Catamaran For Sale – Lagoon 39 (USA)

S/V Take It Easy is a Saint Simons Island, Georgia based 2014 Lagoon 39 Catamaran (Premium Version)  For Sale By Owner. Pack Your Two Piece, Grab Your Straw Hat and Flip-flops and Climb Aboard – S/V Take It Easy is Fully Equipped for Extended Coastal or Blue-Water Cruising. This is an Owners’ Version with 3 cabins and 2 heads.

Equipment includes self-tacking jib, air conditioning, solar, water-maker, generator, and dive compressor. Passionate maintenance and upgrades totaling $170,0000 places this blue-water yacht in premium condition.

Purchased in March 2016 from the original owner. Now as 2nd owners, we are full-time live-aboards cruising the Caribbean Sea  and US Eastern seaboard for nearly seven years. Never in bareboat charter. No hurricane damage.

Lagoon Catamarans is the world leader in sailing catamaran cruisers. It looks like a Lagoon. It’s built like a Lagoon. But this 39-footer is a new breed of catamaran.

Equipped as a cruising catamaran the 39 proves extremely popular – both with long-term liveaboards and casual coastal sailors alike. The boat appeals on several levels. It is by design intended to be easily and efficiently handled offshore flying a self-tacking jib, and yet it is still extremely comfortable. The 39 provides intriguing options that neither the 380 nor 400S2 offer. The 39 is a serious cruising machine, especially the new single-handed rig arrangement.

CONSTRUCTION: Moving the center of buoyancy in a boat changes everything, including the structure needed to support the loads. Normally, the mast on a cat is stepped over the main bulkhead at the forward end of the house. But because there is no bulkhead under the mast on the 39, Lagoon had to install an unobtrusive compression post at the edge of a galley counter, which is supported, in turn, by a husky bridgedeck, comprising a strong composite beam with stringers that transfer rig loads to the hulls. This grid is also tied into the fore and aft bulkheads, making for a square, stiff structure that holds up well in various sea states.

The fiberglass layup schedule is rather conventional for a modern boat, with vacuum-infused balsa core above the waterline and solid glass below. The deck is also balsa cored. As with other boats from this builder, the plumbing and wiring are first-class, with everything labeled, bundled and properly clamped. I appreciated the easy access to the electrical and water systems and to the twin engines.

ON DECK: Years of charter trade experience shows in the Lagoon’s deck layout, which has lots of grab points, wide side decks and good toerails. The foredeck is mostly netting, which reduces weight and slamming in rough water. A central longitudinal beam carries the anchor chain out to a point between the bows—a fairly conventional setup.

The first thing you notice about the side-decks is that they’re wide and easy to navigate. The second thing is that the numerous hatches are all neatly recessed. There’s plenty of deck space of course, and lounging on the trampoline or forward pulpit seats is a nice way to watch the ocean roll by. The forward bridgedeck includes two large lockers, one is a chain locker.

Reaching the cabintop from the foredeck is convenient with a stainless three step ladder that lowers from the coachtop.

The cockpit is large, comfortable and uncluttered by sheets or halyards, as all lines are up on the cabintop. Traffic flow between the cockpit and saloon is excellent, and there’s enough seating for a sizable party under the targa top.

A few steps up on the starboard side and you’re at the helm, which is in a cutout space in the targa top. If you have a knack for finding any head-knocking overhangs on a boat, the 39 has none. Thank you, Lagoon!

One benefit of having the mast aft is that all halyards and sheets fall conveniently to hand at the helm station. This simplifies line runs, reduces friction and gets the running rigging out of the way of the crew and passengers. A line tail bag beside the wheel completes the setup. Captains really like this helm station, and the complete surround enclosure canvas bimini provides shade and overhead protection to whoever is at the helm from the tropical sun.

ACCOMMODATIONS:  The interior space is comparable to a 50′ monohull.  The premium version interior is light and bright, thanks to a stylish blend of fabrics and blond Alpi wood laminate joinery. The big vertical windows provide a panoramic view and are low enough to look through when seated. Tall sailors will delight in the headroom, and all will appreciate the countertop fiddles and mid-cabin post that make good grab points in rough weather.

