MagicalArmchair
Well-known member
I own a Bavaria 40 now (and I've sailed all my life from gaffers, to traditional heavy built boats, now to Mirage) and I completely agree that if you buy cheap, you buy twice.
Cheap and Good Value, are two very different things though. The Bavaria is anything but cheap. The fittings are all top quality, the Selden rig, the clutches, the winches, the steering system, the windlass, the structure, the deck hardware, it is all very (almost obsessively) well thought out with German precision. Every bulkhead finished beautifully, every inspection hatch carefully crafted to make access and maintenance easy.
Check her out: About Mirage – Sailing Mirage
You can see where they have made sacrifices to the gods of cost vs benefit - an iron keel bulb? Underwater? Sigh. However, she is a cracking boat to take my four kids sailing in comfort and I love her for it. It's all a trade off, each boat you own, and most are built out of passion. My Bavaria certainly was - it was not built to be "Cheap", it was build to be inclusive "Good Value" - and there is nothing wrong with that at all.
I love wooden boats, the smell and the soul they have. I love older displacement boats, like Triola (my old Albin Ballad, she would sail rings around Mirage), and I do love Mirage and where she will take us.
Cheap and Good Value, are two very different things though. The Bavaria is anything but cheap. The fittings are all top quality, the Selden rig, the clutches, the winches, the steering system, the windlass, the structure, the deck hardware, it is all very (almost obsessively) well thought out with German precision. Every bulkhead finished beautifully, every inspection hatch carefully crafted to make access and maintenance easy.
Check her out: About Mirage – Sailing Mirage
You can see where they have made sacrifices to the gods of cost vs benefit - an iron keel bulb? Underwater? Sigh. However, she is a cracking boat to take my four kids sailing in comfort and I love her for it. It's all a trade off, each boat you own, and most are built out of passion. My Bavaria certainly was - it was not built to be "Cheap", it was build to be inclusive "Good Value" - and there is nothing wrong with that at all.
I love wooden boats, the smell and the soul they have. I love older displacement boats, like Triola (my old Albin Ballad, she would sail rings around Mirage), and I do love Mirage and where she will take us.
