Which yacht is best in general terms

noswellplease

noswellplease

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Thinking of buying with a friend either a 41 foot Doufour 10 years old, or else a similar sized Bavaria or perhaps a slightly older Beneteau Oceanus or Jeanneu Sun Oddessey. Price is dictating matters but wonder would the Doufour be much inferior to the others mentioned. I was very impressed with a 41 foot Bavaria I had on charter during the Summer. Just wondering what general feelings would be on making such a purchase? Thanks is advance for the expert advise which is always so helpful!
 
All have their good and bad points. Bavaria appear to have gone through a period a few years back where build quality was not so good. Ignore jibes about keels falling off, but do look hard at things like the sizes of the cleats and other deck fittings, and how they are attached. I did see one big Bavaria built about 10 years ago where the stern fairleads had torn off because they were held on by woodscrews. I think that was a short phase where things were a bit scrimped. Jeanneau were taken over by Beneteau and for a short while after that things appeared to be dictated by accountants rather than yacht designers. My older Jeanneau has very nice matched interior veneers, but there was a short time when they made boats where the "veneer" on the interior plywood was actually a printed foil. Scratch that and you can't repair it.
 
Buy a smaller cheaper boat for yourself alone. Much better than a partnership. You can bang it about or modify it then without feeling guilty. You can loan it to your mate for a contribution perhaps but keep it just one owner. One ship one captain one owner.
IMHO olewill
 
I suspect TK is right that it would be the individual boat that would stand out as suiting you rather than a particular brand of AWB. Don't rule out other brands of similar boats if they meet your requirements.

At 10 years old there's going to be a need for more maintenance as systems need repair or replacement. Make sure you and your prospective co-owner are on the same wavelength when it comes to your strategy for dealing with that.

And remember, it's always easier to buy than sell, so no harm doing charters together for a year or two more to see if your idea of the sort of boat you want evolves.
 
noswellplease said:
Thinking of buying with a friend either a 41 foot Doufour 10 years old, or else a similar sized Bavaria or perhaps a slightly older Beneteau Oceanus or Jeanneu Sun Oddessey. Price is dictating matters but wonder would the Doufour be much inferior to the others mentioned. I was very impressed with a 41 foot Bavaria I had on charter during the Summer. Just wondering what general feelings would be on making such a purchase? Thanks is advance for the expert advise which is always so helpful!
Click to expand...

Although I am a Beneteau owner and love my boat, if you want to compare Dufour, Bavaria, Jeanneau and Beneteau the best is what appears nicer for you. I doubt there's much difference in quality and fittings used between them. Just differences in their appearance and layouts. For instance I don't like much (yet at least!) the newer Beneteau shape but on the contrary I really like the "393/423" series (the Beneteau 393 is I believe an excellent boat or the 423 if you can go bigger). Similarly I like in general the hull shape of Bavarias (not the extreme wide bottom boats) and love the look of the Sun Odyssey 409.
 
I imagine that the second hand market is full of 10 year old 40 footers. Should, therefore, be a buyers market. Personally, I would look at as many as possible, including examples of all the big makers you mention, and go for the one which a) your wife/partner likes, b) immediately obvious that it's been well maintained and looked after, lowish engine hours (50-100 per year average), preferably with updated electronics, sails, rigging and so on.

(if it happens to have a Beneteau badge, so much the better).
 
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