The current Lagoon 500 looks externally the same as its predecessors, but the interior has been redesigned — in place of the previous cherry finish is horizontal-grain light oak panelling, contrasting with dark finish laminated flooring.
As before there are three interior layouts. The port hulls of the three versions are identical, with a broad staircase down to a passageway that leads to two VIP cabins and a small, supplementary galley. The berths are island style, with easy access, and cabins are fitted with large lockers. Separate heads and shower compartments are provided for both cabins.
Three different layouts are available in the starboard hull: owners' version, one and two cabins, and a three-cabin charter variant. All cabins have their own heads.
The three-cabin Lagoon 500 layout sees the starboard hull devoted to a huge owner's cabin that incorporates a small saloon, desk, dressing-room, abundant storage space and a bathroom with a shower compartment and a separate head. At the head of the bed, on the aft starboard side, there is an opening hatch that provides views, light and ventilation.
The four-cabin layout incorporates an additional cabin identical to the forward port cabin and a shortened owner's suite.
The five-cabin layout is identical to the owners' four-cabin version, but the forward companionway to starboard opens up on another cabin, with bunk beds and a washroom.
PICK A PACK
In addition to the choice of three layouts is a choice of three equipment levels. To the base boat specifications, the Essential pack adds nine gel batteries, two chargers, cabin fans, MP3/radio/CD, waterproof cockpit speakers and a sail bag for the main. The Cruising pack adds further: gennaker kit, power winch for mainsheet, furler and traveller. The Comfort pack includes all of the above, plus spot and courtesy deck lights, teak cockpit and flybridge decks, deckwash pump, powered genoa sheet winches, TV antenna and mast, and an E20 display at the helm. The test boat was kitted out with the Cruising pack, plus some other options, which we've listed in the specs panel.
The Lagoon's saloon wouldn't look out of place in a small apartment. It has a wraparound settee, island seat, six-place dining table, galley with four-burner stove and oven, microwave, fridge, freezer, chart table and ample cabinet space. A dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer and additional fridge/freezers are available. Fit and finish are as you'd expect from a Beneteau Group product.
A sliding glass door opens onto the cockpit, which has another dining area, under a fibreglass, stainless steel post-mounted bimini. Nice touches are a sliding window servery between the saloon and the cockpit, and the fact that the cockpit table can be stowed in the bimini top.
The saloon design is upright rather than rakish, with vertical sides and windows that maximise interior space and keep the sun at bay.
The 500 is the smallest of the Lagoon range to feature a flybridge steering station on top of the saloon. Curved staircases port and starboard make flybridge access easy and safe. The bridge has a central wheel, instrument and control station flanked by lounges for six people to sit in comfort beside the helmsman. A folding spray dodger with clear front panel is supplied.
The wide decks have adequate anti-slip finish and are punctuated by flush hatches that light and ventilate the hulls. Stainless steel handrails abound.
The Lagoon 500 has a transverse beam connecting the hulls at the bow and aft of that are trampolines and a deep pod that extends from the cross-hull moulding. This structure holds a chain locker and electric windlass, storage compartments and a generator house with gas-strut assisted hatch.
The profile of the Lagoon 500 is chunky, thanks to its vertical bows and coach house, but this very practical shape is surmounted by a tall rig, with a powerful 154m² sail plan. The mainsail is fully battened and drops into a zippered bag, guided by lazy jacks. The headsail rolls onto a furler.
Sail handling has been given considerable thought and all lines lead to the central steering station, where a bank of four winches handles white-sail and gennaker duties. The mainsheet traveller is mounted on the bimini roof, attached to its heavy support posts. The double-ended mainsheet runs down to the bridgedeck, where there's an additional mainsheet winch, allowing main control from under the bimini.
The Lagoon can be steered from the saloon, using a joystick that operates the rudders via the autopilot. There are also duplicate engine controls in the saloon.
CONSTRUCTION AND RIG
The architects Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost designed the Lagoon 500 around the latest developments in naval architecture. Each hull is completely symmetrical, for even water flow on both sides.
Cruising catamarans generally carry a lot of equipment and displacement suffers, so Lagoons are built with weight-saving components in structures and furniture. Weight saving is ensured by resin infusion techniques. The hull, deck and bulkheads are built in a mould in the form of the finished piece, but the hull materials (outer fibreglass mat, sandwich core and inner mat) are laid out in place dry. The whole structure is covered with a plastic film and the air is vacuumed out, to draw the resin through every layer of the structure.
The process uses far less resin than traditional wet layups, saving money and weight. An anti-osmosis barrier is created by the use of vinylester resin.
