Leopard 46 Catamaran, Old and New Generations Explained

The Leopard 46 badge belongs to two different catamarans

Anyone shopping for a Leopard 46 needs to know which one the listing means. Robertson and Caine, the South African yard that builds every Leopard, first used the name in late 2006 for a Morrelli and Melvin design that succeeded the Leopard 47. That boat stayed in production until 2012, when the Leopard 44 and 48 took over its slot. Most of the Leopard 46 catamarans for sale on the US brokerage market today are those 2006 to 2012 hulls, and the median sold price tracked by one multihull listing site sits around $399,000.

In 2024 the name came back on a clean-sheet Simonis Voogd design that replaces the Leopard 45, a boat that sold 379 hulls between its 2016 Annapolis debut and its final delivery in 2024. The new Leopard 46 won SAIL's Top 10 Best Boats 2025 and Cruising World's Boat of the Year award for Best Full-Size Multihull 45 to 50 feet. The original also went into The Moorings fleet as the Moorings 4600, and the new boat is built for The Moorings and Sunsail as well as private owners, which is worth remembering when you read listing histories.

The original weighs about 24,200 pounds light. The new one is listed at 38,925 pounds, and that single number explains most of the difference in how they sail and who should buy which.

Why the 2006 Morrelli and Melvin boat still sells fast

Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin are better known for America's Cup multihulls and fast Gunboats than for charter cats, and their Leopard 46 showed it. The hulls are narrow at the waterline with a fine entry, then flare sharply at a chine above the water to recover interior volume. Cruising World's 2007 sea trial reported boat speed nearly equal to the true wind speed in light air, an unusual result for a fully fitted cruising cat. The boat was listed at 46 feet 4 inches overall, 44 feet 7 inches on the waterline, 24 feet 10 inches of beam and 4 feet 5 inches of draft.

Construction is vacuum-bagged E-glass over balsa core, and the keels are sacrificial, secured by large horizontal keel bolts that should be checked for corrosion. Tankage of 206 gallons of water and 185 gallons of diesel is generous for the size. Cruising World's 2007 test boat had 40 hp Volvos, and the fleet also includes Volvo D55, Yanmar 4JH3E and 54 hp Yanmar 4JH4 installations.

Owners describe a cat that tracks well, slams less than its peers thanks to good bridgedeck clearance, and sails upwind at around 6 knots at 60 degrees apparent. The helm sits raised above the cockpit with seating for two, which keeps the skipper close to the crew rather than isolated on a flybridge. New in 2007 the boat listed at about $520,000, and well-kept examples now trade for 60 to 85 percent of that number almost two decades later, which says a lot about demand.

The 2025 Leopard 46, a heavier and more ambitious cat

Alex Simonis and his team kept the stepped hull concept Leopard has used for years, a narrow waterline with flared topsides, and wrapped a far more ambitious boat around it. The new 46 measures 45 feet 7 inches on deck, or 47 feet 6 inches with the optional lifting platform, with 44 feet of waterline, 24 feet 1 inch of beam and a 5 foot 5 inch draft. Upwind sail area is 1,512 square feet, set on a rig with a square-top main and an overlapping genoa rather than a self-tacking jib. Air draft is about 75 feet. Leopard's launch spec paired it with twin 45 hp Yanmars and 57 hp as the upgrade; the current Robertson and Caine spec sheet lists 57 hp as standard and 80 hp as optional, alongside a taller-mast Aramid Sport rig option.

Leopard's signature forward cockpit, reached through a watertight door from the saloon, survives. Yachting World notes that more than 2,000 Leopards have been built with that feature since 2010. The aft cockpit now opens through a four-panel glass door that stacks into the starboard casing below the helm, so the saloon and cockpit become one space. The raised helm gives sightlines to all four corners, and two electric winches are standard with a third optional.

