2006 Leopard Catamarans Leopard 40 2

A 2006 Leopard 40 asking $199,900 through Little Yacht Sales. This is the first-generation Leopard 40: Morrelli & Melvin — the firm behind Steve Fossett's record cats — drew it for Robertson and Caine's Cape Town yard, and it entered the charter fleets as the Moorings 4000, two feet longer yet some 4,000 lb lighter than the Leopard 38 it replaced. Cruising World named it 2005 Best Overall Import and Best Multihull 40 feet and under. Charter-bred volume with real sailing manners is the brand's signature, and this is the model where that claim was earned.

Two honesty notes. We hold no sister ship — this is the only Leopard on our shelf — so we cannot say whether $199,900 is keen for a 2006 example. And against the mid-2000s cruising cats we do hold, it is the top price: every comparable asks less, and the boat sits inside the under-$200k catamaran band by exactly one hundred dollars. The pedigree is real; a premium is being charged for it.

The nearest rival is the 2004 Lagoon 410 S2 at Kemah, Texas — a half-foot longer, two years older, $9,901 less:

If length is what the money is for, the 1995 Prout 45 at Stuart buys five more feet for $20,900 less, and the trade is eleven years of age:

And where the opposite instinct leads, the 2013 Gemini Legacy 35 at Green Cove Springs is seven years newer for $59,910 less, the trade being five feet of boat:

But if the charter-proven forty-footer is the brief, this is the one to survey first: