Bavaria 34, The ideal starter yacht according to YM

To anyone who doesn't think that a 10-15 year old 34 footer is not a typical "starter boat" (i.e. first family cruiser).

What planet are you living on?

The planet where I had to sell my Westerly Pentland to pay for my kids to go to University. The Westerly was not my starter boat, mine was a 24 wooden Arden 4 which I bought after selling my Dad's converted lifeboat. We dont all have deep pockets let alone have the income to pay high marina fees. 71 OAP.
 
Why on earth would a starter boat have to be a new boat? :confused:

As a starter boat, I would buy a cheap and cheerful used boat.

Unfortunately there is no money to be made flogging cheerful used magazines for you to read about such boats.
 
Having owned a 34 as a starter boat from 2001 which I recently sold while clearly I am biased it ticked many boxes and clearly there is an active second hand market for Bavarians in this range although sadly some examples do seem to have been mistreated but those which have been loved seem to be sold by clipper if priced correctly
As others have said whether it's new or run in the Bavaria in its different 34 versions does everything competently including being manoverable in reverse and light enough to push around when birthed and not needing a bow thruster. The original electromagnetic sails were probably the poorest bit but by now these have no doubt been replaced on most of this vintage by smart new ones in vector on or whatever
While there were a lot of extras needed at time we never regretted adding any and I suspect the new one which is roughly twice the 2001 price might give the same pleasure as the older ones. Whether twin wheels adds to a 34 might be debatable but if in the market for a new boat in this size I would certainly have a look
You might gain more weight in a HR of the same size but at what price? The other one which looks attractive is a Hanse maybe ?
I am sure many new owners will gain a lot of pleasure though from the new 34 and wish them all well.
 
To anyone who doesn't think that a 10-15 year old 34 footer is not a typical "starter boat" (i.e. first family cruiser).

What planet are you living on?

Possibly the one that exists outside of London, the one where people have to earn a real wage and might just have other priorities but might like to dip a toe into the world of yachting.
 
By coincidence I sailed an older Bavaria 34 a couple of weekends ago (bloody cold it was too) and as a starter boat it would be ideal, far better than any older yacht like a Sigma 33, Westerly Storm and certainly boats like Rivals and Contessas. The purpose of the article of course is to appraise the yacht but newbies who read the article and want to own a yacht are likely influenced to look at second hand ones. A quick glance at the brokerage pages show Bavaria 34's at around the low £40k mark; a lot of boat for the money and not too expensive to maintain and keep in commission at that length. Of course one can buy a 1970's Rival for around £17k - £25k but the volume is very cramped by comparison. Even at 41', if you place my Rival 41 alongside the equivalent Bavaria in LOA, my boat is dwarfed; that is what folks want, volume and low cost.

Tranona stated that in 10 to 20 years the older class of yachts will hardly be known about. I suggest that this is the case now. I still have working associations with sailing schools and charter companies on the Clyde and the newbies around 30 years of age really do not know about the older classes; their world is firmly Bavaria and other mass produced yachts (from chartering) as well as current specialist builders. A Westerly Longbow in their mind would be associated with archery and 1066.

While I appreciated the space that could lose two families in a Bavaria 45 Cruiser (a head and bed for each mum/dad couple and a head for the kids up forward as well as two fore cabins), I still prefer my Rival 41C, but them I am biased. As my 17 year old son says, "that's Dad's old boat, I think it's a Viral or something". I just carry on.
 
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Yes, but not as much as you might think at 1950kg compared with 1550kg. So, 400kg less allocated to the structure and machinery. Expensive dead weight.
Poor old Bavaria cannot win the online rumour game.

They are light and flimsy.
Err no the same displacement as an HR.
They don't have enough balast.
Yes that is because they waste 400kgs overbuilding the hull.
 
Poor old Bavaria cannot win the online rumour game.

They are light and flimsy.
Err no the same displacement as an HR.
They don't have enough balast.
Yes that is because they waste 400kgs overbuilding the hull.


pvb is misleading you.

The boat tested was: Disp: 9900lbs Ballast: 3080ibs

The Rassy 343 is: Disp 11,700lbs Ballast: 4300lbs

There is no reason why the Bavaria could not make a sensible first cruiser, Every design and every individual boat must be judged on it's merits, against your own requirements.

The usual faces try to come up with blanket opinions which always boil down to the same general idea: "I have bought the best boat, far better than yours".

I am sure Freud has a theory about it.
 
pvb is misleading you.

The boat tested was: Disp: 9900lbs Ballast: 3080ibs

The Rassy 343 is: Disp 11,700lbs Ballast: 4300lbs

There is no reason why the Bavaria could not make a sensible first cruiser, Every design and every individual boat must be judged on it's merits, against your own requirements.

The usual faces try to come up with blanket opinions which always boil down to the same general idea: "I have bought the best boat, far better than yours".

I am sure Freud has a theory about it.

pvb (and myself) were referring to the latest Bavaria 34, not the older model - where you are indeed correct. However the latest 33 and 34 are much heavier boats. Displacement 5300kg, ballast 1550. Compared with the HR at 5300kg and 1950kg. Ballast ratios in HRs have been steadily reducing over the last 20 years or so from the mid 40% to mid 30%. Similar pattern with most recent boats - for example the Waiquez 47 in this month's YM has a ballast ratio of 29.7% - lower than any Bavaria.

Ballast and ballast ratios can be very misleading as they tend to reflect hull design where narrow deep hulls with slack bilges and therefore low form stability need heavy ballast to carry enough sail to make them move. Increase form stability and you can reduce ballast, and furthermore use keels with low ballast bulbs.

However the main point of this argument is to dispel the idea that Bavarias, particularly the latest designs are "flimsy".
 
Interestingly, the current Mondeo is longer, wider and higher than the old Scorpio. Cars have changed.
Slight thread drift but relevant. Mondeo Estate is much cheaper than BMW, much more economic to run, and if you keep it for more than just the first few years not appreciably greater depreciation although it has half the street cred. Bav. vs. HR? Very similar scenario I think.
 

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