Tim's Boat Review Lavezzi 40

My take on the Lavezzi 40:

Day 1) I really like the way the boat looks from the outside. Space in the main salon doesn't seem to be used very well. The table is awkward to get around, the nav station faces aft / starboard, there are no drawers in the galley area, and there appears to be only one power plug in the whole salon deck. Though all of the "owner" boats we have looked at have a kind of sitting area in the owner's hull, I'm not sure how useful that space is. Sitting on the couch looking out the escape hatch is novel, but that's about it. A full height storage area / bookshelf might be a better use of the limited hull area.

Day 2) First and foremost (and apologies to Fred our instructor) we had too much sail up for 20+ knots of wind with gusts to 30. This was our first day of sailing a big Cat and being over canvased had us working pretty hard. For some reason Fred worked the main sheet without using the traveler much. On my own I would have run the traveler way to leeward and sheeted the main down tight to flatten the sail. That would have also kept the boom under better control during tacks a gybes.

Things I'm not sure I like? The one piece, continuous main sheet which has one jumping back and forth across the cockpit. The lack of a winch for the jib furlur. The gearing on the jib winches - the only way to sheet the jib in tight is to put the boat on the very edge of being in irons. Also, it appears that there is a lot of rigging to foul the sails. Both sails have been damaged by the spreaders. The port side winch with the table up and the Bimini, is really awkward to work around. It is a two speed winch as well, making it even harder to work when the jib sheet gets loaded. I'm sure setting the sails will come easier with practice, but today it was a huge amount of work for Deb and I to tack and jibe the boat without Fred's help.

Day 3 & 4) Pinned against the dock for two days by high winds, so all the experience is just with living on a boat. The port side head has a sharp metal trim strip over the top of the doorway, which is a really bad idea. The front hatches in the main cabin have no supports to hold them open. This boat's dock lines are run in such a way as to make huge amounts of noise as the hull works against the winds. I miss having a chair to sit in. There should be better handholds for going down the steps into the hulls.

Day 5) The anchor roller needs a cap rail of some type. When trying to pull the anchor up the rode can get caught up off the roller if the boat twists. (which it seems to do each time we raise the anchor.) Setting the bridle is pretty straight forward and the electric anchor winch is a must have. It appears a big cat relies on engines pretty often. Get 2 big ones if the wallet can take the hit.

Day 6) The engine RPM gauges are in a weird spot, way too low to see. Not a big deal. The Raymarine electronic chart / radar is a really good unit but this one is mounted down in the salon. A screen up on the helm would make a lot of sense to this airplane driver. I don't see any easy way to mount screens at the salon door / galley window. Bugs have not been a problem here but...

Motoring through 4 - 5 foot swells was a fun ride, but the expanse of the salon was pretty evident when trying to move around the inside of the boat. There are virtually no handholds anywhere in the salon other than the edge of the table.

Any boat with an inside nav station (not this one) needs to have a windshield wiper. In the rain these windows were nearly opaque.

And...Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation.

Last Day: Fred let Deb and I handle the boat by ourselves. The winds were light, the bay calm and blue - a pretty nice day. We made some good decisions working with the traffic and handled the sails easily in the lighter winds. I used the traveler a little more than Fred, running it out wide and easing off the main sheet to let the sail fill a little more in the wind. By the end of the day we were pretty comfortable sailing the boat and putting it on the dock was a blast. Gotta love that twin-engine set up.

Deb's Fontaine Pajot Lavezzi 40 In depth critque

As we spend 5 days and 6 nights on the Lavezzi 40 I will be taking copious notes. Please refer back to this page frequently during the 5 days and a few after that as I put down random thoughts and experiences.

1. This is more boat than we need. You always hear it - get the smallest boat you think you can stand and then go smaller and they were right. Not that I don't like the space, but the thought of actually cleaning and maintaining this boat is a little overwhelming. Just the thought of washing and waxing it once a year is enough to give one heart failure.

2. The galley is MOSTLY USELESS. Don't get me wrong, I'm a former camper and I can cook in 2sq ft of picnic table and wash a load of dishes in 2 cups of water, but as far as a liveaboard, I'll be looking for a galley I can cook in comfortably. Specific details:

The main food cupboard is behind the stove so you have to reach across hot pans
and live gas flames to access it.

There are no drawers for silverware and cooking utensils

The sinks are double round bowl sinks that you can't fit any cooking pans in, and
while they are nice and deep, they are unfortunately the same size as the dinner
plates so if you happen to get one flat in the bottom of the sink...well you get
the idea.

There is a very nice recessed drainboard for dishes with a plate rack that is
permanently bolted down so the plates don't move around but no cup for silverware
that would be very handy.

The stove is a propane stove that I really like. Slick and easy to use and cooks
very well. Update on day three - the stove gets top points from me. I think I
like it better than my stove at home.


3. The shower is very nice. Lots of hot water on this boat and a nice shower
head. There is a hatch over the shower so the head didn't steam up much with it
open. It's easy to regulate your water usage because the water collects in the
bottom of the shower stall and you have to manually hold the sump pump button for
it to drain. I find I can take a shower with about a gallon and a half of water.
Update on day three - we've been using the water pretty much as we normally would
and after 3 days we've used just under a quarter of a tank which equals about 37
gallons. Ten to twelve gallons a day for the two of us I would imagine would be
luxury and we could do it with a lot less if we needed to.

4. The bed on this boat, at least the one in the owner's stateroom, is more
acomfortable than the one in my home.