Most of you know I’ve talked about replacing good ole’ Sierra Wind with a cruising catamaran for a long time. My brand of choice has been LAGOON. Certain features, including the fly bridge concept, and the generous sized engines Lagoon chooses, reminded me of a “Sierra Wind” with two hulls. I started looking at 440 and 450 Lagoons nearly ten years ago. Despite the nice size of Sierra Wind compared to other 36′ sloops, a 440/450 would be more than double her total size.
Well, it took me awhile, but I’ve finally done it, and I really took the plunge on the size scale!
The Lagoon 500 is a 51′ cruising catamaran with a 28′ beam and mast standing over 80′ above the waterline. There were a total of 151 Lagoon 500s produced at the shipyard in Bordeaux, France from 2005 to 2012. Reliant is a 2011 model, sailed across the Atlantic when launched.
In the ‘charter’ configuration, the 500 would be a 5 cabin boat, with two additional quarter berths, one in each bow section(quarter berth is a one man bunk). The standard owners version is a 4 cabin boat, but the configuration of Reliant is a special 3 cabin owner’s version. Each cabin features it’s own private lavatory and shower, with one quarter berth in the port bow.
Some technical specs for those interested:
- 2- 75hp Turbo Diesel Saildrive Engines(Yanmar)
- 11kw 240v Generator(Onan)
- Raymarine multi-station touch screen navigation and radar
- All electric Sheet and Halyard winches
- 90gph Desalinator
- 6 man canister life raft
- Dishwasher, Washer/Dryer, Icemaker
On Easter Sunday, April 15th, 2017, the 133 Lagoon 500 produced was rechristened the Reliant!!