Bavaria Cruiser 45 opinions?

[Lunita]

Our search for a live aboard sailboat has turned up a Bavaria Cruiser 45. Recent model with most of the right gear and low hours. Has anyone had experience with this model or thoughts on recent Bavarias? Reviews indicate decent performance for a wide body cruiser. Two rudders give great control but what might the downside be. Maybe redundancy or just twice the maintenance? Accommodations are huge for a couple and their dog!

[KeepInTune]

We saw one at the boat show">Miami boat show and we were impressed with the Bavaria Cruisers. Very smartly designed spaces and accommodations. We were also surprised about the new boat pricing. However, we didn't sail one.

[aluijten]

Bavaria is what you can call "build for a purpose". Not bad from many perspectives but not great when it comes to longevity of the hardware. Typically you get small winches and other hardware just "one size too small". The hardware as such is not bad, mostly well know brands. But they do have a tendency to use 37ft hardware on a 45ft boat.
The inner stiffness of the hull is not great as well, it is not uncommon that doors are stuck while sailing a bit of a breeze.
That said they are not bad boats but the primary focus is on marina usage and light (family) sailing. If that is your way of sailing, it's a good choice with excellent value for money.

[barnakiel]

Plain boats with standard equipment similar in quality and properties to any other mass market boats. It is a toss and your personal choices between them.

Two rudders are if you sail on the ear a lot.

b.

[Lunita]

Thanks for the input. Looking forward to sailing it. The new Farr design is supposed to be fast and stable with minimal pounding in lumpy seas. The deck gear, cleats winches etc. Actually seem oversized If anything, and the new (2000 and on ) boats are all fully glassed in grids and bulkheads. Will pass on our impression after a sea trial.

[Nicks]

I myself have had my eye on a new bavaria for some time, that was however just until I had a chance to look them through and compare them to other boats in the same class, at Hanseboot 2015.

I must say, I was very disappointed with the craftmanship. Just small details like how the tables are held up on their brand new models (by locking it in place with a piece of wood on a hinge? lol?). Even when locked in place, it is still kind of wobbly (looks+feels cheap). Other stuff was alright but a lot of stuff isnt..

The same goes for the brand new Beneteau 35 that was displayed. It just sort of felt cheap. It looks great, no doubt. But once you go inside and close up, the whole thing just felt cheap. I did not care much for the interior layout either. Might be fine for a weekend, but the layout really lacks some proper sitting space if you're more than 2 people. Otherwise very "open / modern".

What really surprised me was Hanse. I did not find many of the same quality issues I had with the Bavaria range. The brand new 455 is a stunner, inside & out. Really great space below and the master suite is enormous. I'm not a fan of the charttable + folding-seat though.

For my price-range I was looking at the new 315 and 345. The standing headroom throughout in the 345, as well as the HUGE shower+head in the 2-cabin version convinced me and my girl.

If I was lucky enough to get a 4x-footer, I would seriously consider the Hanse 455. The price is definitely right when compared to other production boats.

We also had the chance to go aboard the new Hallberg-Rassy 40. Great great boat. Great cockpit, great helm and quality superb throughout. The price however :-)

A shame that Hanse/Bavaria/Beneteau aren't building center-cockpit boats as well.

[grossifs]

I own a Bav farr 40 2012 and I have ti disagree with the comments up. The boat is well done. No undersize at all in winches and deck furniture. No problens with doors or whatsoever. I have had problems with the windows hatches (not builded by bavaria) and all of them (10) where replaced by bavaria even if the warranty was over since 1 year. The boat with a feathering propeller has changed a lot in speed anf at the last regattas series held with no kite rules even with my furling mail I gained the 3 rd postion and the others (1st and 2 nd) had carbon sails.... is a nice boat and worth the price...

[grossifs]

Regatta sunday april 30 Taranto Argonauti race... 27 kn TWS@315 24 NM 3rd Overall 1st of 40 footers