Bavaria Vision 46

It is with this in mind, a drop of scepticism and a good measure of intrigue, that we boarded the new award-winning Vision 46 from Bavaria Yachtbau. Winning Cruising World’s prestigious 2013 Boat of the Year Award, the 46 trumpets the German marine giant’s new, reworked Vision range.

The smart yacht flaunts de rigueur deck-saloon styling, design kudos, and timeliness. But the Vision 46 caught the eye of Cruising World's judging panel because it: "more than met its stated objective (of being) the ultimate 'couple's' cruiser, easy to sail and operate and possessing lavish appointments and accoutrements."

Furthermore, this -- the second Vision 46 to arrive in Australia (first one in Adelaide) -- became available for testing in forecast fresh 15-20 knots winds after a tumultuous few weeks of storms off Sydney. We arrived with high hopes for the high-volume Vision 46, as the yacht has pedigree courtesy of Farr Yacht Design, which penned the hull and lines.

But we also expected great comfort and wow factor below decks thanks to UK superyacht-interior artisans Design Unlimited, who created the finish as they have done with a Farr 115 and various Wally superyachts before. Even allowing for this mainstream yacht’s keen pricing and production build, expectations were high.

Meanwhile, global yacht builders like German giant Bavaria must be chuffed that they are tempting powerboaters to the flake and fold. New generation, virtual self-sailing deck-saloon type yachts holds way today. Take the excited Sydney owners of this new Vision 46.

Former powerboaters, the yacht’s owners bought the Vision 46 sight unseen, following considerable research and online touring, having sold their 39ft American sportscruiser, with twin IPS diesel engines with joystick docking device.

Malcolm and Jane believe their new Vision 46 marries motorboat-like living space and connectivity with sailing sense. Jane says the yacht offers a lot more cockpit than her previous powerboat. Malcolm, now retired and with the time to sail places, adds that he started thinking about going green after completing a couple of sailing courses and cruising from Southport to Sydney with EastSail.

"I liked it [coastal cruising] and wanted a yacht of my own. I got bored with the powerboat, zooming to a bay, having lunch and going home. Sailing is more of a challenge and the wind is free," he says, as we swing on the anchor, oblivious to the fading late-afternoon light and stiffening breeze out yonder.

The joinery, mouldings, fit and finish, silicon wipes, and engineering were most definitely a cut above the Bavaria yachts of yore. Actually, there’s no comparison. Our review boat also outclassed other rival German competitors we’d been aboard in past months with a more rushed quality.

Factory rigged and loaded as a sail-away yacht, measuring more than 45ft in length, with a broad 4.19m or almost 14ft beam, the Vision 46 is a lot of modern cruising conveyance for the money. Landed, it’s priced from $360,000, but e sail-away from under $400,000. Our test boat cost $470,000 with a boatload of goodies.

Bavaria makes its standard boats very basic indeed, even leaving off such necessities as hot water. So you need to sit down with the options and packages lists, as Bavaria structures it, and work out your needs. The local importer has an online configurator to assist with the task or, rather, treat.

Our test boat had the Smart Sailing Package including sprayhood, bimini, furling mainsail, Elvstrom EMS-system sandwich furling main and tri-radial furling jib, solid gas-assisted vang aka rodkicker, and Garmin electronics kit. The package also introduces a 40-amp battery charger and 40-litre hot-water accumulator via heat exchanger and shorepower.

To facilitate easy short-handed sailing, the Trim Control Jib and Main Package features twin composite wheels, and an electric Lewmar two-speed EVO halyard winch on the coachroof, with a pair of main and secondary winches either side of the cockpit.

These latter electric sail-trim winches are each accompanied by a push-button panel -- within reach of the helm -- that lets you “in” and “out” the headsail and main on either tack with a mere extension of the finger.

Meanwhile, the Comfort Package brings an adjustable table, clip-in upholstery and shower-rose extension holder to the cockpit, plus adjustable saloon table and blinds below decks. There were 50 metres of 10mm chain up front in a big chain locker, with oodles of storage space left over, plus Delta anchor and recessed electric Quick windlass.

