[dutchie]

I’m very interested in a Laguna (1973) that’s for sale.

But before I will put a bid on it I want to know if there’s some of you have experience with this type of boat.
The deck it’s a sandwich construction and I found some info about the hull in a ad.

“The hull is a hand laid-up laminate of fiberglass cloth, mat and woven roving, stiffened with longitudinal stringers. FRP sandwich construction is used below the chine from the forefoot back to the water-tight engine compartment bulkhead”

Thanks, Marco

[Liam]

The 11 meter is a very strong boat, and sea worthy too. They weigh as much as a Bertram or Hatteras of the same size, but are a more cabin boat. Strong indeed.
Deep hull all the way of 20 degrees plus. They need some high torque power, but can cruise at 18 knots in quite rough conditions. Down, up, or side wind....
We have half a dozen of them over here, and all have nice lines.

FYI American Marine is Grand Banks, and Laguna was more there planning line in the eighties.
The ones in Malta have had little to no trouble. Never seen one with structural issues and even osmosis is quite rare. Considering the eighties boats had a lot of issue with this.

[dutchie]

Thanks for the info.

The boat that you talking about it’s the 11.5 metre boat. American Marine build two types, the 10 (33) and the 11.5 (38) metre with the same engine configuration.

What about the rudders? They look to be on the small side for slow cruising.

[PacBlue]

This boat is one of my favorite topics as our family had a Laguna 10 metre from 1976 to about 1982. The hull is well built and will take much bigger seas than you would imagine. The deep-vee works its' magic and that bow would never bury, although the speeds back then are not as close to todays.

Went through two sets of GMC Toro-Flow Diesel Engines that American Marine marinized, were pretty much garbage, heavy smokers, and the transom was always black due to a significant "station wagon" effect even with the underwater exhaust! The Hull is worthy of a repower, and the Robert Dorris designed hull was way ahead of its time, as well as some opf the trick American Marine Interior features.

Our family of five used the hell out of that boat and thought nothing of going 50 - 70 miles offshore. Unfortunately, the engines were the plague of the Laguna's, as there were no modern high power to weight engines available at the time. The CAT 3208's were heavy and too big, although some managed to shoe horn them in. This would be a great repower candidate for a more compact Yanmar/Volvo Penta/Cummins.

The small rudders didn't seem to affect the handling and the cable (manual) steering had very positive feedback. I even drove her back home from 55 miles offshore on one engine in 10 - 12 foot seas manually (no autopilot) without too much effort. (as I recall!)

After one round of rebuilds, we lost power on the way back to the marina and upon swinging opening the stbd engine hatch (with wet bar included), saw fuel from a broken copper fuel line spraying forward and luckily not backwards towards the turbo. Unfortunately, this was to occur again for the next owner a few years down the road, and I recall thick black smoke on the horizon as she burnt to the waterline and met her fate on the bottom of the ocean - something that happened to more than one Laguna 10 metre with those engines.

I do recall the decks feeling a bit "spongy" and I believe they were balsa cored, something to look out for. All said and done I loved the ride and layout, it really is a capable pocket cruiser

[dutchie]

The engines were replaced in 2006/2007 for some FNM ATM100, 100hp each!!

I think, for a semi-displacement as the Laguna, it’s needs at least 150hp. That’s the downside of this configuration.

But if a had the choice of the original ones or the FNM’s I think this is not so bad because I will take the boat only at the inland waters.

The deck has the same problem as you describe “spongy”. Typically all the gangway feels like that.

[dutchie]

There were some issue’s found when the survey inspected the Laguna.
The engines were 10 years older than the broker mentioned and almost all the electric equipment seems not to work.
That’s not a problem for me but I want that reflect in de price. He want not move a bit from the price that we agree on so I’m looking now for some other boot.

Hatteras 41 Convertible-Series 1 1966 with the original GM 8V53-N engines, 400 hours since overhaul in 1990.

So, give your thoughts about this “battlewagon”