New Owners of a Bowman 40

[steve.garlick]

Hi all.
We've just signed the contract on Pavlov, a Bowman 40, based out of Fethiye, Turkey. I'd love to hear from other owners of Bowman's. There's not a lot of information on the boat on the Web.

Regards,
Steve

[mitiempo]

Not an owner but it's a great boat. I have always loved Chuck Paine's designs.

Congratulations.

[steve.garlick]

Yes, we're really impressed by the design. Its not a Med cruiser, the boat volume is small, but everything works well for ocean crossings. It sails well, even with a draught of 1.5m, the rig is incredibly strong with twin forestays, baby stay, ruining back stays, backstay etc etc. The cabin sort of wraps itself around you, there is always handholds where you need them. The hull is very strong. The great thing is, for a 12.5 ton boat, it sits on 6 -7 knots easily in 10-12knots of wind. We're really impressed by the build quality.

I know we still have the 'rose glasses' on, I'd love to hear from other owners about any problems or shortcomings with the boat.

Steve

[barnakiel]

I have helped getting one of them ready for a crossing (Atlantic E to W, with the crowd). Sorted out some issues there, but there was nothing boat-specific. Rather a typical mix of insufficient maintenance and owner's lack of experience.

If you got one without issues induced by her ex-owner then you have a well sailing boat that should keep her value well.

I believe you can get nearly all and any tech info on this boat as Bowman seem to be still in the business.

Cheers,
b.

[redsky49]

I have a copy of the sales brochure that I could scan for you if you are interested

[mitiempo]

Same design as the Morris 40 from the same era - both awesome boats.

[redsky49]

I believe that the hull form used by the Morris 40 was very similar to the Bowman 40 (but had a different lay-up schedule using Reicholds Hydrex vinylester resin and Quadaxial E-glass cloth, with ISO N.P.G. gelcoat), but there were changes to the interior of the boat in the forward and aft head, as well as the forward and aft cabins. The salon and galley essentially carried over intact.

There were considerable differences in specifications of the two boats, becoming even less similar as Morris gained experience with this boat and placed their imprint on it.

Morris made numerous improvements to the boat and upgraded most aspects of it over its production life. Base price was $273,600 when introduced in 1993.

[steve.garlick]

Wow, that's some impressive information, RedSky. We have the sales brochure, thanks very much.
The survey found some slight osmosis, mainly in the rudder. The bottom had been Gelshielded back in 2000. I plan to take off all the old anti foul and put another layer of Gelshield down. Some servicing of the seacocks is needed, some headliner needs replacing. But the fundamentals of the boat seem very solid. Its been very well built.

Its interesting to know that its the same boat as the Morris, I'll hunt out more information about that boat.

Thanks for the info,

Stevw

[mitiempo]

I dug out a 1996 copy of "The World of Sail" after remembering a Morris 40 review as well as a Bowman review in it. Unfortunately it is the Bowman 45 so a comparison of details is not possible.

I would very happily own either though.

[steve.garlick]

Its been quite a journey buying an unfamiliar boat on the other side of the world. Some thought us crazy for travelling all the way to Turkey (and spending around AUD$6000 to do so) was madness! We were lucky that we had a friend over here (THanks Dave Stanley!) who could run an eye over the boat. We've been very pleased with what we found.

We had an excellent surveyor in Fergus Prescott, just went beyond the normal in inspecting the boat, helping with the haul out. He even serviced some of the Blake's for us so that she was seaworthy to take back to Fethiye. The yards seem good (we took the boat down to Gocek to haul) with some care needed in selecting the right tradesmen.

We have to go back to Oz now to finish up careers and house, but we're back in August to start. The marina (ECE Marina) has offered us quite good rates (2600 Euro) for a 6 month stay, so we'll spend our first winter in Fethiye. Then we've signed up for the EMYR rally, it will take us to Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt. I'm not a fan of rallies, but this one will take care of all the paper work (and provide a coast guard escort!) into those countries. Will help us to learn the ropes.

