Maxim Voyage 380 low bridge deck clearance feed back

[Crazy Canadian]

Dear Forum, this enquiry is address to all Maxim Voyage 380 owners.

I am about to begin the procedure for a Maxim Voyage 380. From what I could gather from other thread and forum, it look like the main downside to this boat is her bridge deck clearance. Every body seen to agree on the building quality, storage capacity and sailing performance, but apparently it slam in bad weather.

My question to you, dear owner, is how bad is it really? How often and under which condition this slamming became excessive or a worry? On a typical 20days cruise in blue water, which percentages of your trip has been spoil by slamming?

If you had the chance to buy your boat again, with your current knowledge, would you buy the same one? Your feedback will decide if I joint you or not.

Thanks in advance

[Dulcesuenos]

Had a leopard 38, same designer, almost the same design. Slamming isn't bad under most points of sail, beating to windward in close choppy steep seas she will slam a bit but not horribly. Going to windward in big rolling seas no problem, any waves aft of beam no slamming. She's not as low as voyages or island spirits not as high as FP etc. Don't overload her and shell be fine.

[Boatguy30]

As a tip, try to remove as much extra junk as you can.

Then annually reorganize and remove what hadn't been needed in last year. Obviously some crucial spares are exempt.

Was on a 43' cat last week. Guy had spare raw water pumps from different engines, spare outboard parts for an outboard he didn't have. Like 12 different impellers, none that fit.....

Lots of growth around the bootstripe from being submerged

[flyingboat]

Originally Posted by Crazy Canadian

Dear Forum, this enquiry is address to all Maxim Voyage 380 owners.

I am about to begin the procedure for a Maxim Voyage 380. From what I could gather from other thread and forum, it look like the main downside to this boat is her bridge deck clearance. Every body seen to agree on the building quality, storage capacity and sailing performance, but apparently it slam in bad weather.

My question to you, dear owner, is how bad is it really? How often and under which condition this slamming became excessive or a worry? On a typical 20days cruise in blue water, which percentages of your trip has been spoil by slamming?

If you had the chance to buy your boat again, with your current knowledge, would you buy the same one? Your feedback will decide if I joint you or not.

Thanks in advance

Not an owner but I've spent over 4000 miles with two of them - mostly to windward.

It's a great boat, solidly built, nicely finished with reasonable sailing performance.

Downsides are bridgedeck clearance, coachroof height (I'm 6'2" and run out of headroom in the galley) and it's not the best to windward.

They do slam going to windward. How badly depends on the sea state. All the cats I have sailed (and some monos) slam in the right (or wrong?) conditions. More bridgedeck clearance helps, and yes it can be loud in the Maxim.

I would say you need to base your decision on more than just the bridge deck clearance. In a normal cruising context, you can normally plan your passage to take advantage of favourable weather so slamming is probably not as much of an issue as you may think. Sometimes when you're out there it changes and you just have to deal with it.

At 38' it's not the biggest cat, but not the smallest either. The layout works well, its not an ancient (eg Prout) design and they should be fairly competetivly priced. They are getting a little older so the price should be commensurate with the condition.

Just my 2 cents worth

[James Dd]

I was able to go to the Miami show 10 yrs in a row before I bought my Voyage 440+ in 07. I love it. I was worried about the clearance as well. There is a favorable trade off in windage. I talked to a crew that had just come in from Europe in a big cat with about a 6’ bridge deck clearance. I asked them if theirs ever slammed and they said “Oh yeah”. So it’s wind, sea state, speed, heading, etc.
Doc