The galley is to port, with the nav station ahead of it. The big dinette table will seat five easily. There’s space at the nav station for whatever electronics you choose to install, and the view will permit sailing from inside with a blue-tooth autopilot in inclement weather. The nav desk can hold a standard chart book.

Access to the private quarters a few steps down in the hulls is through sliding doors in the saloon.  There are plenty of lockers for stowage and all have sturdy positive catches to keep them shut. This is luxurious, private cruising.

The entire port hull for an owners suite with a dedicated stateroom that can be closed off for privacy from the central saloon via a sliding door. Light-colored woodwork and an abundance of natural light streaming in from the windows gives the illusion that the interior of the boat is more of a beach house than a catamaran. Access to battery switches and engine, circuit breaker for inverter, electric winches and solar panels and windlass in the inboard storage cabinet.

UNDER SAIL: The mast position of the Lagoon 39 results in a very large foretriangle, reminiscent of an ocean racing trimaran. The spar is also tall and supports an efficient, high-aspect mainsail.  The boat is equipped with the optional square-top main, which further improves sailing efficiency.

The combination of a large foretriangle and small main means you can choose from a variety of different foresails, including a self-tacking jib. “Take It Easy” is rigged with roller-furling, non-overlapping headsail that gets sheeted to a car mounted on an athwartships track on the deck, ­forward of the mast.  The sail’s single sheet is then led to a block-located well up the mast, where it disappears into the spar, runs back down to the deck and, eventually, is led back to an electric winch located at the helm. The square-top mainsail is also easier to handle than it is aboard many big multihulls.

And when flying the self-tacker jib, well, once it and the main are sheeted home, coming about requires only a turn of the wheel. Obvious benefits for a couple or shorthanded crew. It’s a smaller sail and it can self-tack, so one person on the helm can turn the boat; the jib moves over to the other side, the main moves over to the other side, and the other person can go on reading a book or whatever they were doing.

Code Zero hardware (Seldon bowspit spar, steel cables and blocks) is aboard. Simply select and purchase a new design big, flat-cut, light-air reaching code zero sail, furler and lines to enjoy the benefits gained from a light-air reaching sail. For example, “Take It Easy” flying a code zero sail achieved hull speeds of 8.1 kts with a apparent wind speed of 3.1 kts. The code zero sail is set in front of the furled jib so that it is flown off a bowsprit, and thanks to a continuous furler, it can be left up when not in use. A code zero for a boat sailing in typically light airs on Chesapeake Bay or the west coast of Florida would be very different than one spec’d out for a sailboat bound for the Caribbean.  Cost estimates vary ­depending on the material, but expect to pay in the $4,000 to $5,000 range for a code zero built for a 40-footer. Add another $3,000 and change for a furler, anti-torsion cable, sheets and fairleads.

In an 18-knot wind and short, steep 5-7 foot seas the boat is fast: 7 knots most of the time to windward, with a top speed of about 7.5 knots. On a broad reach, we’ve achieved 12.2 knots cruising speeds. The boat never hesitates to come about or respond to its helm and you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find there is no pounding as the sharp hulls sliced through the waves, although the boat is pretty active with a fair amount of pitching movement.

All told, the Lagoon 39 provides a good ride and quite dry.

Off the wind, the 39 accelerates easily to better than 8 knots and races happily through the waves. The helm response and feedback are exceptional for a catamaran. The Lagoon 39 feels like a sailboat and is a pleasure to steer.

Under Power: No surprises here: the Lagoon 39 does the “cat pirouette” in its own length with engines running in opposite directions and stops precisely wherever you put it.  Measured 7.5 knots at 3,000 rpm with a modest sound level of 68 dBA. Full throttle should drive the boat up to displacement hull speed, around 8.5 knots.

It is a delight at anchor, being far less prone to rocking about in the swell all night, and the deck saloon means that no one misses what is going on, whether inside cooking or outside relaxing.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but the 39 is a boat that an old monohull sailor like me, I intuitively understood.