Aristo-Cat II For Sale
Island Spirit 400 Catamaran
$259,000
Aristo-cat II an Island Spirit 400 was custom built for us in October 2003. We had previously owned an Island Spirit 37 and made 146 changes to the boat when we bought the 400. This boat is used for charter, but is designed for live aboard comfort. Jennifer and I have run a family friendly crewed yacht on this boat since we purchased her. The reason we are selling is so our daughter Lilly can spend more time in the states with the family.
You could continue to use her as a positive income source or she is equipped to sail off into the sunset. She is not a typical Charter Yacht as she is our personal boat and is professionally maintained. We have "sold" the boat 3 times over the past year and each time the buyer has been unable to close, so we are emotionally ready to sell.
Few people are familiar with the Island Spirit as not many are produced, but once you step aboard, you will soon realize nothing compares in space in this size and price range. The boat is located in the British Virgin Islands, but I have arranged for people to tour her sistership in Cape Coral Florida if they don't wish to fly all the way to BVI.
Our charter business, www.sailingthecaribbean.com is also available with the sale of the boat. If you have ever wanted to run a crewed yacht, full or part time, we have the knowledge to set you up.
The boat has been used for charter, but she does not compare to the "Bare" bareboats in the Caribbean that are not equipped for cruising. Aristo-cat II is not a "project boat", but a boat you could sail off into the sunset tomorrow without the worry of spending extra money for equipment and gear.
Below are some photos of the boat in Cape Town, Nov 2003
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Coming off the trailer, the boats are built about 9 miles from the launch. Given police escort to the marina. |
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Stern Shot from Below |
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This shot shows the 4 75w solar panels. Cockpit and pushpit seats. Extra wide helm seat. Drink holders, shower on each sugarscoop. Complete walk thru sugarscoop. Wide side decks, look hard and you can see the sugarscoop courtesy lights |
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Bow Shot, shows bow seats, great mesh tramps. Seats on Louvered windows |
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Bow from an slight different angle |
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Galley: Corian counter tops. Trash can is lower left, microwave will be upper left. Dishdrainer built into the countertop left. Fan and two opening ports for the cook. A lot of storage |
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Cockpit table, one of two cockpit lights. Not a huge table which you have to always go around. You can also see the hot and cold water shower as well as the backrest cushion. Just above the table in the background is more seating for two facing forward. |
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Aft Port Cabin. Fans each side. Obviously no cushions yet. Our berths are linear so you don't have to crawl over anyone at night to get out. |
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Shot of the head with the fancy loo roll holder. Jabsco Electric head, new in Spring 2006 |
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Extra wide helm seat for two people. Adjusts any direction. Garmin 172c, 12v, Autohelm, remote VHF mic. Throttles set to the right side for visibility when maneuvering. You can see the double row of seating behind. Two stainless drink holders on the right. Below the deck is a lot of storage for water gear. |
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Nav Station and 1 of 2 fridge units. Corian here also. |
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Main salon forward Port. Under the overboard pole is the Beer cooler (which is actually a deep freeze that we just kep turned low) To the left is the booze locker. To the right is A/C unit (not seen) |
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This is a decent shot of the Starboard sugar scoop. Very wide easy water access, with handrail. Drink hold/shampoo holder to the right. Led Courtesy light left |
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The last jammer is for the port jib sheet. It can be run from Port or Starboard side to helm singlehand. |
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The food fridge/freezer is left. The beer cooler is on the right. The beer cooler will hold 5 cases and even has a light. It is actually a freezer that we just use as a fridge. |
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Water and fuel tank gauge, 2 water and 1 fuel for each side. |
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| Purchase Price $275,000 | |
The Island Spirit 40 catamaran is build as a live aboard boat and not as a charter boat. As a result you will have more space, storage and comfort than you will find on most charter boats. One thing missing is all the "what the heck were they thinking" features found on many boats. Most of the multi-hulls in the Caribbean are built around a huge cockpit table which allows no where to hang out in the cockpit. In May we had a party with 22 people in the cockpit, could you do that on a Lagoon, Fountain Pajot, Voyage or Leopard - NO!
The boat is setup with 4 cabins and 2 heads. All the cabins are the same size, all with great storage. I am 6'2 and can sleep anywhere on the boat.
Not familiar with the Island Spirit? They are built in South Africa and sailed to the Caribbean, not shipped. This alone says a lot about the construction, safety and comfort of the boat. Could your boat handle 6 weeks of the South Atlantic?
Now for the fun stuff.......some of the extra toys not found on most charterboats that Aristo-cat II has are:
Here is a video shot by bareboater Rick Allen in 2004 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6926760390369685747&q=bvi if shows off a lot of the great features of the boat.
Sailing related items
- Garmin 172c Color chartplotter at the helm, with the Garmin Bluechart SE Caribbean. The Bluechart looks just like paper charts. All major waypoints set. There is also a serial interface hidden in the panel, if you want to unlock a Caribbean Bluechart and be a geek and navigate with your laptop. Garmin won't allow you to use the laptop interface without unlocking to a specific unit. The serial number for the unit is 3030250737, you will need that number to be a geek and show anything on your laptop. Also Garmin now used NRoute as the interface software, this is a free download from www.garmin.com
- 12v at the helm
- Icom 402 DSC VHF remote at the helm
- Autohelm STS 5000 which allows you to singlehand
- Port Jib sheet can run to the helm to allow singlehanding or remain on Port side. I do not know of any other Catamaran that allows single handing.
- Facnor Batten Car system. Mains on all cats are huge and heavy. With a Batten Car system the main slides up quickly and easy with less effort. It is a South African boat so the sail is large, strong and heavy. The batcar system installed is above the required spec for the boat.
