Bavaria 42

I am replying only out of courtesy to those that responded re my 'Lada' quip..
I am sure that for pottering for 3 years a Bav is fine. Once you start having to put dosh into it ...
When looking at older boats the hull,rudder and rig are usually pretty sound,with loads of built in redundancy and service life left...Clearly the price of s/h Bavs reflects this in a different way?
Agree re Volvo engines,surprised at Selden probs(how many actually)
and yes its all about getting afloat but the tradeoff between space and gadgets vs solid seakeeping and lesser accommodations does seem to be going in favour of the well marketed and glossy Bavs..Actually I am probably just getting old!
 
I think tou have hit it on the head.

The people you regularly see out sailing are usually in older smaller boats. Larger boats tend to stay longest in marinas - this obviously does not apply across the board - but is a good rule of thumb.

To buy a big, spacious boat, it makes sense to have it sitting in a nice marina to be inhabited at weekends with the occassional foray for a day sail.

Why bother spending £000,000's on a country cottage with all the cost of Council tax etc when you can have a relatively cheap abode, next to water that can accomodate the family in supreme comfort.

It makes sense. Bavaria et al provide the means.

Donald
 
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Why bother spending £000,000's on a country cottage with all the cost of Council tax etc when you can have a relatively cheap abode, next to water that can accomodate the family in supreme comfort.


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Quite - and it's those people that push up mooring/berthing charges!!!
 
I am not sure if this comment is in jest. I am not taking sides on this but Avanti an AWB finished the ill fated Sydney Hobart race in 1998 with flying colours and Midnight Rambler won. Both fractional rigs with bendy masts!
 
If I was considering a new (or nearly new) plastic fantastic right now I would favour Jeanneau over Bav. Industry insiders tell me that build quality is that bit better.
 
And Hanse look more substantial too, as well as being better looking. Just less glam varnish inside as far as I can tell. Funny how little they get mentioned in here.
 
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No Bavaria's, any size, on the list for JAC08 nor

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Given the Jester challenge attrition rate this year I am surprised you cite such a collection of designs in the anti Bav argument.

There are plenty of Bavarias on the ARC entry list each year.
 
I think that might be partly because Bav don't make a boat small enough to qualify /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
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And Hanse look more substantial too, as well as being better looking. Just less glam varnish inside as far as I can tell. Funny how little they get mentioned in here.

[/ QUOTE ] Don't their rudders fall off a lot? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I enjoyed reading the account of your summer cruise. However since investing in your 44ft heavy weight I have noticed some of your disparaging AWB remarks made from the lofty position of your new displacement and ballast ratio.

The simple fact is a new Bavaria 42 or Etap 38 is quite capable of sailing west of Guernsey but one summer when events conspired against you and the prudent decision was to curtail an ambitious family cruise.
 
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And Hanse look more substantial too

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Well we better exclude the wicker weave locker doors in this comparison!

The smallest Hanse based on the mould acquired from an upmarket Scandinavian yards looks good.
 
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Don't their rudders fall off a lot?

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You want to be cautious saying that! The rudder stock that broken is made by the same company that makes them for almost everyone, incl the likes of HR and other esteemed marques.
 
As said - I found where the limits of my AWB were. They had never bothered us before, but now we want to go beyond that. Hence other boat.

My experience of Bavaria is limited to 2 occasions:

1. a delivery trip in November from Opal to Burnham of a Bav 36. We were beating into a F6/7 most of the time. Two observations - one) she slammed at lot two) joinery. Whatever was open would not close, what was closed would not open. Took owner 6 months to convince Opal that this was a warranty issue.

2. Delivering a Bav 40 - in summer. Alongside a wall. When casting off 2 crewmembers jumped o/b foredeck from the wall (height about 1m). Forward bulkhead cracked.

I'm sure that there are some very happy owners out there, but it will take more than a few "mine's OK" comments to convince me that they're not a tad flimsy.

Everything's down to a price, but price is not everything!

This would leads me to another point: Bavaria is effectively killing the second hand market.
When we had our Etap for sail I got the comment "I could get a new Bavaria for a little more than that".
Compare it to the Lada point earlier in this thread. When you're looking to buy a used Volvo you don't say "A new Lada costs less"?!
 
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Don't their rudders fall off a lot? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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It is worth comparing the difference in approach between Hanse and Bav here.

When the rudder fell of the Hanse boat they sent a team of engineers out to try to determine what happened.

When someone died because the keel fell off the new Bavaria, they denied all responsibility, blamed everyone other than themselves and turned a blind eye to all the evidence that they had a serious problem.
 
I also like the external aesthetics of the most recent Hanses. Bavarias remind me of pregrnant hippos, especially when out of the water. The latest Hanses have pleasing lines. Hanses from 5-odd years ago were ugly beasts though.
 
I considered them all and prefered the Jeanneau over the Bavaria but in fairness it was also a dearer boat. Most times you do get what you pay for!

I bought the Jeanneau knowing it would get heavy use on the charter market and carefully examined a 4 year old charter boat to see how it stood up to the test of time. I also listened carefully to operators of charter fleets to see which makes did not stand up to heavy use.

The high gloss varnish finish on a Hanse ruled it out but then Hanse are targeting owners not the charter market.

When my Dufour got knocked down in an unexpected F9 it was the mast/spreaders that suffered damage yet I do not see the quality end of the market fit a specific, stronger, different make of mast whatever the thickness of the backstay!
 
As others have already said, blagging the Bavarias has become something of a pastime on this forum. As others have more reasonably remarked, Bavaria must be doing something right to have sold consistently so well.

I have a Bav 40 bought from new in 2001 since which time I have sailed 17,000 miles in her to include an Atlantic circuit. In the lead up to the ARC 2004, my crew and I took her out in home waters on several occasions when the conditions were not just lively but downright rough so that we could assess for ourselves how she would behave in the more extreme conditions. F6-7 were regular conditions as we trained ourselves for the event. On two separate occasions we found ourselves a long way offshore in winds of F8 and above and on one occasion off the coast of Portugal in the largest seas I have yet encountered (30'+) anywhere. In the ARC, she encountered large seas for three days continuously and went through squalls of over 40 kts. Coming back from the Caribbean she beat to windward for nearly 30 days (horrible trip!).

Guess what, after 6 seasons and 17,000 miles, all doors close/open, all equipment works without fault, there is no delamination, no osmosis, no distortion of the hull or interior displacement anywhere. I can tell you this because I have today received the surveyor's report as I am moving to a different boat optimised for blue water cruising.

So my message is, make your own mind up about the Bavaria line, don't be afraid to take it into open water as some here have advised (I suspect some of them haven't done it in any boat anyway), like all boats, keep on top of the maintenance and enjoy it. Of course they are built to a price but don't believe the nonsense you hear from the Twisters of this world who will diss anything not made in wood, in the UK and in the last twenty years! (sorry, Twister but your comments on AWB's get right up my nose!)

Good luck with whatever you choose to do
 
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