Nauticat 44 or 43

[slavkod]

Dear all,

playing with idea to change our Bavaria for Nauticat 43 or 44, 1984-1987. I know that this is not the same level, but my wife likes pilot house boat and more fuel and fresh water on board. Any opinion or advise on this subject.
We always owned new boats but this time we are to short for new Nauticat. Any experience with that old boats v?

Slavko

as always sorry for bad English

 

[[2574]]

Slavko,

Don't worry about your "bad english" - it's a lot better than my Slovenian!

I'm a Nauticat owner and had to make the decision between a nine year old Nauticat versus a larger brand new Bavaria/Legend/Beneteau. It does seem rather mad when doing the transaction but I think it is driven by your end goal in buying the boat. If you want a boat that will withstand very frequent use/long periods living aboard it was my view that quality of interior fit out was critical. I assessed that "value" boats would soon begin to look rather tired after a number of years use and this was backed up when I looked at some three year old Bavaria's - they just looked a little tired.

So, on buing our Nauticat I set about a refit which took six months and cost 20% of the purchase cost of the boat itself. There remains an amount to do but upgrading rather than refitting.

Fundamentally with the Nauticat you have a boat that is well made and if cosmetically dated or tired after 15-20 years of use is generally updateable/improveable easily because the "subframe" is robust.

Please feel free to send me a mail if you have specific questions

rob

 

[Anonymous]

The N44 is more of a motor-sailor with pilot house. The N43 is a sailing boat. Have a look at the N42 which is an excellent sailing boat and you can con from below - viz is better below than aloft as you can see under the genoa. We looked at Nauticats in your age range last year and have a couple of friends with N43s of that age. No problems reported although obviously you are into replacement and refurb of sails, rigging, etc., with any boat of that age. Coming from a Bav, I would think you would be best looking at the N42 or N43, not the N44. My three top tips are:- 1. Haggle 2. Haggle 3. Haggle.

 

[Plan_B]

Hi Slavko,

A nice idea to play with. There will always be arguments for and against massed produced boats and you are probably going through the stages yourself now. I guess it depends on what you are planning to do, or go with your next boat, but I can tell you this much, I only had to look on a Bavaria once to know that it what wasn't for me. I now have a 20 year old N40 (little sister of the the 43) and same hull as the 42 which replaced it. I could have bought a new equivalent Bav for the same price but realised that - not so much the quality of build, but certainly the size and strength of build, that if I want to do any serious crusing then the massively constructed Nauticat would do the job more comfortably than most.

You probably need to look at them all to decide whats best for you but, the 40, 42 and 43 are all deck saloons where as the 44 (and some others) is a pilot house. Having considered and been aboard a 44 I personally felt I was in a ship and not a yacht!!

A new Nauticat of that size costs a lot, an old one is much cheaper but will need some work and modification. If you have the time to do this, ( and a little money) and it can take months, then these boats will last your lifetime at least.

Finally after 6 months on my N40 working most weekends and all holidays, spending all spare money what do my wife and I think? ..... the boat is wonderful and we wouldn't have been happy with anything else - well maybe an Oyster.

Regards

DD