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Old 19-05-2021, 14:51   #1
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Anyone sailed a Nautitech 40 Open?

Thoughts, opinions?

How does it compare to Lagoon, Leopard, Seawind, etc? Performance wise, comfort wise, general build quality, etc.

Looking for something comfortable to cruise in the Bahamas, Caribbean, maybe some ocean crossings and fun to sail.

This would be in reference to current year / latest updated N40.

Thanks!
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Old 19-05-2021, 15:52   #2
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Re: Anyone sailed a Nautitech 40 Open?

I can’t compare to any other cat because I’ve only sailed the Open 40 as far as cats go. We chartered one in ‘19 (it was new) in the BVIs for 10 days. We never had “bad” weather and wind speed only topped out around 22knots. So I don’t have a ton of experience on it. But what little I do have, I thought it was fine. It was comfortable and responded like I expected. Can’t imagine it would be bad for local sailing and to Bahamas. I wouldn’t have hesitated going on a 100 mile one way sail.

I realize people have complained about the helms being “open”. I’ve been in rain storms on monos and got soaked. With biminis (which our boat had) I didn’t think it was much worse than a mono.

IIRC there wasn’t a throttle on the port helm. That would have been handy in a couple of docking situations, but nothing that couldn’t be handled.
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Old 19-05-2021, 16:15   #3
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Re: Anyone sailed a Nautitech 40 Open?

Are the benches at each helm large enough for two people to sit? I’m envisioning out for a joy sail and having a partner at my side while I’m steering. That bench looks like it may only be wide enough for one though
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Old 19-05-2021, 19:46   #4
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Re: Anyone sailed a Nautitech 40 Open?

I can’t remember for sure, but I think on a “joy sail” it wouldn’t be a problem for two to hang out at the helm.
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Old 20-05-2021, 10:49   #5
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Re: Anyone sailed a Nautitech 40 Open?

Friends bought a new 2019 Nautitech 40 Open last December in Tortola, and I was fortunate enough to help sail it to Ft. Lauderdale in February. We cruised around St. John for a week before our crossing, and the boat was great! Love the open cockpit, lots of shade and protection from rain, roomy cabins with good storage (we had the starboard aft cabin; it is a 3-cabin boat) and the boat was very responsive -- great feel to the helm. This is my friend's first boat, and collectively our first time in the open ocean so they hired a captain (great idea!).

Because of COVID, we sailed straight from St. Thomas USVI to Great Inagua in the Bahamas. I think we averaged just under 9 knots, and it took four days and three nights. We had perfect weather -- winds mostly 20-25 on our tail and seas were generally 6 feet or so. We kept a reef in the main and secured it with a preventer, and we also kept the jib clew tied to a cleat.

As I said, first time at sea. I thought I'd get into a rhythm with the boat motion, but that never happened. Trying to move about, I always felt like the boat was unpredictable. The stern would rise on a wave and we would accelerate and slew down the face of the wave, then decelerate and the bows would rise as the wave rolled under. That said, the boat was fine while keeping watch or sleeping -- it was only when trying to move about.

The boat has a self-tacking jib, and our captain said we would have benefited from a larger headsail. He also said 40-foot cats are seldom comfortable at sea; things start to smooth out with a 46 footer.

Once in the protected waters of the Bahamas the boat was again fantastic! I love the twin helms, and there is room for two on the seats.

My take is the boat is very seaworthy and a great choice for island hopping. If I had the budget for it, I'd buy one.
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Old 21-05-2021, 03:53   #6
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Re: Anyone sailed a Nautitech 40 Open?

Quote:
Originally Posted by schmidla View Post
Thoughts, opinions?

How does it compare to Lagoon, Leopard, Seawind, etc? Performance wise, comfort wise, general build quality, etc.

Looking for something comfortable to cruise in the Bahamas, Caribbean, maybe some ocean crossings and fun to sail.

This would be in reference to current year / latest updated N40.

Thanks!

Couple of years ago we chartered a Nautitech Open 40, Year 2016, for a few weeks. I really like that boat. Very nice sailing single and double handed. Nice layout, modern interior style and good functionality.

We were only 2, so the boat stayed light and was doing 7-8 kts in 20 kts TWS on a beam reach with the standard head sail and main.

The exposed helm position had its advantages in tight areas were motoring is required. Easy docking, very responsive and controllable at the pier.

Picking up a mooring ball was required in many national park areas (anchoring not allowed in many places in SE Asia - and no option anyway over coralls). From the aft helm position it was very easy to pick up the ball/mooring line single handed, when approaching the ball, shifting the line cleat by cleat to a prepared bridle.

