Leopard Catamarans 46

Focused on blue water performance and comfortable living, the award winning Leopard 46 is really the perfect platform for family adventures. From the design table of famed America's Cup Naval Architects Morrelli and Melvin and the factory floor of Cape Town's Robertson & Caine, the Leopard 46 offers the pedigree serious offshore sailors have come to expect. She features a spacious and well-thought out layout incorporated into a highly engineered, weight efficient structure, together with a well balanced sailing rig set up for immaculate sailing performance.

The main saloon is open plan with the fully equipped chef's galley set aft, flowing forward seamlessly into a generous dining area and adjacent forward looking navigation station. There's loads of interior space, 4 comfortable queen size cabins each with ensuites and plenty of storage. There's even an additional crew cabin up forward. The main saloon opens widely through double sliding doors and a servery to the aft cockpit area.

A large, raised and fully protected helm station offers easy access to the cockpit and side deck which allows for shorthanded sailing while not separating helmsman from family and friends. The expansive cockpit aboard the Leopard 46 is best in class and illustrates why people love these catamarans. It is perfect for entertaining large parties. She has a gas BBQ plus cockpit freezer and icebox to cater for cool refreshments on a warm day, as well as a submersible swim platform and fresh water deck H&C shower.

Moving on deck forward, the Leopard 46 has distinct steps in front of its saloon windows for deck manoeuvrability. These functional, solid composite steps allow you to easily mount the cabin rooftop for mast and mainsail access and, like a louvre system, also provide shade to the forward saloon windows. The Leopard 46 is sexy to our eye with her aggressive, feline looking side windows. These windows are paired with the typical fine bows, trampoline centreline forward, and sugar scoop sterns aft. Large, industrial dingy davits leave you feeling safe on the high seas with your tender tightly secured but easily deployed.

On deck the Leopard 46 features watertight cockpit compartments port and starboard for storage. Aft of the trampoline are the windlass, water tankage, sail storage, and generator compartments. The generator in its sound proof shield aboard the yacht is very quiet.
Electrical systems include generator, inverter, solar panels, air conditioning. Navigational electronics (Raymarine suite) include twin chart plotters with autopilot, sounders, wind sensors.

The offshore performance design influence of Morelli and Melvin is immediately apparent. The smooth motion and minimal slapping is aided by fine bow entries, flared hulls with above waterline chines and high bridgedeck clearance. This is not a top-heavy, high windage floating apartment but a sleek, true performance sailing yacht. The structure is high tech and all structural elements are fully laminated, not glued like most of the French production cats.

The rig is both robust and well laid out. All sailing lines are led aft to the helm station, allowing for easy single handed operation. Portable E-winchers make light work of all sail handling operations.

People often debate about which of the production catamaran brands to purchase. Is there a significant difference between a Fountain-Pajot, Lagoon, and Leopard? After an 11 day delivery of a Leopard 46 from Fort Lauderdale to Cartagena, Colombia and a delivery of a Lagoon 440 from Fort Lauderdale to Annapolis, Maryland, the professional skipper commented that in many respects the Leopard out classed the Lagoon including performance, durability, and comfort. The Leopard did not suffer from the many creaks and groans experienced on the French catamarans as a result of their glued internal structural and lining components constantly flexing.
We heard a story about Moorings USA, the biggest yacht charter company in the world. Originally they chartered in the Caribbean both Lagoon and Leopard catamarans. But they found that the Lagoons did not hold up and that the higher quality build of the Leopards maximised their profits. From our comparison in every respect, Leopard makes the choice towards higher quality materials, more sophisticated techniques and more robust engineering.

The premium you pay for a Leopard versus other production catamarans is well worthwhile, and for offshore sailing, we would recommend the Leopard. The softer offshore performance, high quality materials, and overall comfort give the Leopard 46 the edge.