Passagemaker Magazine -- Leopard 37 Powercat Review; September 2009

Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2009 © Dominion Enterprises (888.487.2953) www.passagemaker.com


CATA RARE BREED OF

Leopard 37Boasts Livability In A Seaworthy Package

rom kayak to megayacht, all boating is about connecting with nature and cementingthe bonds of family and friendship through shared adventure. The Leopard 37 power catrelies on a rare formula to further that ideal. Designers of the 37 have createdextraordinarily livable outdoor spaces on a platform that can also cross oceans if need be.}{

story by peter swanson

photography by billy black

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Confirming this notion of livability could hardlybe easier, because Leopard’s South African builder,Robertson & Caine of Cape Town, is the exclusivesupplier of power cruisers to The Moorings charterfleet. The Moorings re-brands the Leopard 37 as theMoorings 372 PC (while offering the Leopard 47 asthe 474 PC).

So, for the price of a vacation, you can test theveracity of what you read here by actually usingthe Moorings 372 PC in the waters for which it wasdesigned: the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands,the Sea of Cortez, and other warm-water cruisinggrounds around the world. “Try before you buy” issuch a sensible idea for any major purchase that manytrawler manufacturers and dealers have begun offering

charters, but none can equal the worldwide scale ofThe Moorings, which celebrates its 40th anniversary inbusiness this year.

As far as ocean-crossing ability—and this is thetruly impressive part of the 37 story—every boat inThe Moorings’ B.V.I. fleet has been driven from SouthAfrica to Tortola on its own bottom. The 6,634-nautical-mile voyage requires two stops for refueling:the first at the remote South Atlantic island of St.Helena and the second at Fortaleza in Brazil. Theentire trip takes more than 30 days.

Now this is not to say that the Leopard 37 isdesigned for transatlantic passages. For these deliveries,The Moorings adds about 400 additional gallons ofdiesel in extra tankage and mans the boat with toughyoung South Africans like skipper Piet Schepers.Schepers reported having waves wash over him on theflybridge during his first delivery and then flew back toCape Town in time to hop on the next 37 to Tortola.Schepers is a good example of someone who suffersfrom a malady I call sea-state amnesia.

Meeting the Moorings executive in charge of theseheroic deliveries puts the program in a somewhathumorous perspective. His name is Anthony Steward,and the brawny South African holds the distinction ofbeing the only person in history to have circumnavigated


Top left: The helm on the Leopard 37/Moorings 372 is nicely designed. Note the liferaft beneath the dash. Above left: Engine roomaccess is through hatches in the cockpit. Aft of the engines, there’s space for storage or a genset. Above right: David Rohr, Mooringsproduct manager, demonstrates the 372’s push-button dinghy davit system.

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the planet in an open boat. En route, Steward rolledhis 19-foot sailboat so many times that he says he losttrack of the number. Obviously, from this guy’s pointof view, crossing the Atlantic with hot running waterand two queen berths is about as challenging as takinga bus tour of Civil War battlefields, so he offers hiscaptains an incentive.

“Whoever gets the boat from Cape Town to Tortolaand uses the least amount of fuel gets a bonus at the endof the year,” Steward says.

The 37 is powered by a pair of 110hp Yanmars, but foreconomy’s sake, Schepers says he operated only one at atime at less than half throttle, averaging around 6 or 7knots (though occasionally making up to 17 knots whilesurfing down waves) and burning between 1.5 and2.1gph of fuel. He says one skipper even tried “sailing”the boat downwind and made 3–4 knots over the

ground even with the motors shut down. As the sailorssay: under bare poles.

DESTROYER TURN? NOPEBy the time you read this, 11 Leopard 37s will have

crossed the Atlantic using similar tactics. At the otherend of the scale, Leopard testing has shown the vessel iscapable of top speeds of more than 20 knots and a highcruise of around 17, obviously sucking down the diesel.

My ride on the first 37 from South Africa also involvedcrossing a famous body of water (famous for parties, thatis): Sir Francis Drake Channel, off the new Mooringsbase on Tortola. Only the skipper was South African; theother nine people aboard were members of the marinepress, and most of them had gathered on the flybridgeby the time I got my chance at the helm. With thiswell-nourished band of brothers, we would not be

Looking aft, the nav station, electrical panel, and TV are to port. Note the wide sliding glass door to the cockpit.

setting any speed records, since the 37, like most cats,is a weight-sensitive creature.

“Everybody hold on,” I said. “I’m going to run ’er upto full throttle, then put the wheel hard over.”

I needn’t have bothered with the warning. Evenwith 1,900 lb. of weight aloft at 14 knots, our heelin the turn was so insignificant, I can’t rememberwhether we leaned to the inside, to the outside, ornot at all. The fact that we had 10 people on theflybridge, even for a short period, says somethingabout the space. And the stability lesson was especiallyimportant, because on this boat there is no lowerhelm station.

