148: COMPLETE TOUR & ANALYSIS - 2021 LEOPARD 42 vs. LEOPARD 44 Catamaran - 2021 Annapolis Boat Show

All right sweetie well we're finally here at the show. Yeah our first boat show. And we are going to look at the Leopard 42 and we're going to compare it to our Leopard 44 which is literally almost the same size but it's a different generation step up and we're going to do a comparison and contrast and we're hoping that this is going to be a useful video for you all. This is a great boat. It's beautiful. It's got so many little like upgrades to our other models. This is our latest like just shore power on both sides. Yeah. Things like that and soft start on the air cones and all the boats now have water purification systems. Oh wow. On board. Where is the water maker on this? Underneath the forward back. Wow it's got the plexi teak. Wow. Cushions. The faux leather. Boy those are a lot easier to clean than our canvas. For sure. Lower maintenance. Nice teak table. Oh step up into the helm. Oh my goodness look at this living room up here. This is pretty amazing. Wow. This is cool. Outside. I love the indoor-outdoor cushions. So much easier to clean and this plexi teak is great. Set up just like the 44 with the main sheets controlled right here and then two winches. I'm sure one of them's a power winch. 12-inch Raymarine. It's great. Wow look at that. And then sitting here it's very comfortable. Don't have a view of the port side bow but hey we don't have one on ours anyway. There's probably a camera. Sunroof. Got our light here. Compass. Two buttons there for the winch. It's really well set up here. Nicely organized. And then coming around. Plenty of room. A lot more room than the 44 on the sides. Lots of light. Can't wait to get inside. The glass skylight is a no step zone which means that your attention from the port side to the boom or to the sail is very limited because you're not allowed to step on that zone. It's impractical but I'm sure if you had to step on it you could. It's just not a good idea like the hatches. Plus you can't put a solar panel. Right it takes up a lot of space. Also I don't think there's a way to close off the skylight in the helm which means that yes you have access to be able to see the mainsail but that's a really large skylight and that means that if you're at the helm and the sun is overhead it could be quite hot in there I would guess. It's a rough life man. Oh you've got lockers up here for the sail bags which we don't have on the 44. That's an added plus. No front cockpit here but a lot of lounging space and it looks like there's a lot of storage here. This is a dual trampoline right there and I think the anchor is in the middle of the boat. Let's take a quick look at what this looks like. This is like one of the most important parts on a boat. Oh my goodness they've got a Lumar windlass which is a whole lot better than our quick piece of junk that's on our boat. Oh look at the shiny chrome anchor, the show anchor. Up and down. I love it. I got booty in me. I want it. I want it. And then we cover that up. Boy these pads are great so I can lay out and get some sun cancer. All right Lexi T coming out here. So we've got the front door. Boy the front door really provides an incredible amount of airflow through the boat. It's a feature that we wouldn't want to live without anymore. So we've got some storage. Oh that's a lot of room right there. I'm sure there's lots of storage space. Put under here another lazarette. Pull this up. The generator's back there. A lot of room. A whole lot of storage. Huge chain locker. You could put 400 feet in there. No storage on this side. So just one storage locker in the front. Oh but they do have some storage hatches here. Oh this is really nice. These self-contained hatches. Huge space up here. As long as this could stay dry or partially dry this is great storage. Again another storage space here. Self-contained. Fantastic. Huge. So interesting there's no access to the roof deck except through the cockpit perhaps. Interesting that they've taken the stairs out. So we have stairs here on the side which is really nice to have access to the roof deck. And we have solar panels up here which are a piece of junk. I don't know why they put them on the boats but they're horrible. Check out that sunroof right there. Really nice. Rigging. The Raymarine there. Lazy Jacks. The jib up front with the furling system. And this is very durable trampoline. I love the room that you have to walk around up here. And here we have to go all the way to the back of the boat to be able to get up on top. Look at these steps. This is really nice with the chrome down here. Check out the logo. So the downside about this window. One is probably leakage. Two is just reduces the amount of walking space you have up here to get access to the boom and the sail bag. So you can't put a solar panel over here and you're not supposed to step on it but it sure is sexy that that light. And it looks like it has a panel a little sunshade right there. Oh this is great. This puts a whole new meaning to the sundowner right here. The lounge. People would think that this is impractical on a cruising boat but I think some of those