Nautitech Open 46

[iliohale]

The Nautitech Open 46 Hull No. 1 should be launched at this point or close to it if the factory is planning to have it at LGM in two weeks. Anyone have any early real photos of it? I will be at the LGM show and will take some video and post the link here if anyone is interested.

[brainmaker]

hiya interesting news .. I will be at LGM as well see you there PM for contacts ?

[Ribrob]

FYI: Nautitech just posted 3 teasing photos on their Facebook page. Not much to see, but nevertheless better then nothing

[bkauffman]

The Open 46 will be at the show. I will be there representing Bavaria Yachts USA. Message me if you are from the US and would like to schedule an appointment to meet at the boat. The Annapolis US sailboat Show in October will have a new Fly Open 46 on display as well. This boat is intended for purchase to put in to charter at Horizon Yacht Charters in Tortola. Cant wait to see Hull #1!

[bluemotion]

Hi there, I was an hour ago for an early visit on the ponton in La Grande Motte and I must say tha the Open 46 looks beautiful. Very nice Lines, very aestethic, the cockpit with its unbeliveable space and size. And for me, from the outside, the whole boat seems very well finished.
Will E-Mailsome photos tomorrow. Plenty of Wind in the moment here and all the Kitesurfers have the Time of their Live.

[brainmaker]

Bavaria Nautitech Open 46 nr 1 at the La Grande Motte World Multihull show - will post a short video right after this post.

Sailing: Crunching the numbers, sail area v weight indicate that it isn't as crazy quick as the little sister the Open 40 ... but it's quicker than the competition (barring of course more expensive competition such as the Outremers). Due to time constraints, it was trucked from the factory in W France to S France, Paul did the 50 odd mile delivery in 25-30 knot winds and told me he reached 16 knots. When I scrolled through the GPS history, as you can see from the screenshots, this seems to confirm a max of 17 knots was achieved. The short test sail was in 10-20 knot winds, speeds of 5-8 knots were achieved, with chute/code 0/normal genoa respectively. Note with the screenshots that there were a couple of dozen people on board, and they were all standing near the stern !

Looks: 10 out of 10 ... Marc Lombard racing pedigree stuff ..

Interior: finish is very very good (I was quite shocked to see a bad finish in the Catana Bali range .. and their 43 does not even have full headroom in the hulls, but I digress). I'd arrange the saloon area differently to create seating worthy of a 45 footer, the seating inside is comparable to an FP Lucia 40, and a quarter of the saloon is taken up by the fridges. Leave out chart table like areas altogether, just have a seating area and a galley area, and don't put a high galley area right next to a comfortable sofa, it feels cramped. Locate the galley at the back of the saloon, use some overhead lockers so you don't have to bend down all the time, and create sumptuous full saloon width seating; that way the galley will communicate better with the exterior seating area as well. Galley needs to have more than a 2 hob tiny cooker. The two openable portholes in the forward saloon area will create wet salty patches on the sofa and on the kitchen worktop, the yard need to change that ASAP. The novel fast narrow hulls actually are ok when it comes to the interior of the hulls, owner stateroom is pretty good comparing to the competition, the hull with two cabins feels a bit cramped but that is a logical thing and a price I would pay for the cool looks and greater speed. It's really only the bridgedeck saloon layout that lets it down somewhat and makes her feel a bit like a smaller cat; but the exterior areas aft and forward are good and commensurate with other modern 45 foot cats.

I would not have the wheels aft version but the flybridge version (coming soon) as I feel like a horse with blinkers on, and as it's too cramped behind the wheel with people invading personal space too much, I prefer sitting relaxed facing forwards with a full view and keeping the sterns clear and without helmsman seats for traffic into the dinghy and swimming etc.

Price point is pretty good, better than the Open 40 actually, after crunching the numbers, this is very well priced for what is a top quality boat. Well done Bavaria for breaking the French catamaran monopoly.

This boat was my favourite, together with the Lagoon 42. I chose the latter in the end as the dealer I had bought a new Lagoon from before, got me a perfect delivery slot without delay (Nautitech have a relatively small production capacity but I understand Bavaria is ramping this up seriously), this year still, and as the L42 delivers the very same space and comfort as the Open 46, a nicer saloon layout and is 4 feet shorter=less hassle and berthing issues and it's a chunk cheaper than the 46 too. If it was just speed, I'd choose the Marsaudon Composites TS42 which having finally seen one, impressed me a great deal, its accomodation was not as basic and small as I believed from drawings. The innovation of the Open 46 is that with Marc Lombard's design it does really offer both speed and comfort at competitive pricepoint, and out of "carbon outremer" high end territory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zho55BpEGY

[Factor]

Originally Posted by brainmaker

Sailing: Crunching the numbers, sail area v weight indicate that it isn't as crazy quick as the little sister the Open 40 ...

You need to get out more.

[Andrew Grace]

So to summaries this thread "Nautitech , Nautitech , performance , Nautitech " ..... But I bought a Lagoon 42?????? ,

Am I misunderstanding something as the two are hardly comparable .

[monte]

Thanks Jaap. Light air performance looks pretty good, pointing at 30 degrees AWA in 10kn TWS and making 6kn. Will be nice to see how she performs with 20TWS on the beam. Hopefully some more test vids to follow..

[Waveda]

Brainmaker, thank you for your thoughts. May i ask you to help me figure out how you conclude that the 46 is better priced than the 40? I mean, we both see that the 46 sticker price is 100k higher before taxes and options. Where do you go from there? many thanks for your help!

[gjorgensen]

One question: Do those large windows in the salon roof open for ventilation, or are they just there to cook the occupants?

[JohnyV]

One of the things I've heard over and again at the boats shows is about the wonderful 360 degree viz from a fly or raised helm. Yup......just until you hoist the gib-genoa-code, at which point the only way to see the blind spot is to leave the single helm, run downstairs, have a quick squint and run back (as I had to on my FP,...regularly). Not to mention the crick in my neck when trimming the main... As a single/short hander, I really like the twin helms. They're a great place to sail from.

[iliohale]

Just posted a video I took at LGM a few weeks ago. Full tour of the Open 46 and test sail. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iXevVxOIQI

I was extremely impressed with the boat and the factory. For us it checks off the majority of our requirements and has the right compromises. Number 1 on our boat selection list.

Gary

[jimba]

Wow thanks for that complete walk-trough video! Really enjoyed the commentary.

I noticed on the Bavaria website there is an small section about a Nautitech 46 Power....Have the sales rep mentioned anything to you about it? specs or launch date ?

[iliohale]

Originally Posted by jimba

Wow thanks for that complete walk-trough video! Really enjoyed the commentary.

I noticed on the Bavaria website there is an small section about a Nautitech 46 Power....Have the sales rep mentioned anything to you about it? specs or launch date ?

No we didn't get any information on the power version of the boat. One thing I would like to mention was how great the Bavaria and Nautitech factory reps are to work with. No dealers, just factory reps. Everyone that we met and are working with all the way to the head of Nautitech, Bruno, are fantastic. I would encourage you to take a trip to the factory to check it out.

Gary