Adventures of a Tribe

Our new home

Posted on March 16, 2015 Updated on March 16, 2015

For several years now, Danny and the creatures and I have spoken about our desire to circumnavigate on a catamaran.  We’ve spent many evenings pouring through sites like Yachtworld, The Multihull Company, The Catamaran Company and several others.  During the day we text each other links to various boats we have found.  It was difficult finding the right boat for our family that fit into our budget.  We knew we wanted a catamaran, and that it needed to have 4 double berths.  We wanted it to be structurally sound but weren’t afraid of hard work to fix it up a bit if needed.

About a month ago I told Danny about a guy who’s name is Phil Berman.  He owns The Multihull Company and I had a gut feeling that if anyone was going to find us a boat, it would be him.  Phil is not only an honest, knowledgeable businessmen, but he is an excellent sailor.  I appreciated the fact that he did not only ‘talk the talk’ but he ‘walked the walk.’  Within 2 weeks of contacting Phil, Danny and I were in Florida, looking at boats with his trusted employee, Jeff Jones.  Jeff showed us many boats and was so patient and informative.  He was clear and made us feel like he had all the time in the world to take care of our needs.  He answered all our questions and didn’t pressure us in any way.  At the end of the day, our favorite boats, were Leopard 46 and Lagoon 450.

We liked the openness and size of the Lagoon.  The ceilings are tall, the all running rigging leads back to the helm for single handling if needed, the hulls are wide and comfortable for a liveaboard, and we liked the overall look of the boat.

The Leopard was was also beautifully layed out for single handling, it has a large trampoline at the bow and convenient steps or seats for easy access to the hard top bimini. The interior was comfortable and flowed well, and like the Lagoon, it has all the electonics we needed.

After considering all pro’s and con’s of both boats, we decided on the Leopard 46.  We decided we were willing to give up a tiny bit of living area for a more efficient sail.  Overall, the Leopard was just more our style, and just like me, it was made in Africa.  Leopards are produced in the beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.

We returned to our hotel room, chatted it over, and called Jeff that evening with our offer.  By the next morning, the offer was accepted, and we were on our way to purchasing our new home!!