Last but not least, the Navigation Package included bow thruster -- a joystick docking system is optional -- and Garmin upgrades such as GHP 12 Sailpilot that, with supplied GWS 10 in the Smart Sailing Package, gives you heading hold, wind hold, step turns, tack/jibe and more.

A GPSMap 4008 was mounted in the cockpit, where there are twin pedestals. Of course, it can be mounted at the convertible chart table in the saloon but, let’s face it, lower nav stations are taking a backseat these days. But with all that as tested, the loaded Vision 46 can virtually sail itself.

Rigged for cruising, our yacht also had upgrades from chain counter, teak cockpit floor, electric toilet and extra house battery to Fusion multimedia TV package with DVD/CD/radio and iPod stations below and in the cockpit.

As owner Malcolm says: "I like gadgets." And he’s got them.

The offset means you gain an enlarged L-shaped lounge to port, with electric high-low dinette that converts to a highly desirable daybed. Shaded under the bimini and adjoining infill and dodger, it’s just a wonderful place for owners to kick back with a book and chill. Or catch up on sleep après passage. At rest or cruising, the seating can swallow a crowd and, we reckon, 12 for lunch in the shade.

The twin wheels ensure unfettered access to the drawbridge-type transom that lowers on a pulley to create the swim platform and boost the waterfront real estate. The swim ladder is cleverly concealed in a side pocket in the swim platform -- its integrated design sets the tone for the deeper level of thinking on the clever Vision 46.

A gas locker for two 4kg bottles was noted, along with the mention of a soon-to-be rail-mounted barbecue, while clip-in cushions add to the at-rest comfort and padded backrests create quasi pushpit seats if you leave them in place. The helm is ergonomically designed so you sit with the wheel between your legs, looking forward, and scalloped mouldings add to the helm space.

The twin helm pods add to the sailing intent, while the throttle for the upgraded 75hp D2 Volvo Penta diesel engine, with folding four-blade prop, falls to foot on the starboard side. The bow thruster helps about the marina and steerage in reverse seemed responsive when we returned to dock. Elsewhere, elliptical grab rails are a design and safety feature.

Underseat storage includes an icebox with overboard drain and lazarette space alongside the steering and emergency tiller. As mentioned, there’s also access to the starboard internal sail/storage locker.

Decent stanchions and lifelines lead forward, with teak toe rails, access gates from the marina, and wide walkaround decks with a decent grade of non-skid. Flush deck hatches (nine opening plus three portlights in all) add to the Vision’s clean look, while the eagle-eye windows and deck line hint at past Vision models, while at the same time being more futuristic.

For provisions, stores, spares, victuals and cruising kit, this storage space is just invaluable. It’s also mighty handy for throwing all the upholstered cockpit-seat cushions and other infills or seat swabs. Quick declutter.

Below decks, the standard Sipo (aka light African mahogany joinery) has a nice grain and with chestnut flooring -- full protector carpets coming -- there’s a sense of tradition with contemporary styling. Leather-bound rails, ceiling rails, and prominent fiddles help your passage forward in a seaway. Note the soft vinyl ceiling liners where others skimp with gelcoat or plastic surfaces.

With loads of light from the abundant windows and a lofty two-metres of headroom, the saloon is anything but pokey. Standing, you can see out the higher windows, while the lower ones offer views when seated. Suffice to say, it’s more pleasant and powerboat-like than poky yachts of old, though the windows don’t frame the views entirely.

Taking pride of place, the galley with white island servery and counters is immediately to port and, therefore, handy for serving back up top. The sink is in the island, there’s a two-burner gimballed gas stove/oven/grill, and a truly huge fridge with top and side-door access. You will need a separate freezer in the starboard storage room for greater autonomy. The owners opted for the recessed dish dryer rack where you might otherwise fit a microwave oven.

The yacht’s only bathroom is opposite, again handy to the companionway, with the upgraded electric loo, an accommodating vanity with solid-stone vanity top, and a separate shower stall with natural ventilation. The tapware is from upmarket Euro suppliers and it’s a smart, serviceable and spacious bathroom.

