As an owner of a 2010/11
Bavaria Cruiser 40 and as a
liveaboard I can't fault her. She's easy to sail, copes with nasty conditions well (talking 45kts of
wind and crappy seas), has loads of space and stowage and is comfortable.
Looked at Benetubs, Hanse and others during our search and none of the others quite ticked the boxes for what we wanted. Yes it often comes down to personal preferences so it is hard to say if an particular person will like a particular boat. Bit like the Ford/GM debate, you either love Fords or GMs not both.
For round the Med cruising any of the mass produced boats will be fine. They are all RCD class A which theoretically means they are open ocean rated although many will argue the toss on that point. I agree that she's not a true
bluewater cruiser but I'm happy enough to consider a trans Med sojourn in ours at some point in the neat future.
After 5 years and 3600 miles under the
keel she looks as good today as when we collected her. Nothing has broken, no
maintenance issues, no
engine issues or anything like that. Only thing I have changed is the
anchor for a much bigger and better one than the
Delta it came with.
At the end of the day if you are going to liveaboard you have to go with the boat that feels like a home to you.
Keiron