- Rigid walkway on the bimini so you can tuck the reef lines in to the stackpak. No ugly unkempt sails on this boat!
- 225 feet of chain anchor rode.
Galley Items
- Corian Countertops
- 2 Fridge/Freezer units, one will hold 5 cases of beer or soda so the only ice you should need will be for the blender. We just use the freezer as a beer cooler, but it works great as a freezer.
- Microwave, Toaster, Coffee maker, Blender all 110v
- A lot of galley storage and food prep area, dual sinks and a separate dish drain area. We even have a pizza stone! Most catamarans in this size range are not designed with a cook in mind, the assumption is you eat ashore. Aristo-cat II's galley would be good enough to have at home!
- Proper non stick cookware and cooking utensils.
- A large proper trash can in a convenient location and easy to use. This is another custom design, it is not a hole that you drop trash into, it is a setup similar to a fast food restaurant trash can with a swinging door.
- For those people that like to grill, we have invested in the ultimate charcoal grill. The Tailblazer with an 18x 13 inch cooking surface! There is no better grill.
Comfort Items
- A helm seat for TWO that adjusts up and down for your comfort and visibility. Allows for shorter people or children to drive the boat there is only one other catamaran on the market with this feature.
- Dockside Air-conditioning, 16000 BTU. The vents can be regulated so air can flow where it is desired.
- Each cabin has 2 Hella fans not the normal 1 fan, no more hogging the fan issues
- Jabsco Electric Toilet, new in 2006, no pumping!!!!
- 200 Gallons of water with water gauges, the tank gauges are only working on the bow tanks right now. The boat is setup for cisterns for rain water capture, we have not used this, but it is a simple matter to finish the setup.
- Hot and cold water shower on Port Sugarscoop, cold only on Starboard side sugarscoop. Most boats just have water on one side.
- Swim ladder designed to come up with fins on
- Oodles of cockpit storage, nothing has to be left out as a trip hazard
- Tons of easy access storage in the main salon for dry goods.
- A lot of storage under the forward berths as well as forward of the forward berths.
- Lights in the main salon are on a dimmer for atmosphere
- Of course there is tons of COMFORTABLE seating EVERYWHERE on the boat. The settees in the main salon are setup in an "L" shape allowing two tall adults to nap head to head straight out. I snooze here often when at sea so I can be off watch, but nearby. You cannot do this on a curved Settee.
Just Plain Cool Stuff
- Stainless Steek Drink holders scattered all over the boat, each bow seat, each winch, each pushpit seat, helm and cockpit seats. Every location you would naturally put down a beverage.
- Large 3.6 meter dinghy with 15hp engine
- Four 75watt Solar panels. You should never have to just run the engines to charge batteries, which is so annoying. With our 115amp alternators on each engine just normal motoring and solar will keep the batteries up. Each engine also has a 55 amp alternator to charge the starting battery and as a backup. Many cats just charge off one engine, leading to an engine hour in balance.
- For battery regulation we use the Xantrex (Heart) Link 2000. This is a great system!
- Courtesy lights on each sugar scoop to help board the boat at night. Of course we have wide sugarscoops and handholds also, which most boats don't have.
- Led light in the beer cooler
- Our bow seats are full wrap around for safety and comfort, these are so cool! Most boats do not have wrap around seating.
- Two trampolines made of mesh, they are very comfortable to walk or sleep on. Many boats have a netting that is not pleasant to walk on.
Expected Stuff
2 holding tanks
Complies with BVI Code Blue Requirements ($3200 expense in 2006)
Yanmar 27 hp - each with 2 alternators, 115 and 55
Quantum bimini and Stack pack
Oodles of stuff that you would expect on the boat. Email me with specific questions.
Dinghy hoists from the bimini, so it is easy to secure and does not chaff.
Purchase Details
The boat is presently in charter with HorizonYacht Charters in BVI. Aristo-cat II is the top booking boat with Horizon. She can be left in charter or taken away for private use. She has immediate income upon closing of the sale. Price is $275,000
You might ask, why after custom building this boat are we selling? Jennifer and I now have a child, Lilly http://sailingthecaribbean.com/lilly.htm , born June 2005 so we are wanting to take a hiatus from sailing.
We are also willing to sell our "crewed yacht" business www.sailingthecaribbean.com . We were able to generate good income with our crewed yacht business and would be more than happy to train the new owner.
Current Bareboat Rates
Jan 5-Jan 30 $4995
Jan 31-April 11 $5895
April 12-May 2 $4995
May 3-July 9 $4195
July 10-Oct 31 $3695
Nov 1-Dec 17th $4195
Dec 18-Jan 4th $5895
At the present time, we have booking until July 2007.
For detailed Bareboat Guide to the Aristo-Cat II select this link. This is the guide book we provide on the boat to people bareboating Aristo-Cat II.
When looking at a used Cat, most people look at the Lagoon 380 or 410 or the Fountain Pajot. You just need to walk aboard those yachts, then walk aboard our to see the immediate difference. There is NO comparision.
There are several Island Spirit 37s for sale at this time, , but the 400 has been substantially refined. Some of the differences between the IS 37 and IS 400 are listed below.
The quality of construction has continue to improve from the factory. Several Island Spirits 37 on the market were built by individuals and not the factory.
The obvious change is the longer sugarscoops, this has improved sailing.
More Galley Storage
Additional Cleats on Deck
No more water slapping noises in the berths
Improved electrical, plumbing systems
The boat has been professionally maintained since day one by the same people. All of the Island Spirit 37s on the BVI market were neglected by Tradewind Yachts prior to them going bankrupt. These boats do not compare!
Mike and Jennifer's Main Sailing Page
Contact us Mike and Jennifer Kneafsey 918 740-8764