The Lagoon 500 has shallow draft keels, rather than dagger boards and the keel structure is isolated from the hull volume, so a punctured keel doesn't mean water in the hull. The keels are slightly deeper than the rudder blades.
The Lagoon 500's bridge decks are noticeably high above the waterline, to reduce wave slap and impact stress on the structure. The gull-wing shaped bridge decks are an exclusive design, first seen in 2004 on the Lagoon 440 and introduced on all subsequent models.
Buoyancy is designed into all Lagoon catamarans and the boats comply with Europe's CE standards for the unsinkability of multihulls. The forward and aft compartments of each hull are separated from the living quarters by watertight bulkheads.
The aluminium mast is stepped on the saloon roof, with a polished compression post inside. Aft-run, wide-based upper and lower shrouds make a backstay redundant and the swept-back, double-spreader rig is well triangulated with upper and lower diamond stays.
The stainless steel wire shrouds are fitted with hard-wearing plastic sleeves to prevent sail and sheet chafe.
The twin Volvo or Yanmar engines are installed well aft in the hulls and there is excellent access around them, via deck hatches. These aft hatches also give access to the steering cables, cranks and rods, as well as the autopilot rams.
UNDER WAY
Moving a 50-footer out of a tight d'Albora Marina berth in Sydney's Rushcutters Bay looked to be a daunting task, but the Lagoon 500's high-set steering station give the helmsman excellent all-round visibility. The widely separated engines make it relatively simple to spin the big Lagoon 500 craft in its own length, so manoeuvring was much easier than the craft's size suggested. There was no need to worry about the helm: the engine control levers did the trick on their own.
Once clear of obstacles and speed zones the Lagoon 500 powered along happily at a shade over eight knots, with optional twin 75hp Volvos doing the work. Engine noise and vibration were almost indiscernible.
The electric halyard winch took the work out of hoisting the fully-battened mainsail and another powered winch did the sheeting job. We could motorsail with the main up at the same speed in the rising morning breeze, with engine revs dropped back two thirds.
Then we killed the engines, pulled its levers to full reverse to fold the four-bladers, the headie came out of its roller easily and we bore away on a broad reach.
The luxurious Lagoon 500's 17-tonne bulk demands a reasonable amount of air movement, so not much happened until the morning breeze puffed above five knots. Then the water gurgled around the hulls and we were soon surging along at wind speed. On the point, the speed dropped to around half wind speed, but for a big cat an upwind angle around 40 to 45° is acceptable.
Light breezes made a blast impossible, but we were impressed with the big boat's capability in sub-10kts wind. Lagoon has just introduced a square-topped, tri-radial mainsail option and we'd love to have a crack at that when one arrives Down Under. Drawings of the new main show that the Lagoon 500's chunky lines are well matched to this angular sail plan.
The Lagoon's helm was very heavy, but the plus side was that the boat held course through chop without moving around.
As with most big cats we found it best to steer using the autopilot + and – buttons.
Putting the sails away was a mixed experience. The jib was easy, but zipping the main into its voluminous bag was hard work on tip-toes. Lagoon needs to fit a better stowing system then the current one.
WHAT WE LIKED
- Quality fit and finish
- Generous accommodation
- Vast deck and sprawl space
- Self-contained cabins with heads
- Shaded saloon
- Excellent light entry and ventilation
- Quiet progress under power
- Power winches for easy sail handling
NOT SO MUCH
- Heavy steering
- Difficult mainsail stowage
Lagoon 500
PRICE AS TESTED
$1,176,300
OPTIONS FITTED
Cruising equipment plus: davit/mainsheet winch, cockpit and flybridge cushions, twin 75hp Volvos, four-blade folding props, Onan 9.5kVa genset, Raymarine autopilot upgrades, home theatre equipment and screen, radar antenna, Seatalk link, and rudder joystick
PRICED FROM
$962,840
GENERAL
Material: FRP hulls and decks w/ balsa core composite above the waterline and solid FRP below
Type: Catamaran
Length overall: 15.54m
Beam: 8.53m
Draft: 1.40m
Weight: 17,070kg
CAPACITIES
Berths: 4 (optional 5)
Fuel: 960lt
Water: 960lt
SAILS
Mainsail: Fully-battened
Headsail: Furling genoa
Total area: 154.2m2
ENGINE
Make/model: 2 x Yanmar 4JH4ACE
Type: Diesel four-cylinder, saildrives
Rated HP: 54 (Volvo and Yanmar 75hp optional)
Props: Fixed three-blade (three and four-blade folding props optional)
SUPPLIED BY
Vicsail,
d'Albora Marinas,
New Beach Road,
Rushcutters Bay, NSW, 2011
Phone: (02) 9327 2088
Fax: (02) 9362 4516
Email: sales@vicsail.com