The navigation station to port hides behind an infill to form a seaberth alongside the boat’s upgraded AV system with television and main power management panel. With pullout poufs you can seat eight at the dinette that also converts into an impromptu double berth.

There’s wine and glass storage nearby for those raft-ups with other footloose couples. And with the wide beam, headroom and light, it’s all very spacious and somewhat connected with the outdoors.

The mast compression post is concealed ahead of the timber bulkhead denoting the owner’s forward stateroom. There’s a generous island berth, fixed portlights and escape hatch, his and her hanging space, and a dresser/vanity with pouf where a small en suite can be fitted. There’s a nice big shoe locker, too, while white moulded quasi clinker hull liners hint to the past. The library built into the bedhead is another nice touch.

Yet the second portside cabin back aft of the galley wowed this writer just as much, with its abundant headroom near the entrance and two big adult-length singles, alongside oodles of space where one usually gets a small footwell and wall-to-wall mattress instead.

Akin to the guest’s rooms of Euro motoryachts, the commodious aft cabin also has plenty of built-in storage, trick reading lights and an infill to make a double. Hopefully, the position of the opening portlights creates sufficient airflow around the bedheads/pillows.

We checked engine access under the companionway steps and via side hatches, pulled floor panels to reach keel bolts, hidden storage and bilges, looked in the lazarette at the steering, and noted good engineering, electrical installations and ‘glass work throughout.

As for sailing controls, all the lines from the deck-stepped mast base run across a recess in the coachhouse roof -- where the immediate thought is to add cushions and create a sunken sub-boom lounge -- to the electric halyard winch under the dodger. The grated teak step before the companionway lifts to hide the tails.

The twin mainsheet system atop the cabin tip obviously doesn’t impinge on cockpit space. The Selden twin swept-back spreader stick is 7/8th fractional, with adjustable backstay, the solid vang, the upgraded in-mast furling, concealed headsail furling drum, and auto-trim system.

It will take a while to set everything up to a foolproof level for shorthanded sailing, but that’s the very charter of the Vision 46 right from the word get go.

As for the hull, it’s got the weight out of the ends, plenty of buoyancy to carry cruising kit, lots of freeboard and beam, and it sails well. The standard cast-iron deep keel has 2.14m of draft, with 3450kg of ballast for the 12,300kg hull. The modest ballast/displacement ratio of 28 per cent is helped by the boat’s beam.

Crunch the numbers further and you’ll find the Vision 46’s sail area to displacement ratio tilts it towards the cruiser-racer category, being a relatively light-displacement yacht, yet its got a high comfort factor -- she certainly didn’t feel uncomfortably stiff.

Going to windward, we could point to 35 degree just fine and hit high-six to low-seven knots. The wheel was balanced with a hint of weather helm before we were pushed back upwind in the bigger squirts. Spray was flying and, while we punched through the swells on the run-out tide, there wasn’t any jarring.

Back off the breeze, the big, broad Vision 46 loped along at high-six knots, as the sun headed west, and our crew assumed various positions on lounges with the feet up. It was all very, very comfortable for laidback coastal cruising.

Vision, from either helm station, was remarkably good on the Vision.

Pitched at those who want to set sail with ease -- who may well be accustomed to turning keys, pressing buttons and advancing levers rather than pulling strings and grinding winches -- who are used to above-water living rather than the below-decks yachting life, the Vision 46 is a modern cruising yacht that broadens sailing’s appeal.

LOA: 13.99m
Hull length: 13.70m
LWL: 12.83m
Beam: 4.19m
Draft: 2.14m (standard)
Draft: 1.70m (shallow)
Displacement: 12,300kg
Ballast: 3450 kg
Fresh water: 580 litres
Fuel tank approx: 210 litres
CE Certificate: A (ocean)
Sleeping: 4+2 in 2 cabins/1 head, plus convertible dinette
Mast: 22.10m above waterline
Total sail area approx: 103 sq m (main and jib)
Sail area displacement ratio: 20-20.5
Design: Farr Yacht Design
Interior: Design Unlimited