Bavaria Salesman rendered speechless

[iangrant]

It was one of those heart stopping moments when the classic “beam me up Scottie” would have been appropriate. SWMBO and me took a couple of friends along to the SIBS. They said they would like to look onboard the Bavaria and leg ends, so up the steps we go. Onto the 47K Bavaria 32, very reasonably priced we thought. We removed our shoes as requested and poked about down below until the salesman appeared, sat ‘imself down at the chart table and launched into what great boats they where, the same doors and lockers on the 40 footers, same cupboards, all mass produced, etc.. The other SWMBO asked innocently “if it where a car, what would it compare to, a Skoda?” I thought the poor sod – he was speechless, he gazed up at the hatch, drew breath and replied; “No madam, more a ford Focus”

A little later, on board the HR 48 SWMBO poked at a silver leaver in the forward heads and soaked my mate stood in the shower,


Ian


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[woody001]

pure class

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[mikewilkes]

<A little later, on board the HR 48 SWMBO poked at a silver leaver in the forward heads and soaked my mate stood in the shower>

Should have been the Bavaria salesman!!!



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[pragmatist]

Were you planning to remain friends with this couple ?!

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK - but serious about not being in the UK !

 

[tome]

Is it wise showing SWMBO around the HR48? You have been warned...

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[iangrant]

I told her - sell the house and we will have one!!

Ian

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[BlueSkyNick]

I told her - sell the house and we will have one!!

Funny that, I said exactly the same about the Nadgers !!

<hr width=100% size=1>It's frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.

 

[walker]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Tosser.

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[oldgit]

Sigh...........From one who knows.

Your Baveria man is a bit behind the times(same with most ragmen/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif).The new Skoda Octavias are better than a match for the Focus everwhere except perhaps handling.The new Superb makes the Mondeo look like a ponderous claustrophopic cramped barge..



<hr width=100% size=1>Nastro Azzurro.Hoegaarden.Chang.Tiger.

 

[Dave_Snelson]

Bavaria Sailor Renedered Speechless

It came to pass...

A Bavaria 37 came up close to us at anchor in Abersoch. He was single handed and keen to prove this fact up close and uncomfortable (to me anyway). Then he lost it...the main sail sheets went and the tack went pair shaped. I thought he was going to T-Bone me, but he rescued enough rope to make sail and missed me by 10 yards. With my panic subsiding and his "cool" completely blown, I proceded to heckle with a few jibes of my own...

I know it can happen to the best of us but he was such a show-off, he deserved it.

Nice boat though!

<hr width=100% size=1>Madoc Yacht Club
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk>http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk</A>

 

[PerL]

Beautiful yacht, the HR48. I saw it on Orust a few weeks ago and I just loved it. IMHO it must be the best designed yacht that HR has ever made. All yachts are compromises, but I couldn't almost find a single fault with this one! Perhaps the price...


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[iangrant]

Quality yacht - will also look the same in 15 years time..

Ian

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[tome]

Had a look around the Frers HR48 - very impressive. Layout is almost identical to the Enderlein HR49 (except that the E is flush decked) which can be had for a song!

We have some friends with a HR49. They spent a lot on re-decking, new rig, and new upholstery and she's a great boat for a fraction of the cost of the 48.

Just a thought!

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[Guest]

You rotten thing !!

Fancy doing that to the nice gent .....

So it has all the same gear as the bigger 40's ....... so what's so special about that ?? Maybe they should say ----- same lockers etc. as the smaller 30's !!

Quality boat builders do not distinguish between sizes and use quality in all their boats ..... Hinkleys, Tartans, Swan, Ridas, Najad, HR etc. etc. And I am sure the HR sales guy didn't quote anything like the Bav guy !!!!

Nice one Ian ......

BTW - I heard tale that they have to clean of the green mould from bavs now ... after standing in fields waiting for buyers and transporting out ....seems markets slowed down a bit !! May be a story ??????


<hr width=100% size=1>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/

 

[jonjo]

Re: flattering analogy

Thanks Bavaria.

When describing my Bavaria Match 35 to non nautical friends, I am happy to describe the boat as a BMW 3 Series 3.0 coupe made by Skoda.

The brand name snobbery exhibited by many senior Scuttlebutters is interesting and illustrates the delusions harboured by this generation. As has been pointed out, latter-day Skodas are good cars that share engineering parts with BMS. Car manufacturers now realize there is so little to distinguish their products from a quality point of view they now try to sell a message that buying their particular brand makes a certain fashion statement.

The British secondhand yacht market is realizing more slowly than the rest of the world that yachts should depreciate to giveaway prices at 30 years, I can accept this equation and believe my Bavaria is good for 30 years of channel sailing. I also will get an extra kick from knowing that in 30 years my pension will be 50k better off compared to the guy who indulged in brand name snobbery and never got his blue water cruiser past La Rochelle.

I also know that I will be less likely to suffer from inherent design problems or random manufacturing quality aberrations compared to the also-rans in the "quality" cottage industry end of the market.

Let me finally add that I know HRs and Oysters are special but from here downwards across the price spectrum to Bavaria people are paying extra for not a lot.



<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by jonjo on 18/09/2004 17:27 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Anonymous]

Re: flattering analogy

>>Let me finally add that I know HRs and Oysters are special but from here downwards across the price spectrum to Bavaria people are paying for extra for not a lot<<

Compare the mass of the boat (not the Registered Tonnage) and you will see a huge difference. Then look at the standing rigging, and compare. Measure the thickness and type of wood used in the build - wood is stronger, quieter, and has greater thermal mass.

Compare the quality and type of essential equipment such as bilge pumps (if you have more than one on the Bavaria), shower and water pumps, size of battery charger, internal wiring...

I think that your 'not a lot' is a lot more than you imagine though I grant you that one would expect economies of scale to give better relative value in the high-volume production boats, but I'm not sure that they do in practice. Some of it is a false economy, IMO, such as fitting a cheap water pump and forever changing or servicing it.

But surely the major problem with volume production boats is that they tend to lose their sparkle very quickly - after a few years.

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[nicho]

She was probably right Ian, the modern Skoda is engineered and built by the VW Group in state of the art factories. The result is a fine, reliable, good to drive motor car with excellant build quality, on a par (or indeed better than) many of the more fancied products from Ford/GM/PSA etc - oh yes, they are also good value for money!!

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[billmacfarlane]

If they were built as well as a modern Skoda I'd be happy to own one.

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[Guest]

Re: flattering analogy

<< As has been pointed out, latter-day Skodas are good cars that share engineering parts with BMS.>>

was not aware that BMW was in league with its arch rival Audi ?? Skodas have parts / connection with Audi VW + porsche for certain drivetrain items.

I agree that Skoda has improved dramatically - but still lags behiond it's parent cars .. with more flimsy plastic etc. - to keep th costs down ..... but that is not to say that they are not good cars .... as they say snobbery and label is more important to people nowadays ... so if you can live with the skoda badge - go for it !!



<hr width=100% size=1>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/

 

[oldgit]

Re: flattering analogy

The justifiable moan that the plastic trim was a a bit utilitarian has been rectified in both new Octavia and Superb.In an interesting reversal of roles a new Audi was recently criticised for its Skoda style hard plastic trim.

<hr width=100% size=1>Nastro Azzurro.Hoegaarden.Chang.Tiger.