BIGGEST PROBLEM with Leopard Catamarans? [Ep36 RED SEAS]

We fix the biggest problem with our Leopard catamaran and fiberglass in our life raft hatch after we nearly lost our life raft at sea. A local boatbuilder Don helps us glass a new panel and gives us a tour of the catamaran he is currently building.
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⏰ Time Stamps ⏰
00:00 Coming up
00:51 Last time on Red Seas
01:25 The biggest problem with Leopard catamarans
02:18 Removing out old life raft tray
04:22 Fiberglassing a new panel
07:33 Tour of a brand new catamaran build
10:29 Sneak peek inside a brand new catamaran
11:15 Sailing a power catamaran with a wing
13:23 How to fiberglass on a vacuum mold
16:51 Building a new life raft locker
20:40 Glassing in our life raft hatch
23:14 Outro & blooper
🎵 Music 🎵
[THEME SONG] Arrows & Bullets - Big Idea
All other tracks can be found at Epidemic Sound.
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📖 Our Story 📖
We're Iain and Brioni, a couple of ginger Scots who sold everything we own and moved to the Caribbean to buy a boat that we could call home. We have a habit of finding ourselves in the most unusual circumstances, but that’s what makes life interesting! We love to travel, we love the sea and we love sharing inspiring stories about inspiring people. So hit subscribe and join us on this adventure!
Track: www.noforeignland.com/boat/re...

[@LifeOnTheHulls]

Blokes like Don are the most refreshing thing on youtube, their ability to modify and change to their own designs is a magic part of boat building and I really appreciate you bringing him to fame in this video. Cheers Rossco

[@RedSeas]

It was so fascinating to meet him and learn so much about the boat building process. I had never seen a boat build close up before, and I didn’t realise how much flexibility there is in design (if you know what you’re doing!) to be able to make changes like that. Pleased you enjoyed it. He was also in Ep35, teaching us to repair our keels, if you’re interested in seeing more.

[@jacksbackable]

What would you know about boat building........I’ve always been surprised that you don’t vacuum down any of your layups.......!? I’ve always admired your tenacity Rosso! 😎🐬⚓️🏖🌴☀️🇦🇺

[@KM2399]

What a brilliant community, that's one of the things I love about boating. Everywhere you go you meet brilliant helpful people.

[@RedSeas]

Absolutely! It’s a world of people with the MO to never leave another boat stranded. The generosity we have experienced has been incredible at almost every turn.

[@PaulKling]

Another sailing channel lost Leopard lift raft hatch and lift raft on a trip to New Zealand. It was crazy big hole in giant seas. Glad to see you glassed in yours.

[@RedSeas]

Yeah, we talked to leopard about it and it is a common issue in the older boats. Fortunately, the regulations have moved on a bit since Indioko was built and the good folks at Robertson & Caine have made adjustments to their designs. That said, we’re pleased to sorted it after months of holding the hatch in place with ropes tied off.

[@Crommy1968]

What a real gem you found in Dom, you just can’t buy experience, thanks for the hard work producing a great video 🇬🇧👍

[@RedSeas]

Oh we were so incredibly lucky to meet him. What a generous soul, and so kind to share his time and expertise with us. Glad you enjoyed the video- lots more to come!

[@carolkar5687]

you hit the boat brain trust!

[@RedSeas]

Don is 1 in a million for sure. Such an incredible guy. I really hope we get to cross wakes with him again some day. Perhaps in his new boat

[@dutchglobetrotter4513]

I actually met Don, at Peake the yard just over in Zanzibar the bar restaurant . Dang the world is small.

[@RedSeas]

He is such a gem of a person. So kind and thoughtful. One of those people who you can just sit and listen to for hours.

[@timmitchell8784]

That was so cool thanks for sharing

[@RedSeas]

It was a real learning experience. So pleased you enjoyed following along.

[@briancochran8356]

Should look at Travelsketch channel to see all the problems they have with their new Leopard 45.

[@RedSeas]

Yeah, we searched long and hard for the older 2005 model for a reason. If nothing else, we are a big fan of shaft drive propellers and the newer models moved to sail drives which just need a little more maintenance. The keel design is also different on the new leopards. Rather than the tongue coming out of the hull, the new design has the keel pushing up into the hull (from what I’ve been told) so it’s still sacrificial but I would think it’s likely to cause more damage to the hull itself if it ever hit ground. Sure the guys at leopard know a lot more about boats than we do but still prefer the older design for a few reasons.

[@svZia-Switch51]

Nice project! Makes me miss T&T even more. So many interesting people show up in both yards.

[@RedSeas]

That has to be one of the best parts of cruising. You never know what adventurous, kind, funny, generous person you’re going to bump into next.

[@VAdu56]

pour faire le joint il faut prendre une poche de patisserie et faire comme pour faire des choux à la crème, cela va beaucoup plus vite et rentre bien dans les fentes...!! bravo pour ce superbe travail...!!

