...What most cruising couples really want is fewer than half the bunks and heads, and lots more comfort for long-term occupancy (watermaker, lower engine hours, storage, tankage, newer electronics, not beat up, etc.), ...
I rented a Leopard 42 sailing cat in the BVIs from Sunsail in Feb of this year for 10 days (Sunsail 424). We ended up only having two couples on it, which was awesome. I will say that Sunsail upgrades a number of things from the factory to get them ready for charter:
- 2nd 79gal fuel tank
- 2 additional 140ah house batteries
- 1 additional 40a battery charger
- Generator
- Solar panels
- Air conditioning
- Full up to date B&G Zeus electronics package and autopilot
- 2nd 79 gallon water tank
- Watermaker (though virtually the entire fleet's watermakers in the BVIs are inoperative due to parts issues)
- Additional dry storage
- Top opening freezer
- Cockpit fridge
- Electric heads
- Dinghy davits
I left off a lot of the small convenience stuff, but you can see it all in this spec sheet - everything bolded is an upgrade from the spec boat from the manufacturer:
Sunsail 424 (sunsailyachtownership.com)
I will completely agree that if I were wanting to cruise the boat I would NOT want 4 heads and 4 staterooms. Storage was OK, but honestly was stressed for dry goods storage for 4 people for 10 days (though I admit we did over provision). We barely used 1/4 of one tank of fuel, motoring a little and running the (very quiet) generator for 2 hrs a day. Also, the other couple completely failed to honor the "1 short shower a day" rule, and other water conservation measures, and we ended up going through well over 400 gallons of tank water in 10 days (initial plus 2 refills) just for showers, dishes and flushes. But hey, at least I got practice docking a catamaran to refill the water tanks. The boat was over a year old, and actually in very good shape.
