TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Long time gone

It has been some time since we visited the BVI as lost out during COVID and have not been back. We are now planning an adventure for 2026 and it is good to be back to the site to read the advice and all the good BVI info.

We are looking at two boats, catamaran. There will be 2 couples on the boat. We are now "Senior Citizens" so want comfort and easy to handle boats. The two boats are from 2 separate companies. I think both are good companies and I am not worried about that. Just want a good choice for the boat. Both boats are 3 cabins

Boat 1: 2017 Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40 ft
Boat 2: 2028 Leopard 40 M4000
One boat is less cost but that does not cross the other out.

Any thoughts on either of these boats?

Dave

Hi DaveF, we are also returning after a long absence and we are seniors. I cannot speak from experience on the FP but i have reserved the FB Elba 45 for Mar. 2026. Looking at the comfort and features of the FB I am impressed. Also very excited to return to the BVI landscape.

I don’t know anything about the FP. The M4000 is a descent boat. If you can stretch the budget a bit I would really take a look at the M4200. It’s an amazing package in a 42’ Cat. Both Sunsail and the Moorings offer the boat. It is the replacement for the 4000.

Our most recent charter was on a Lagoon 42 from BVI Yacht Charters. One contributor to easy handling was its small, self-tacking jib. Perhaps not optimal for speed, but it makes tacking simply a matter of turning the wheel.

Another factor can be the condition of the boat. The Lagoon was mostly in excellent shape, but some of the blocks did have very high friction. That sometimes made it necessary to go to the mast or to the end of the boom to figure out what was going on, and/or to free up the lines. Not a big deal, but if you're looking for easy...

Dan

Dave,

I chartered the FP in the Abacos and I have chartered Moorings 4000's in the BVI several times. I would say that both are comparable boats as far as ease of operation. There were only two of us on board and we had no issues with either. I haven't seen the newer model Moorings boat, the last I was on was model year 2021/2022 or so. I think this will come down to a personal choice for you as well as your budget. Unless one has a considerable upside in amenities (i.e. refrigeration or water maker), there won't be that much difference to make me choose one over the other. If you like the bow door on the M4000, that would be the only other significant difference. I haven't seen the M4200 as referenced above, but it may be worth looking at.

Chartered on a FP Lucia 40 3 years ago from CYOA which is now Waypoints. There were 3 couples. Each couple got a cabin and head. Plenty of room on the boat, both inside and outside. Boat handled well and we enjoyed having the watermaker, generator and AC. The boat was well maintained and we had zero issues during the trip. Safe travels

We just chartered a FP in May. This was our 17th charter in the BVI but our first on a FP. There were 10 of us and we’re also in the Senior Citizen category. The boat was comfortable and spacious, but we were not fans of the actual sailing performance. For example,
• The boat did not point at all – way worse than any other cat we’ve chartered.
• The air conditioners were on 7 different units and all seven breakers were located down in the engine compartment. They had to be switched on/off one at a time and that meant either crawling into the engine compartment every time you wanted to turn on/off the generator or laying on your belly and reach blindly backwards.
• For our boat the weight of the sail overpowered the electric winch so the sails had to be hauled up largely by hand. Conversely, they then had to be hauled down by hand because they wouldn’t drop on their own. The last 3 feet of sail was particularly difficult and required 2 people up at the mast trying to tug them down.
• The winches could only be run 10 seconds at a time followed by a 5 second rest or they would trip. And the breakers for those were down in the port engine compartment.
• As the dock manager at our charter company said “The French build boats for piddling around the Med. If you want a real sail boat, get one built in South Africa.”