[@RedSeas]

c'est une façon amusante de le faire. J'aurais bien aimé essayer ça. J'espère que vous avez apprécié l'épisode et que nous avons mis un sourire sur votre visage.

[@jbsanger696]

Great video!

[@RedSeas]

Thanks! We do our best to make entertaining (and occasionally even educational) episodes every week.

[@glennedwards1449]

I think it was the Wynns with a Leopard 42 who lost their hatch life raft etc when sailing to New Zealand

[@RedSeas]

Yeh we’ve heard of so many people having the same issue. Glad it’s sorted now for us 😅

[@billkaroly]

@@RedSeas Wynns fiberglassed that hole.

[@fxpthl]

Shades of “Gone with the Wynns” and their hatch going away mid ocean!

[@RedSeas]

Yeah, they actually contacted us to ask how to fix theirs. Small world

[@dannyjanolo4601]

❤❤❤

[@RedSeas]

You’re doing the rounds on our channel. Cool!😎

[@joshuadickerson2709]

Great video......👍🏿

[@RedSeas]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! We’re so happy now that project is done 😅

[@mikeferguson2828]

I have the 2nd gen Leopard and the liferaft was in the back locker by the back bench. It was an 8 man probably like yours and we sail mainly 2 but sometimes another couple so we dumped the 80kg liferaft and bought a 6 man Viking at 45 kgs and we fitted it to the back next to the davit system so we can simply deploy it and not have to try and drag it around .

[@RedSeas]

Exactly. Having to lift out that thing from a locker in an emergency would be lethal! Finding a space on the back next to the davits makes much more sense so that it’s out the way and also accessible. We just need to find a smaller raft now to swap out for that huge one!

[@SVSeaChange]

Just stumbled on this vid and realized I met Don and his wife Tessa on their sailing catamaran he built himself called Ballerina Girl in Maupihaa, the last of the leeward island group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia on August 5 2022. I included a pic of them near the end of my video on the Society Islands on my channel. He really is a remarkable guy and told me all about this motor catamaran he was building back in Trinidad.

[@RedSeas]

Oh awesome! We have sooo much respect for Don - he is so incredibly kind and generous to everyone he meets. And Tessa too. It was fascinating to see some of the build process of the new power cat and we heard lots about Ballerina Girl too. Hope you enjoyed FP!

[@jacksbackable]

First of your episodes I’ve seen. He certainly has a great amount of knowledge, just balsa is so yesterday, H80 foam’s way better and doesn’t rot! He is way quicker than the younger bloke. 😎🐬⚓️🏖🌴☀️🇦🇺

[@RedSeas]

Hopefully it wont be the last one you watch. 😀 Funny enough that is exactly what Don said. Unfortunately, when we raided his stores, he didn’t have enough foam available for the project. Good news is, at least the bulls matches the rest of the boat. Indioko is a balsa core throughout.

[@russellesimonetta9071]

The Wynne,s lost their raft compartment in big sea,s in the Pacific!!! Scary!

[@RedSeas]

Yeah that happened around the same time actually. Was a lucky catch that ours didn’t drop all the way like theirs did

[@2Moza]

Gone with the Wynns Had the same trouble with there Cat and had the work done in New Zeeland by a very good Boatyard and workers you should check what they did. Ps: They Just sold there Cat to a USA Couple.

[@RedSeas]

Did you watch the video? We’ve just fixed the problem 😜

[@2Moza]

@@RedSeas Yes i did see that you put a f/g panel in your Cat. good job as well lol.

[@easternsun167]

So it's not really a hatch anymore?

[@RedSeas]

The regulatory requirements for underside access to life rafts changed a few years after Indioko was born. As a result, very few cats are designed with hatches in this way. As you can see, they present something of a design flaw anyway.

[@johndodds7949]

I thing this happened to the Wynnes(on KZbin)

[@RedSeas]

Yeah, we were actually sharing ideas as our hatches failed around the same time. It just took us a lot longer to get round to fixing ours. 😆 it’s a common issue for this generation of leopards (hence the episode title) but we are really pleased with the results of our efforts.

[@deerfootnz]

Production boats are cheap. And they are cheap because stuff was missed out altogether or constructed with less material, cheaper material, less labour, less skilled labour, OR...most likely all of the above. This applies to monohulls as well as multihulls, but multi's are less forgiving to poor construction standards.

[@RedSeas]

That’s one way to look at it. The other is that an older charter cat is built like a tank so it can be bounced off anything in sight. New carbon fibre injected cats are costly to repair so less likely to be made in production houses. As for less labour, think most custom boats are the result of many hours of love and attention from a hand full of skilled individuals where as companies like Robertson & Caine has an army of labourers to deliver their production line on time. Not saying they are better than a high end custom build but then again, that isn’t an option to 90% of buyers. Otherwise, why would production cats exist int he first place. 😂

[@davidbascombe541]

Is that guy from Trinidad?

[@RedSeas]

Which guy? 😀 Most of the people we have met in Trinidad are locals.