Moorings News

The weather might not have played ball but the Leopard M47 was still a perfect host when Sam Stewart checked out The Moorings’ new powercat. Photos Sam Stewart

The Bay of Islands looked like a seriously nice mansion - the morning after a wild party. Water was pouring from a hole in the
roof, the normally tranquil blue carpet had been churned up and stained a horrible grey and the 20-knot easterly
which gatecrashed in the wee hours was still haphazardly stumbling around, yet to sleep.

This was not a good day for boating. But we would quickly learn you don’t necessarily need blue skies and rainbows when the Leopard M47 Powercat is your host. Nine of us stepped off the dock, out of the rain, and disappeared into the 14.42m multihull, a charter version of the Leopard 47.

At a glance:

➤ loa x beam 14.42m x 7.57m ➤ engines power twin 225hp Volvo D4 diesels ➤ cruising speed 12 knots ➤ maximum speed 17.5 knots

The first thing you notice is the cat’s volume and its ability to seemingly swallow passengers within its three levels amidst a range of entertaining areas. The boat is a platform made for socialising, and this particular one is heading to Tonga to perform its duty as part of the Moorings
charter fleet.

View from the top
A pair of 225hp Volvo D4 diesels fired up and with a couple of helping hands on the dock, we were away. We exited the boat’s temporary berth at Opua without any sort of song and dance.

From the flybridge’s central helm station you can see the tip of each hull’s bow out one side, the two sterns out the other and – on this trip – the seedylooking black sky above. The dashboard has plenty of space for electronics and this boat
features a Raymarine C80 GPS unit. Both throttles and wheel fall nicely to hand, whether standing up or sitting on the double bench seat.

The flybridge itself is open and spacious with an L-shaped couch forward and plenty of standing room aft. We had eight people in it, with four
separate conversations happily taking place. Zip-off clears took the bite out
of the rainy old day.

We headed out of Opua and chugged north, then hooked a right at Russell to take on the slop. A nice wee rolling swell had been forming for about a day, so we punched our way through that, determined to find a sheltered anchorage for lunch.

But finding one on a stormy day like this was going to be about as easy as finding a cat that likes going to windward. The typical jerky motion a multihull exhibits when faced with a head sea was apparent, but the M47’s ample waterline length did go some way to reducing its erratic pitching movement.

One thing’s for sure, the South African import feels solid. The Morrelli and Melvin-designed Leopard, built at Cape Town’s Robertson and Caine, has been in production since 1996 and there are nearly 1000 boats on the water.

“One of the biggest things about this boat is they’re designed by guys who design ocean-going cats,” says The Mooring’s yacht sales manager, Brendan Brits. “Its first voyage will be a blue water one leaving Cape Town. “

Wellington sailors are slightly unhinged in that, when it blows 30 knots, they start to get excited. This is built in South Africa where that’s the norm.”

The M47 is largely based on the Moorings sailing cats. From the waterline up, about the only difference is the absence of a stick and some sail cloth. Below the waterline, the M47 has done away with long stub keels running amidships like those found on the sailing cats in favour of small skeg keels protecting the props and rudders. The clean runs aft help the powercat get out of the hole and although you can’t beach it, the relatively minimal 0.95m draft means you can still get pretty close to shore.

Time out

Holed up in Otehei Bay on the southwestern side of Urupukapuka Island (just east of Russell), the cat really came into its own. The cockpit has enough room to seat 12 people, six of them comfortably around the table, the ideal place to escape the sun (or rain) and solve the world’s problems under one fixed roof. An elaborate lunch was under construction in the galley and we couldhappily chat with the chefs charged with making it. Having the kitchen incorporated into the saloon means no-one is banished to one of the hulls come meal time and the chef can enjoy a sundowner with the best of them while getting dinner started. Two people can comfortably work in the galley, which features a gas oven and three-burner hob, ample bench space and plenty of stowage. Space in the saloon isn’t affected dramatically by the galley, with a large table and U-shaped seating for eight still dominating the main deck. The navstation sits to starboard.

Play time
Even 30 minutes after the salubrious spread had been demolished no-one was volunteering to drop the aft swim platform – which doubles as a three-person transom seat – and get in the water.

Instead, it was a trip to the bow for a different perspective of the boat. The large louvres spanning the width of the saloon’s windows are near-impossible to miss. From an aesthetics point of view, the grandstand-style seating is debatable, but as another area to soak up the sun, it’s a great use of otherwise unused space. Interior light isn’t compromised terribly and they are probably welcome sunscreens in tropical clime like Tonga’s. A bean bag and a book on the large foredeck wouldn’t go astray on a warm summer’s day either.

Back inside, the conclusion had been drawn that despite the average weather, this was hands down better than a day in the office. We began to entertain the thought of spending a night in one of the four double cabins.

Each hull is home to two cabins, all with ample stowage. The forward cabin on the port side has an extra cavity extending into the bow, useful as extra stowage or even as a berth for a small child.

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Engine access is under the two aft double berths so working on the donk is easy, although sleeping while underway might not be. The same space under the two forward doubles is utilised as stowage, although it can be transformed into extra freezer room. Another layout option sees just three double cabins with an owner’s lounge incorporated in the starboard hull. The floor panels in each hull lift to reveal easy access to all the seacocks and must-reach systems.

A bathroom with shower and electric head is located in each hull.

While a night on board would’ve been nice, it wasn’t to be. Instead we ditched the mooring and headed back into the slop, setting a course for Opua.

Both engines were pulling a nearmaximum 3600rpm to keep us sitting at 17.5 knots with the sea behind us, which was naturally far more comfortable than punching into a head sea. Again, the waterline length came into play aswe sliced through the backs of waves but when the sea came around to the quarter, keeping the M47 on course took a bit more focus.

At a cruise speed of 12 knots, the engines were sitting at 2500rpm burning a measly 20 litres each an hour. With a fuel capacity of 2000 litres, that’s a lot of cruising.

Back at Opua, friendly hands were waiting with dock lines and parking was no harder than when we left. In fact, it summed up the boat: incredibly easy to handle, functional, and the more people involved, the better.

Leopard M47 Powercat
➤ loa 14.42m (47ft 3in) ➤ beam 7.57m (24ft 10in) ➤ draft 0.95m ➤ displacement 15,000kg ➤ construction vacuum-bonded balsa
core with a GRP sandwich construction and 12mm of glass ➤ fuel 1200 litres ➤ water 1210 litres ➤ accommodation eight ➤ engines
twin 225hp Volvo D4 diesels ➤ cruising speed 12 knots ➤ max speed 17.5 knots ➤ price from xxx ➤ designer Morrelli and Melvin
➤ builder Robertson and Caine ➤ enquiries The Moorings New Zealand 09 378 7900 www.southpacifi csailing.com

PROS
❚ Big volume
❚ Social layout
❚ Economical cruiser

OUR VERDICT
If you’ve got the time and the mates, there’s no question that a cat of this size is a great platform for cruising the NZ coast or holidaying further aboard. With oodles of accommodation and socialising space it wouldn’t be hard to whittle away a week or two aboard the M47. The big Leopard’s finish is on par with most mass production fibreglass boats - it’s no superyacht but then you aren’t paying for that. This is a pleasure platform, pure and simple, and it comes with the added ability of being able to cruise bluewater.

CONS
❚ Interior finish
❚ Needs a big marina berth

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