, or if your at anchor and want to be one the breezy end of the boat or seek the best shade during certain times of day.
Leopard have lost the plot. They are no longer sail boats but rather houseboats or barges. The quality and finish cannot be faulted but the design is terrible. There are far too many sharp edges and the interior looks like patchwork. This is not a boat to cross oceans in, which I think Robertson and Caine ( the builders ) realize because all their boats are now shipped from South Africa instead of being sailed.
The edges are very square, I will agree there. People do sail them across oceans. Shipping multiple boats is cheaper than sailing each individually.