Testers were not uncritical. Yachting World found the steering a little stiff, the wheel close enough to the coaming to trap fingers, and the forward guest shower tight. Sail locker space has also shrunk because the accommodation pushes further into the hulls.

• Base price quoted by SAIL at $789,000; well-equipped diesel boats near $999,000
• Three cabins plus utility room, four cabins, or a five cabin charter layout
• Bow skipper cabins eliminated compared with the Leopard 45
• Optional electric swim platform that extends aft for launching a larger tender

The hybrid option and what it really costs you

Hull number one arrived in the US with the optional hybrid drive, and it is the most interesting thing on the boat. The OneBox system, developed by the French company Joool, replaces the diesels with two 25 kW electric pods, pairs them with two 27 kWh lithium phosphate banks (one per hull), four 400-watt solar panels on the bimini and a 24 kW diesel generator that starts automatically when the batteries run low.

SAIL recorded 7.4 knots on batteries alone and 9.1 knots at full throttle with the generator running, with up to four hours of range at 6 knots on a full charge. Under sail the props regenerate, and Yachting World measured 1 to 1.3 kW of output at 12 knots apparent. The catch is that regeneration requires fixed propellers, which create at least a knot of drag under sail, and the package adds upwards of $140,000. Cruising World's hybrid test boat was priced at $1.2 million.

Our view is that the hybrid suits owners who spend long periods at anchor. For budget-minded passage makers, the diesels with folding props remain simpler, cheaper and faster.

Measured performance from three sea trials

Independent numbers for the new boat cluster tightly. Cruising World sailed it on the Chesapeake in 10 to 15 knots with a square-top main and code zero and saw 7 knots and change, quicker in puffs. SAIL logged low 7s on a beam reach in 14 knots true and 6 to 6.5 knots close-hauled at 60 degrees apparent. Yachting World, on a heavily optioned boat, saw just over 8 knots under code zero in 15 knots apparent and 6.5 to 7 knots at 60 degrees, and noted that in 17 knots apparent under main and genoa the boat made the high 6s against polars that predicted 8 or more.

Those are respectable figures for a 39,000 pound cruising catamaran, but they are not the near wind-speed light air pace of the original. If sailing feel matters most, test both generations back to back.

Leopard 46 Powercat, the third boat with this name

Search for a Leopard 46 and you will also find the Leopard 46 Powercat, launched in 2022. It is a separate Simonis Voogd design built on the same beam, 47 feet 5 inches overall, with twin Yanmar diesels of 250, 320 or 370 hp. Power and Motoryacht recorded a 17 knot cruise and 21 knots top speed, with roughly 550 nautical miles of range at cruise and about 1,000 miles at 8 knots. The base price at launch was $969,000.

Running costs and the beam problem

Both generations are about 24 to 25 feet wide, which rules out most standard slips in US marinas. Plan on an end tie or a catamaran slip and expect to pay 50 to 100 percent more than a monohull berth of the same length. Insurance for a classic boat valued near $375,000 is moderate, but owners in hurricane zones should budget for named storm deductibles and haul-out plans.

On an older boat the real costs are refit costs: saildrive seals, rigging older than ten years, trampolines, hatches and canvas. Budget about $38,000 to $55,000 a year all-in for a classic hull and $60,000 to $85,000 for a new boat with generator, watermaker and lithium systems.

Which Leopard 46 for sale fits your plans

Buy the original if you want a proven, quick cruising cat for the price of a new 40-footer and you are comfortable managing a refit. Owner versions with three cabins and a full-length starboard suite are the pick, and a boat with recent rigging, upgraded batteries and new saildrive seals is worth a meaningful premium over one that left charter service with original systems.

Buy the new boat if you want a warranty, modern systems, the forward cockpit with today's glass door and helm layout, and possibly the hybrid. Because Robertson and Caine builds for The Moorings and Sunsail as well as private owners, expect a steady flow of ex-charter boats into brokerage once the first fleet terms end later this decade, which should soften used prices for private buyers who can wait.