Another advantage: Helm, Salon and Cockpit at one level. We do SCUBA a lot (one cabin is reserved for 15-20 12 Liter tanks which i always get from a friends diving school/base in Thailand). Not having many steps to go up and down helps alot while taking that gear in and out of storrage...

What i did not like: Helm has no protection at all. And we were in very shittie weather. Lots of squalls, gusts up to 35kts and a very "ambitious" seastate ;-) You are just wet all the times at the helm station...

Main halyard is at the mast, not at the helm station. I prefer all lines to the helm...

The quality of the interior wood work was not good. The boat was only 3 years old, and neglegting charterers had left their marks all over the place.

The light switches were "strange". Many different styles and designs. Soft touch switch, hard switch, two way switch and the regular switch in the salon. To me it looked like they were running out of a switch then they changed to another design and so on... The two way switches looking like 5cts part from home depot. That should not go into a 1/2 Million $$ Cat.

The laminat in shower area separated everywhere from the base due to leaking hatches.
The fittings in head and shower were badly corroded and really DONE and in need of replacement.

The Charter Company was not able to get rid of a very bad smell in the toiletts. They tried before we got the boat, but the situation remained during our charter.

Davits not really well thought through. I love the horizontal davits on the Lagoons though. Due to high seas the dinghi got punched around a lot. We lifted up the dinghi all the way, but needed some aditional lines to prevent it from flipping over.

We got the 4 cabin 2 head version. If you are over 250lbs, you will not have a nice time in the heads... ;-) you could call it a PITA... LOL

However, i still like the Open 40. The cons are in many cases minor and cosmetical or can be changed by myself. The Open 40 is still on my ballpark :-)

John
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Old 21-05-2021, 12:08   #7
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Boat: Bavaria Nautitech Open 40
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Re: Anyone sailed a Nautitech 40 Open?

I have owned my Open 40 since 2017. I love the boat and that is why I bought one. I have sailed it in the BVI for four years while it was in a charter fleet. It is easy to handle single handed if I need to. I like the outboard helms for sight lines and steering feel. The helms are connected direct to the quadrants with cable. I have sailed a Moorings 3900 and Leopard 46, both as charters. I didn't like the 39 for small rudders and low performance issues. The leopard 46 is a great boat and performs well. The Nautitech is well built with tabbed bulkheads and stringers. The furniture is well secured and very functional. You have to compromise some for the production aspect that affords the price point. If you want a custom boat with fine artisan craftmanship you will pay for it. I plan to improve an customize mine now that it is out of charter.

Just yesterday myself and three crew finished 1600nm from Puerto Rico to New York. We stopped in Beaufort, NC for fuel as we had to do a lot of light wind motoring and heavy headwinds motoring. We had a great first day with winds in the 18 to 22 kt range abaft the beam and did 166 nm for 24hrs. From there the wind went light for several days and I do not have light wind sails yet. The fifth day ended with a squall that had us in 35 to 55 knot winds with gusts higher. At one point on the helm I looked down to see 77 kts of apparent wind. Luckily we had the jib rolled up and the second reef in the main. Even with that we got pummeled for a good ten minutes and ended with having to pull the main down. The squall past with the wind change to 30 35 on the nose with waves 10 to 12 feet as we felt the front that we expected. Very uncomfortable conditions to beat into so for the night we rode downwind and waves under bare poles. This was very comfortable for the night, but we lost 40 miles. Turned around the next day and crawled our way back upwind in 20 to 35 with same sea state to get parallel with Beaufort. Against all I hold to be true with the gulf stream and north wind we decided to make for Beaufort and crossed the stream that night and next morning at about 33 degrees. it was rough and the boat took a beating from all directions. I could not have developed a better test for a boat if I tried. Thankfully the boat and crew did really well. No furniture came undone, no hull damage, no hatch damage or leaks, no ceiling panel failures. The boat did great and I am very please with it's first offshore trip. Did things break? Yes, tricolor nav/anchor light disappeared somewhere along the way. Wires fell into the mast gone. And lost the engine coolant pump to bearing or shaft failure. Came in the last 200 nm on one engine. Freezer stopped working but we had two fridges and two large coolers. The main sail got beat up good in the squall but it is old and needs replacement anyway. Overall it was a great trip and the boat stood up to to as tough as I care to see offshore conditions. I've done over 5,000 nm offshore in mono hulls and this is the first cat trip I have done. I was really happy with the performance.

I hope this gives you some real idea of what this boat can do. Ultimately it is your personnel choice, likes and dislikes, that have to be considered. I highly recommend you charter several boats and sail them for at least a week if possible. These things are big investments and you want to make the right choice for you.

All the best

Lou
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