Huzzah!!!

Steve

[Enzo]

Hello Steve and congratulations on the purchase of a great boat, Pavlov finally sold, it has been for sale for almost 2yrs, I was interested in the boat the autumn of 2010 but there were other Bowmans for sale closer as I was and inspected.
But there was no change of boat but then bowman 40 is probably the next boat we buy, it is a well built boat with a well thought out interiors and well-deck equipment.

Best regards
S/Y Enzo
Torstein
Norway

[annk]

Congratulations! Welcome to the world of the Bowman 40. We have been sailing ours for over a decade now and cannot speak highly enough of her...

I believe that 64 hulls were built to the Chuck Paine design.Most are still out there sailing. They really can go anywhere.

We are about to start another Atlantic crossing, this will be the 9th.

If we can be of any help don't hesitate to ask.

[steve.garlick]

Hi Annk,

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on the boat, any weak areas and areas that you think are in need of upgrade. Pavlov is a Lloyd's certified boat, and we're about to haul her again to refinish the bottom. She has GelShield already, but there is some areas of osmosis, primarily on the rudder and prop shaft housing. I plan to cut back to the Gelshield and put on another epoxy barrier, Primocon and then soft anti foul.

Anything you think would be useful to inspect while she's hauled? There are a few seacocks that I will either service (Blakes) or replace (a couple of gate valves), add a holding tank and a few other small jobs.

Can I contact you via email rather than online?

The boat used to be called 'Rhiannon of Birdham', and now is called 'Pavlov'.
Regards,

Steve Garlick

[annk]

I have sent you a private message.

[MShea]

Originally Posted by redsky49

I believe that the hull form used by the Morris 40 was very similar to the Bowman 40 (but had a different lay-up schedule using Reicholds Hydrex vinylester resin and Quadaxial E-glass cloth, with ISO N.P.G. gelcoat), but there were changes to the interior of the boat in the forward and aft head, as well as the forward and aft cabins. The salon and galley essentially carried over intact.

There were considerable differences in specifications of the two boats, becoming even less similar as Morris gained experience with this boat and placed their imprint on it.

Morris made numerous improvements to the boat and upgraded most aspects of it over its production life. Base price was $273,600 when introduced in 1993.

True enough. I owned a hybrid Bowman/Morris 40 for seven happy years. Constructed in 1999, mine allegedly involved a Bowman hull shipped to Morris which became their mold. Times were soft, so the hull was sold to laid-off Morris workers at Redfern Boat (also in Bass Harbor) for completion when a buyer surfaced. He had her beautifully finished out to exact Chuck Paine spec's (which even Morris took shortcuts with) and with a carbon spar and rudder, etc, but never took posession. Rumor has it he bacame a 'born-again Buddhist' and put her up for sale. She sat indoors, 98% complete for a couple years when I bought her.

At survey, we were surprised to see the heavier Bowman hull layup but proceeded with the purchase. She proved to be a great little yacht and with her double-head, three cabin config, was terrific for our needs at the time.

What I loved about her was that she never once took green water over the bow, never pounded, never pushed the limits. She had a comfortable sea motion, great cockpit and storage and was a joy to behold at anchor. My only complaint with her (which could be corrected somewhat with bigger headsails) is that given her porky weight (28,000 loaded), she had trouble moving below 12-knts of wind. But once she gained momentum was a smooth freight train and quite competitive against her PHRF rating.

Tom Morris told me the only reason they stopped building the 40 was that the 46 could be sold for hundreds of thousands more for very little incremental labor. We ultimately sold her in 1997 to a retired guy who the genteel broker described as, "perhaps the worst helmsman he's ever seen". Aside from personally delivering the boat for him as a sailing lesson, I couldn't help but agree that he had bought the perfect, most forgiving boat imaginable. We ended up buying a larger boat with more single berths for our expanding family.

As an aside, a good friend owns a Bowman 57 and loves it too,