2016 Lagoon 42: Best Catamaran Characteristics

I had a chance to do a quick walk-through on the 2016 Lagoon 42 catamaran at the Miami Boat Show in February (2016). In my opinion, it is a runaway winner among cruising catamarans! It is the perfect size live-aboard catamaran for a couple and has all the features that not only make it a comfortable live-aboard boat, but also very easy to sail and handle. It reminds me a lot of the Island Spirit 401.

It offers all the good characteristics of the Island Spirit catamaran. I always loved the wide, open scoops as well as the big cockpit and saloon of our Island Spirit, Siyaya. Lagoon has perfected that design in a very modern and sleek version with good bridgedeck clearance which is something that the Island Spirit lacked. All in all, the 2016 Lagoon 42 looks to be a great catamaran for a couple or family. It seems to perform really well and is offered at very attractive pricing.

Here’s my take on it. Be sure to watch the video of the Lagoon 42 at the bottom of this page!

Lagoon 42 Catamaran Characteristics

See Lagoon 42 specifications and layouts. Our take:

• The cockpit is open and very spacious.
• The scoops or transom steps have wide and shallow steps that makes boarding from a dinghy very easy.
• The semi-raised helm is safe and one has easy access to the coach roof.
• The boom is low enough for easy access and a self-tacking jib.
• The composite bimini has a sliding panel for a good view of the sails.
• The catamaran has good bridgedeck clearance.
• The steps to the semi-raised helm are sturdy and safe with hand holds everywhere.
• The interior is very nice with a fairly nice size saloon and one of the best catamaran galley designs, a U-shaped galley.
• It offers adequate storage.
• The beam is 25’3 which allows for good size cabins and walk-around island beds.
• The mast is moved further aft, much like the Lagoon 52 and will reduce pitching.
• With the boom further aft, the boom is shorter, but it has a high aspect mainsail with a squaretop providing good sail area aloft.
• The fore-triangle is thus bigger which allows for a bigger self-tacking genoa and bigger sails for downwind sailing
• This sailplan is supposed to make sail handling easier and improve performance: shorter and lower boom, self-tacking jib, & high aspect mainsail.
• Offered at super duper pricing.

Lagoon 42 Catamaran Minuses

• Headroom – The headroom in the cabins and heads are only 6’4″. So a taller guy will have trouble standing up. The lower profile means better sailing performance though. So, we give up one thing to gain another.
• Lack of storage is an issue according to some of our followers.
• The mast in the middle of the salon is an issue but with the mast placed so far back, they had no other choice. This is one of my least favorite things on this cat.&Howe er, with moving the mast aft, Lagoon was able to expand the fore-triangle and fit a bigger headsail (self-tacking jib), which translates into more power in the headsail. The mainsail is therefor smaller and more manageable. So, what they tried to do here is to make the sails more manageable for a cruising couple by reducing the mainsail and fitting a bigger self-tacking jib. We are not entirely sure about this arrangement yet. We would love to hear from our readers about this!

*Picture courtesy of Lagoon Catamarans