impractical things are fun things. And this just kind of is a great place to separate yourself from the rest of the boat. Especially like if you're working on it and it's trashed. You can just get here. Everything's clean. Well organized. So that's the top side. Let's go down below. Emergency rudder. Location. Engines are underneath here. A lot more space than ours. Oh my gosh look at that. Common Rail 45. This thing has a lot of power. Common Rail engine. Look at that. Sail drives S60. And then your power charger. And your Raycor filters. And I love this little pouch right here. The electric is really well laid out. Nice lighting in the stern cabins. Protein cabinet right there. Great little fridge underneath the helm station. Although it is a vitrefrigo. Hey don't I know you? Is this a vitrefrigo that doesn't leak? I was just saying what a bad decision to go with a vitrefrigo. But you know. I do love that they don't have the table in here. It makes so much more room. Here we have the nav station. I don't even know why they put these things on here anymore. When you have an iPad that you can plan on. To me it's just not a very good use of space. Especially the redundancy of instruments. I guess if one goes out it's nice. But these things are pretty expensive. And this is some valuable space right here. We have good storage right here. Fire extinguisher. Can never have enough of those. Whoa look at this. Surprise storage right where the sink is. On this side I bet this is the trash can. Oh look at that one pull out. And then storage here. I'm not going to push that out of the way. We'll just take it forward for it. That's got to be storage. Okay storage here. It's really good to have pick cans and all that stuff loaded up for that big offshore trip. Love the switches. TV not much use for this. But I like the getting the microwave out of the way. You know ovens which are just really horrible in terms of their ability to control the heat. But some really nice storage units and spaces here. Some built-ins for silverware. Trash disposal underneath the sink which is great. I'm not sure. I guess you can store your chemicals here. A lot of space in here. I think some people like the double. Line rack space. There's the electrical board. Nice and clear. What do you think about the salon? I love the big windows and all the light that's coming in which is fantastic. It also makes it really hot which is not so good but I guess you can cover them. But really really pretty in here. The windows are a lot taller and they're straight up. Oh and I love the recessed lighting right here. And did you see the sunroof? Oh yeah with the shade. Look how nice the upholstery is. All right heading down to port side where there are two cabins. I love this open feel that it's not enclosed which is amazing. And wow the bathroom is so much bigger than our bathroom. This is beautiful. Beautiful cabinet. Oh this is really nice. Some storage under the sink. We definitely don't have that. I like the faux wood. Oh and a built-in garbage can. That is amazing for the toilet paper because you can't flush it down the toilet. And I love that they've simplified it to just pump in and pump out. This is great. And this looks like one of those whale scuppers. So there's no more pumping out of water. You're just as the water goes down it sucks the water down immediately. There's no shower pump that you need to pump the water out. Well this is beautiful. I am always in the floor so I'm going to look at the floor space. Beautiful under bed cabinets. Great storage space. That's wonderful. And these steps to go up I would actually take those out given that you don't really need them and extend the bed. But some nice shelving space on both sides which is great. I do like that although this bulkhead prevents you from having a wider bed. Take a look at the build. Oh my gosh look how easy that is to access. That's amazing. The windows in the 42 and the stern cabin are amazing. The amount of sunlight and light that's coming in. Great storage here as well. Under the bed storage. Take a look at this. Oh the fresh water tank is here. Interesting right in front of the stern bed. It looks like they have a gulper in there. Moving down to the owner's cabin. Wow this is amazing. Oh my goodness it's so wide. This hole is incredibly wide. It's almost like they've compensated on this hole compared to the other with the open doorway which is incredible. Making it just feel so much bigger. Again the vertical windows are fantastic and the big windows. You can take out the shelving if you wanted to to make a king-size bed although this looks almost like a king now. Not so keen on this side entrance. Loss of the mattress here doesn't make that much of a difference. You're going to scoot in and scoot out anyway. Great floor storage and under bed storage. Beautiful hardware. Oh man look at that mirror. I'm curious how if they've got more storage behind here. Oh now interesting. They lock it now. Yeah they lock them so that's a little bit harder to have access if they lock them. The water storage which is great. So I guess it takes that a little bit of the weight out of the front of the boat. I just find this to be a bit