Leopard Catamarans has 25 years of cruising catamaran experience. The result is this new 42-foot model that builds off the success of the Leopard 40 model along with advances in styling made with the Leopard 50. The design work was done by Robertson and Caine with Simonis & Voogd Yacht Design. From what I can tell from the promotional material, this new design is aimed at the Moorings charter fleet, but I’m certain that the boat will be available to individuals.

To start with, this is a big boat. If I multiply the beam max by the DWL I get a “footprint” of almost 1,000 square feet. Then add another 50 square feet for the area of the coachroof lounge, more on that later, and you get a lot of acreage to work with. The D/L is 180, about the same as a medium displacement modern, monohull cruising boat. If I take just one of the hulls, the L/B is 5.81­—4.00 would be considered very narrow for a monohull. For fun, the L/B of the overall boat is 1.8. Beam is 23 feet 1 inch. Draft is a reasonable 4 feet 7 inches, giving this cat the chance of going to weather well. The keel fin is a low-aspect-ratio type, but not as low as you see in many of the cruising cats. There is a full length chine with a slight spring to it about 14 inches above the DWL. The critical bridgedeck clearance is 2 feet 6 inches. The designers have worked hard to insure performance in this design.

The deck is complex. This is really a quadruple decker. There is the main deck with a molded-in bulwark. Then you step down into the “cockpit” or “aft veranda” level with a large dinette to port. Next you step up to the coachroof lounge level with an L-shaped dinette to port. It looks to my eye like this dinette is sunken below the deck level of this raised area. Then you go up more steps to the control station. The wheel is here along with all the sail controls. It really is a flying bridge and gives very good visibility over the large main house. There is a hard top over the control station. Like I said, it’s complex. It does keep all the working function of the rig away from the “passengers.” You can access the forward lounging area and bow trampoline through the main cabin. The bottom line is this design offers unprecedented lounging area for a crew of six. If you count the large swim steps port and starboard, this is really a quintuple decker.

The layout is designed for three couples. There are two stateroom in the port hull and each has its own head and shower. The owner’s stateroom is in the starboard hull and is very spacious with an extra large shower. If you mirror-image the layout in the port hull over to the starboard hull you would have accommodations for four couples. But, I’m not sure if this is an option. 

The main cabin has the galley to starboard with the nav station to port forward. There is an L-shaped dinette to port and a white rectangular shape aft to starboard. Not sure what it is. None of the dining areas are big enough to seat everyone but there are three dining areas so that should not be a problem. Maybe after all day with your friends dining alone would be a treat.

The first thing that jumps out at me when I look at this sailplan is the height of the boom. My estimate is that the boom is 11 feet 6 inches above the DWL. That stacking mainsail system is going to come in really handy. Not sure it really matters, though, given the stability of the catamaran. The SA/D of this cat is 21.38 using what the promo material calls the “upwind sail area” of the standard rig. This includes the roach area of the mainsail. There is an option for a square-top mainsail that adds 38 square feet to the total sail area and raises the SA/D to 22.

I have quite a few 3D renderings of this design. The styling is very well done using sharp facets where radii would usually be. I like the way the entire top of the coachroof appears to float above the deck reducing the appearance of bulk in the deck structure.

Obviously this new Leopard will make a very attractive charter boat if space is what you are after.

LOA 41’7”; LWL 40’10”; Beam 23’1”; Draft 4’7”; Sail area 1,217; Water 174 gal.; Fuel 158 gal.; Auxiliary twin 45-hp; D/L 180; SA/D 21.38

Our best estimate of the sailaway price: $619,000

Leopard Catamarans

850 NE 3rd St., Suite 201

Dania Beach, FL 33004

954-925-8050

www.leopardcatamarans.com