After years of sailing traditional long keeled heavy displacement
boats I bought a second hand Bavaria 42, partly because of getting
lazy with old age, wanting something easier to sail and maintain - and
most im****tant it was a lot of boat for the money - exceptionally
good value!
There were quite a few sniffy comments from the learned about buying
such a mass produced vessel where things dropped off in bad weather,
etc.
Although it needed a bit of a mind change, what with in mast furling
headsail, which I had always considered with a certain amount of
scorn, and, all halyards leading to the cockpit, not forgetting the
abject luxury of all the spacious accomodation below, never
experienced before, she turned out to my cautious surprise to be an
extremely competent sailing boat in all weather conditions, and
nothing dropped off, except my mobile!
The fact that she was, so called mass produced, on looking at the
general construction of the vessel, the hull, electrics, the plumbing,
the fittings etc, it was extremely well thought out and very well
engineered. I began to realise that this mass produced boat business
had a definate advantage in many ways, apart from keeping costs down
as I could just order any bit which fitted perfectly, and when
producing thousands of the same boat, any gliches would soon be
discovered.
All in all, apart from my concern about a light displacement hull
compared with the heavier long keeled boats, which is more to do with
personal preference, I reckon the Bavaria to be geat value for money
and begon all those snooty attitudes by the uninformed.
Roger Murray.
Roger Murray.
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