of a waste of space. No one needs, well I mean what woman actually uses it? We have that and it is a true waste of space. We've got the same thing. This is nice USB and chargers. That is great. I like the uh I like all the draw space. Yeah they are nice. This is great. I love the self-draining. That is really great. But that's beautiful. Look at all that storage space in here for linens or whatever you need to it's great. This is really nice. Oh look at all that space. They still put this funky insulation in that. Yeah the stuff falls apart and then gets, oh it's terrible. I've had to clean, I've had to clean ours out in the hall. Oh really? There's no storage in here. Oh look at this. Okay that's a proper one. Man that's huge. A lot of mirrors. Here's the shore power. Here's where you add your diesel. And here's where you get off the boat. Nice data. And we've got the electric winch up there. Not sure how, oh we can see it. That's a BRX 25 5 right there. I think that's the same one we have. Here we are on top of the Leopard 50 and we're overlooking the tour that we just took on the uh beautiful 42 which a lot of you haven't seen yet and we'd just like to take this time to compare and contrast with the 44, the one that we have. And by the way you all, if you haven't subscribed yet, hit that subscribe button down there. Hit the like button. We love it when you share and we want to hear from you. We'll get right back to you. So leave some comments. Now on to the 42. Walking into the rear cockpit, what were your impressions? It's very very pretty. I am, I'm not a big fan of the wood table. I like the junk boat table that we have. Totally. I feel like the wood table takes it back to a traditional boat instead of it being the modern boat that it is. So I was not a big fan of that. Yeah me either. I thought it looked really out of place and the only wood we have on our boat is this outdoor swim ladder and we just replaced one of the rungs which was broken and I want to have as little wood on my boat as possible. I did like the orientation of the table so it does have a bit more of a full sectional feel and look which is really nice. I think the refrigerator underneath the helm station is fantastic to A, utilize that space. Did that have an ice maker in it? I think it was just a fridge. But to utilize that space is really important and then also just to have the access to a cool fridge without having to go into the vitrigo, the main one. Totally, when you've got guests people can put things in that that they can get to put drinks only out there. One thing that I really liked was the faux leather and all the seats on the outside and how the cushions are attached and how easy it is to clean those up. Our canvas cushions we have mildew on them all the time and we are constantly having to maintain those and this you can just wipe off after a rainstorm and I just think they're great. Now hopping up into the helm station. I actually didn't go into the helm. The helm was nice, the helm seat's nice. One thing they don't put on there is they don't put a place to rest your feet but it was very well organized. Not a whole lot different than the 44 but it was just really just rock solid. I don't think there's a lot of changes to that area. The glass in the bimini to be able to see the sail is I like the orientation being lengthwise. The downside is really big and when the sun is overhead that would be really hot in there. And the main sheets are pretty much adjusted just like the 44. I didn't see. We like that system because it prevents an accidental job. What did you think about the roof? Yeah the roof is beautiful. I had some big changes up there. Big changes. You don't have any steps up to the roof except from the port side entrance whereas on the 44 you have the steps up both of the sides which I really like. It seems like they're exchanging the cockpit the front cockpit for the roof cockpit which is interesting as well. I do like the roof better than the front cockpit. What did you think? So I really like this lounge area. It's a great privacy thing and you can watch the sunset which is why we have the boat. The sun roof on the top is cool. You can block the sun from the inside which is nice. I think it's a good upgrade. We are on to the front cockpit area which is probably the one of the most different things. What did you think about it? I like it. I do like you that you can sit up there but I do like that the salon is bigger because it doesn't lose the space for the sitting area. There's only one locker up there but it's pretty big so that's good. The chain locker that's in there it's huge. Huge chain locker. So we just added we just jumped up to 300 feet which barely fits in ours but you could put 400 easily in this chain locker. I love the access to hatches up front to enter into the forward bow is that's amazing because right now on the 44 you don't have any access there so and we have that space but forward berth you have to go through to get to that storage area which is just impossible to reach so I do love that access. Totally and the good thing is up front they still have a beautiful door which is ventilation and I think that over anything else is