I started this post shortly after we returned from Miami. I thought perhaps today would be a good opportunity to finish.
So while we were in Miami we took the short drive up to Ft. Lauderdale to have a peek at a few Lagoons. We looked at a 50′ 500, a 44′ 440, 40′ 410 and a 41′ 421.
The Lagoon 500 was, as I expected my favorite. Didn’t feel tight at all, had plenty of room inside and out. The flybridge, although detached from the cockpit and all the goings on below did not seem as separate as I had thought it would be. The controls and winches were all within easy reach and laid out pretty well. When standing in the flybridge footwell the boom was right there. Not as high as I thought it would be. This is good and bad. Good that it’s lower and easier to access for main sail flaking and reefing but bad that it’s a forehead target for me. I think that’s a problem I could live with. 🙂
The Lagoon 440 was for all intents and purposes the 500’s little sister. She’s just a bit smaller and with a little different layout down below and forward. Other than that she’s a spitting image of her bigger sister. One other thing I noticed is that the boom seems even lower on the 440. Not extremely in the way or knock your head off while sitting at the helm lower but lower than I had anticipated. Looking back I’m actually kind of happy about this on both the 440 and 500. It means that sail area isn’t as compromised as I had thought. It’s still not what it could be on a vessel this size but given the design, it’s appropriate.
The Lagoon 410 quickly got ruled out. Being one of Lagoon’s older designs it quickly became clear that they have come a long way in making use of space. The steps down to the companionways are tight and moving into the companionways and in and out of cabins I would be at a severe disadvantage given my height and broad shoulders. The whole vessel is tight to move around in. The aft berths are set athwartship, a design that I didn’t know if we could deal with or not. On a larger vessel, maybe. But not on the 410. It is by all definitions not designed for those adverse to small spaces.
Now we come to the Lagoon 421. This was the wildcard for me. I’m big on hull design and before I actually saw one in person I had ruled the 420 and 421 out simply based on the design of the bridgedeck and forward nacelle with built in bowsprit. I didn’t think that it would be a proper blue water cruiser but rather a coastal cruiser. Looking at it in person my concerns are eased a bit. It’s no rocket ship like a Morelli & Melvin or Chris White design but it’ll do. I think it will handle things just fine. We won’t be in a hurry anyway right? I’m not entirely sold on the curved “gull wing” design that is supposed to take the wave energy and disperse it below the bridgedeck but the physics of it at first glance have a little merit.
So what’s the verdict? It’s still up in the air. I don’t feel like we’ve settled on any specific model. Given the budget I know we keep coming back to the Lagoons but I haven’t ruled out anything. I know I keep saying that but I for one wish that there was an affordable “silver bullet” design that was just perfect for us. Truth is that there isn’t. Even my favorite super expensive semi-custom boats have things that I’m not sure I like. The only real solution is a full on custom, but we all know that isn’t likely unless we just come to a point where we just can’t compromise. Like I said, not likely.
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