John Robertson, who founded Robertson & Cainein 1991 with his late partner, Jerry Caine, says theflybridge steering takes into account the fact that,unlike power cats made in France and other northern

locales, the Leopard 37 is designed almost exclusivelyfor tropical waters or summer cruising in general.“The biggest compromise we had to make was nothaving an interior steering station,” Robertson says.“In Europe, you have to have one, because it extendsthe cruising season by a month.” Owners of Leopard37s will likely add wrap-around Eisenglass curtains, ifnot actual glass, for inclement weather.

The design of the vessel was a collaboration amongRobertson & Caine, The Moorings, and the designhouse of architects Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin.According to Robertson, the idea was to createa cruising and charter platform that emphasizesenjoyment of fresh air while offering protection fromthe rays of the sun—the “outside livability” mentionedearlier. An elegant and very social flybridge is oneproduct of this thinking.



DESIGNED FOR DAILY CRUISING LIFEThe helm is to starboard and seats two. To port and

just forward of the molded fiberglass stairway is a cushyshotgun seat that enables two more people to engage inconversation with those at the helm. This is easy becauseyou aren’t competing with the sound of the engines, whichare quiet and far away. The loudest noises are the garglingof prop wash and the breeze. Behind the helm is a wrap-around settee for four while under way, or five once thebackrest for the helm seat is folded forward—a cleverfeature. Flybridge footage aft lies outside the cover of thehard top and can be dedicated to sunbathing or grilling.

Good design doesn’t necessarily grab you by the collarand shout, “Look at me!” It reveals itself in small ways on

a daily basis. The Leopard 37s cockpit is another spacethat is at once social and practical. A central upholsteredbench seat does double duty as a locker for lines andfenders, and that’s it. Several journalists suggested fillingthe void with a table. Indeed, a table is optional, but witha dinette inside and a table on the flybridge, a thirdseems redundant. Why have more tables than berths?

Instead, I envision this shaded area as a venue forlanding fish while under way and, with folding chairsdeployed, enjoying a cocktail at sundown. Thedesignated chef easily socializes with the group byopening the big sliding glass door onto this “back porch.”Here, too, Eisenglass curtains would make this area snugagainst the rain or cold, although that’s not necessary

Above left: This view forward shows the galley to starboard. A raised settee lets diners enjoy the scenery. Above right: Steppingdown into the hulls, one finds identical cabins, each with a queen berth and head.

for charter work. The Moorings people pointed outthat the cockpit and saloon are on the same level, justone step up from where one boards from a dinghy.Thus, the 37 scores very well in the charter-world idealof “fewest steps from dinghy to cold beer.”

Access to the engine spaces is through hatchesin the cockpit sole. By monohull trawler standards,engine access may not be great, but by catamaranstandards it’s not bad at all. For one thing, access isnot beneath a berth in one of the staterooms, as it ison some cats; nothing mixes more poorly than greasymechanic hands and your sheets and pillows. Aft ofthe engines, there is room for container storage ora generator.

Speaking of cold beer, the 37 comes standard with

refrigerator and freezer drawers, which make sense onany boat of any size, and they are located to port justinside the galley, within easy reach of the cockpit.Opposite is a three-burner gas stove, which I assumecould be upgraded to include an oven on an owner’sboat. Cabinets are finished in teak. The lighting, bothnatural and artificial, is superb. A bank of opening portsforward provides ventilation. The centerpiece of thespace is a U-shaped dinette that seats four. There is astand-up nav station with an adjacent electrical panel andVHF radio.

Under way, the interior spaces are sufficiently insulatedfrom the engines to allow conversation without having toraise one’s voice. This is subjective, of course, but I lay onone of the berths while the 37 was at cruise and foundthe noise level well within my tolerance level.

FUN AND FUNCTIONALITYDown in the hulls are mirror-image staterooms

consisting of a shaped queen berth and head. In contrastto the 47, what you see on the 37 is what you get: twoequivalent staterooms. On the Moorings 474, you have achoice of three or four staterooms, the former being moresensible for a cruising owner, the latter more profitable forchartering and thus more lucrative to an absentee owner.My only point is that even if you purchase the 37 throughThe Moorings, you will not be torn between thesecompeting advantages.

To me, the Leopard 37 would be best for two people,who I envision might designate the heads as his and hersand use one of the berths for stowage, to be cleared offfor occasional overnight guests.