a reason to buy a Leopard. Now I love the build quality on Lagoons. I mean they're really nice. I don't know why they haven't gone to the front door. Just having that breeze in there it's just a fundamental thing that would make me be a Leopard customer over a Lagoon customer. Let's go to the salon. Huge huge improvement with taking the big table out. I love that they have well I don't like that small table that they have but I love that they don't have the big table that just takes up a huge amount of space so it just really opens up the salon area and skylight brings in a lot of light which is really wonderful making that area just brighter and beautiful. Talking about the windows the windows are more straight up they're rectangular and they're taller and so there's a lot more greenhouse space in there not in a bad sense but just areas to look out light coming in. A huge disappointment they're still using vitrofrigo refrigerators and you know stoves it's just a shame that they have not upgraded to something that is actually reliable but that's a story for another day. I do love the extension that they've made on the countertop out from the the front cockpit exit gives you a little bit more space seems like it anyway a lot more storage space for anything you need in the kitchen which is great I don't know what the storage under the seating was I didn't look. I didn't either that's probably where the air conditioning is but the floors the floor storage was a lot deeper than yeah and there's a lot more of it also they plan that out really well and the hardware was really nice it's you're getting into you know a higher grade of workmanship although everything is still formica type material marine plywood you're getting a little bit higher level of craftsmanship fit and finish going down to the owner's cabin on the port side let's go to the owner's cabin owner's cabin was so wide incredibly wide I can't believe it plus they really could ditch that vanity desk oh gosh I mean that is the biggest waste of space but the bathroom is really nice but from a practical standpoint being a full-time cruiser having a four cabin is more practical and also from a weight distribution standpoint for storage you can more easily balance out the weight starboard and port and this is especially important on the front of your boat yes that you that you have that done I did like the access to the bilges I did look at all of them and there's a lot of space to work in the bilge and it's really neat that is that is a dream for the bilge babe and the beds were queen size and the stern and there was a lot of light my goodness tons of light coming in and ventilation this is a feel-good thing I don't know how practical it is when all that stuff starts leaking down the road you're gonna have to deal with that sometimes I wish our boat didn't have any windows in the hall yeah under the bed there's a pull draw that's really nice for underbed storage instead of just the shelves that we have a really really nice space I liked it there's a built-in washing machine on forward on the owner's cabin and I love it all of the bathrooms have the gulper and I noticed the angling of the shower floor it was was really fantastic well let's talk about the port side escorts the forward cabin on the on the port side the bed is super small uh I was thinking it was better but it's not you don't think it is oh it's a lot smaller okay overall I love the leopard 42 that's a sexy cat it's one generation newer than ours and it's a I think it's bigger on the inside because of the hull designs you have more space and it's amazing all the feedback that they get and the new materials that they use and the improvements that they make from feedback from leopard customers and charter customers and they've really made good use of that in this boat the only problem is for all of you who are out there looking at this boat and saying oh that's sexy too oh la la if we priced this boat out to have what we have on our boat our leopard 44 it would be around nine hundred thousand dollars and this thing's going to depreciate super fast your insurance is going to be higher but as far as entertainment is concerned this has so many areas it has one less space on the front cockpit but I think they've made up with that in spades by having the lounge on the back but that's a great space up there and talking about the color yeah so they've trended back to the darker color which I am not a fan of and you all this is what they do with new designs they're constantly changing it so it looks different to give you a new reason it's just our prefer the gray the darker gray look you know me I thought it was fine I'm just glad they didn't go with the old-fashioned kind of orangey cherry but I thought it was okay but I get where you're coming from just a lot of innovative changes on this boat that make this a brighter lighter yes it is beautiful and you know if I could switch and just switch over to this boat I would in a heartbeat but we love our boat but would I get one of these six years from now I'd definitely consider it heck yeah this is a beautiful boat they really did a good job anything else no let's go look at boats let's do it