New boat vs old boat

[dunedin]

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My sailing program is cruising double handed in Brittany and Galicia .I am used to good quality boat ,my last boat was a Swan 41 and before a Storm 33.I must undersize for health reason and want a fractional rigged and stiff well built boat with good performance

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The Westerly Stom 33 is one of the Ed Dubois designs - an update of the outstanding Fulmar. Depending on age, perhaps the Swan was Sparkman & Stephens or Frers.
As you are used to quality designer sailing performance, worth thinking about the designer of each of the boats you are considering. Niels Jeppesen for the X332 and Rob Humphreys of the Elan certaily pass this test, worth checking out the other designers.

 

[Tranona]

Pleased you made this suggestion. I was reluctant because I might be accused of bias! Being a highly satisfied Bavaria owner, that is.

If boats were bought just by the "head" and not the "heart" then there woulkd be no contest. The Bav 34 will fulfil the role perfectly satisfactorily. However when you have £100k to spend, why should you only spend half that? Surely double the money would get you a massively superior boat.

Discuss!

ps and I would go for the new furling main - far superior to any sail fitted as original equipment.

 

[Sailfree]

I regret it when people need to bav bash. I believe their equivalent in the car world is say a ford which is a far more superior car than is reasonable to expect for the cost and I believe many small volume boat builders are often equivalent in car terms to say a TVR - what a machine - but is it reliable?

Don't get me wrong though if I had an excess of money I would have no problem living with an Oyster/Swan/HR/Najad etc but I would not expect them to be value for money nor say 2-5 times as good as a production boat that is their cost ratio.

I am surprised though at your love of in mast reefing. A fully battened main gives so much more power and with a stack pack, lazy jacks and single line reefing is easy to handle.

I have one of the few Jeanneau DS's with conventional sails and never regret my choice. Last year on flotilla holiday had a Bav33 with in mast furling and while impressed with the soundness of a really hard used boat would have preferred a conventional mainsail. Would go for a roller reefing genoa though.

 

[Tranona]

My Bav 37 earned its living as a charter boat in the Ionian where "sailing" is a bit of a misnomer. However in mast reefing is pretty standard and preferred by punters.

The original sails were rubbish, but the new ones are in a different league. A week with a professional skipper taught me a lot about how to get the best out of the rig in a variety of conditions. I like the simplicity and flexibility and it is easy to balance the boat so that it sails itself. Like many I am effectively single handed and the boat is a platform for travelling around and enjoying the relaxed lifestyle. If sailing performance was higher on the list and I had a bigger crew, I might think differently, but the increasing popularity of in mast on production boats suggest that more people are prepared to accept the (small) loss in effective performance.

Always interesting when this subject comes up that all the antis don't own a boat with it, and everybody (almost) who has it is satisfied - and most like me enthusiaistic. The antis always seem to want to tell us "what we are missing" which I always find strange because most of us know because we have had boats with "conventional" mainsails and know what we have gained from making the switch!