Two mechanical features at either end of the vessel, in


Leopard 37

Though The Moorings has been in business since 1969,it was all about sailboats until 2001, when it brought in itsfirst powerboats. Last year, the charter company beganphasing out all the monohulls in its power fleet, which isnow all cat. Two models are offered: the Moorings 372,and her big sister, the 474.Tui Marine is parent company to The Moorings, and

Steve Long is Tui’s yacht sales marketing manager. Longsays the powerboat market has been slow to buy into theconcept of Moorings ownership—although the economymight have something to do with that.For those not familiar with The Moorings’ highly

successful ownership program, here’s a quick summary:After you buy a power cat through The Moorings, thecompany offers it for charter, takes care of all maintenance,and provides a guaranteed income that covers yourmortgage payment. Moorings owners are allowed use ofthe vessel for up to 12 weeks a year. After five years, theboat is turned over to you in very close to new condition,except for engine hours.The one hurdle is that buyers must fork over a “traditional

financing” down payment, which at the moment is$59,000, according to Long.But here’s the kicker: You don’t have to spend the

12 weeks on your own boat. You can use your time onany Moorings vessel, power or sail, at any one of itsisland locations, including the Mediterranean, Thailand,or Polynesia. It’s an affordable way to see the world, andat the end of it, you have your own boat in your homecruising grounds.

—Peter Swanson

$59,000 “BUYS” YOU A 37-FOOTERUNDER OWNERSHIP PLAN

Courtesy of Robertson & Caine

Leopard 37


my opinion, will make this boat especially enjoyable touse. One predictor of how much fun people are likely tohave while cruising is the ease of dinghy deployment.That’s why I am a huge fan of davits over boat decksfor the dinghy. The Leopard 37 does one better, with astainless steel davit that raises and lowers the dinghy atthe push of a single button. Activate the electric motor,unclip the forward lift line to the dink, unclip the aft line,start the outboard, and off you go.

Going forward to visit my other favorite feature isaccomplished easily by ascending steps from the cockpitto the catwalks. Solid stainless steel rails line the walksand foredeck to keep you safe.

Aboard the Leopard 37, you don’t deploy anchors viachocks on the foredeck, which would make that spaceless fun and more industrial. Instead, you access theground tackle through hatches closer to the center of thedeck, deploying the anchor with an electric winch andsnubbing it to a permanently installed bridle attachedinboard to the hulls. Ease of anchoring, like ease ofdinghy deployment, makes having fun easier because itencourages spontaneous exploration while under way.

A POWER CAT FROM THE STARTBy the way, the step-like “brows” you see on the front

of the deckhouse are brilliant. First of all, they look cool.And as seats or photography perches, they add furtheroutdoor livability and provide shade in the saloon.

About the construction of the boat. Robertson &Caine has used the 37 to increase production efficiencyin ways that are typical of the automotive industry.The hulls and connecting structure are molded as asingle piece, rather than three pieces joined together.Because weight is an issue, the builder’s use of theinfusion method makes sense from an engineeringstandpoint, not just to ensure cleaner air. The fiberglassfinishes are high quality, and the stainless work, whichis done in Vietnam, is superb.

Built from the start as a true power cat, as opposedto a re-purposed sailing design, the boat’s 14.8-footbeam is not so wide as to preclude docking at mostmarinas that can handle trawlers. The boat does,however, have that most cat-like of virtues: shoaldraft. When sailboats are crowding the anchorage, theLeopard 37 will sit in relative isolation in the shallows,and she’ll get into some hurricane holes when otherscan’t—my favorite example being North Pond atNorman’s Cay in the Bahamas, where the entranceshoals to 4 feet at low tide. In other words, the 37enjoys all the advantages of catamaran construction,including superb close-quarters maneuvering abilitydue to her widely spaced props.

Catamarans are not for everyone. Many monohulldevotees eschew cats’ funky use of space. On this sideof the Atlantic, they seem to have gained the mostacceptance among Canadians in general and FrenchCanadians in particular, as evidenced by their prevalenceduring the annual migration down island. Nonetheless,the class continues to gain traction in the NorthAmerican cruising population at large.

If you’re a cruising couple drawn to multihulls, considerthe Leopard 37 for your passages south. The boat’sdesigners have thought long and hard about how tomake daily cruising life easier and more enjoyable, andthey’ve delivered a handsome craft that has proven gutsyenough for ocean passages bigger than most of us willever undertake.

LEOPARD 37/MOORINGS 372 PC

LOA 36' 6"

LWL 35' 11"

BEAM 14' 8"

DRAFT 3' 2"

DISPLACEMENT 15,183 lb. (full load)

BRIDGE CLEARANCE 22'

FUEL 211 U.S. gal.

WATER 113 U.S. gal.

HOLDING TANK 60 U.S. gal.

GENERATOR 6kW Northern Lights

ENGINES Twin 110hp Yanmar diesels

MAXIMUM SPEED 20 knots

CRUISE SPEED 8.5–14.7 knots

RANGE AT CRUISE SPEED 600nm at 8.5 knots;

320nm at 14.7 knots

DESIGNER Gino Morrelli & Pete Melvin

BUILDER Robertson & Caine

BASE PRICE $399,000 (approximate;

equipped and delivered to

The Moorings’ Tortola base)

•For more information:

www.mooringspower.comwww.robertsonandcaine.com

Documents

Passagemaker Magazine -- Leopard 37 Powercat Review; September 2009