The search began back in October of 2019 when Kelley and I attended the Annapolis boat show. Naive and full of excitement we began our search for our new adventure vehicle. With us was Kelley’s mother and father as well as her aunt and uncle (of whom own a Jeanneau Sun Odeyssy 45). Throughout the day we indulged in a few delicious bloody marys, a proverbial Pussers pain killer and looked at all the beautiful and out of budget boats, imagining what a 10 year old boat would look like and how it would fit us. We really loved the Lagoon 42, but with a price tag of over $500k, we moved on. We were able to connect and have a face to with our future broker Jim Ross and discussed our interest in purchasing a used catamaran surprisingly aboard the famous YouTube Outremer La Vagabond. All and all it was a fun, exciting and successful day in Annapolis.
Over the coming months we perused Yacht world looking for all types of used catamarans within our budget with very little avail. We were particularly interested in some of the smaller Leopard 38, 40 and 42/43 as well as some of the smaller Lagoon 38 and 40, all of which were a hot commodity and hard to come by in our searches. We did however have a look at on up in Norwalk Connecticut which was in great shape but it was November in Long Island Sound, so we figured come springtime this boat should still be available. The one trend we were noticing when looking for boats was that there were a lot more in Florida, particularly the Fort Lauderdale area.
With no luck through the end of the year we decided to hitch back up with Kelley’s folks and use their RV in the Florida Keys as our home base to search for our new home in south Florida. We planned to spend the entire month of February looking for our boat with hopes to land one before we head back north.
After a wonderful trip back west to see my family for the holidays, it was time to follow the snowbirds south in search of our hopeful future boat and home. After we arrived in the Keys we got in touch with our broker Jim and arranged a time to head to Ft Lauderdale to begin our search for perspective boats. With the assistance of our broker Jim we had a variety of boats to check out in the Fort Lauderdale area with one in particular that we were interested in, a 2010 Leopard 38. We spent a day in Mid February running around all the fancy and funky neighborhoods of Fort Lauderdale walking into random back yards to look at boats, none of which fit our criteria. So we booked a hotel room in North Beach Miami for a couple of nights with hopes the boats the following day would bring some promise.
That morning we set out to look at a couple of Leopard ’40s and a Leopard 38. We looked at one 2008 Leopard 40 that piqued our interest so much so that we contemplated making an offer. But before we did that there was one final boat we wanted to see, the Leopard 38. We met the selling broker of the Leopard 38 at the Dinner Key mooring field south of Miami and jumped in his 2 hp dinghy for a slwo wet ride out to the boat. Upon stepping on the boat, we loved the layout size and condition the boat was in despite it being a ten-year-old boat. Overall this was the nicest boat that we had seen and it had all the requirements we needed for our first boat, especially the generator and A/C for our aging but loved pugs who struggle with the heat. Excited about the vessel we began discussing numbers with the broker, he made it clear that the seller owed money on the boat and he was not willing to budge on the price listed on yacht world. Discourage by this news we decided to head to a local brewery after the showing to discuss the day’s events to try and make sense of which boat was right for us, especially knowing the owner of the Leopard 38 was firm on his price. We left the brewery, and as soon as we jumped back into the car we got a call from the selling broker of the Leopard 38. He had chatted with the seller and asked us to make our best offer. So we informed Jim that evening that we wanted to make an offer and the next day an official offer to the seller. After a bit of back and forth, we came to an agreement and we were under contract. I will spare the details but to say there was no dramas between the two brokers would be lying, but off to the survey we go.
After about another week hanging in the Keys with Kelley’s family, touring around and visiting the Dry Tortugas, it was time to head back to south Florida to do the survey and sea trial on the Leopard 38. Upon arriving at the boat the survey was already underway as our surveyor, John Sands, had already been in the engine rooms and determined that both engines would need new heat exchangers, not a good start! The remainder of the morning was filled with hoisting sails, climbing under beds, and hauling the boat out of the water. All of which exposed issues that would need to be addressed or negotiated when it came to deciding on the final sales price. All and all we were happy with the survey and ready to start the negotiations.
Again we headed back to Sunshine Key to continue to hang with Kelley’s family and finalize the negotiations via some phone calls with our broker Jim. We were able to split the major issues with the previous owners and agreed on a final sales price. This is what would seem to be the most stressful part, but then there was insurance…
