Bavaria Yachts 36

In just a few short years North South Yachting has launched a veritable armada of Bavaria yachts onto Australian waters.

The local success of Bavaria reflects the wider international growth in sales of the German production-yacht range. Founded in 1978, the company now employs more than 500 staff to produce about 2000 boats per year, across its range of 10 models from 32-50ft.

The boats come onto the market well priced due to the economics of scale and the modern manufacturing methods and processes utilised by Bavaria Yachts. While budget pricing has been a strong factor in the number of Bavarias sold in Australia, so has been the distributor's approach to marketing them. Not only are they sold as true sailaway packages, but they also include the best of Bavaria's optional features within the standard specification.

With the new 36, this means the deep lead keel instead of the factory's standard cast-iron keel, and a 29hp Volvo MD2030 diesel engine instead of the listed 19hp Volvo MD2030.

Also included are many items that are often listed as optional extras, such as an electric anchor windlass, electronic wind and log instruments and GPS chartplotter, VHF radio and masthead antenna, and more.

The result with the Bavaria 36 is a boat that is ready to go out for an afternoon's club race or a week's family cruise and actually offers enjoyable sailing en route. Not all cruising people-movers turn out to be the sweetest of sailing craft, but in this case I was very impressed by the 36's capabilities under sail. (And under motor, too, for that matter. When North South Yachting's Andrew Parkes said the boat “goes like the clappers with the motor on,” he wasn't joking.)

CONSTRUCTION
Bavaria builds its boats in solid GRP up to the waterline, with GRP/foam sandwich topsides and deck. The hull laminate is beefed-up around the keel join and includes Kevlar fabric in the bow for increased impact resistance. The factory offers a five-year warranty against osmosis.

A structural grid supports the keel loads, and the floor timbers, stringers and bulkheads are all glassed-in to add strength to the overall structure. High-grade marine plywood is used for the bulkheads, with mahogany solids and veneers used for the interior joinery.

The furniture is pre-assembled as modules, which are then built into the boats on the assembly line, allowing buyers to choose two or three cabin layouts.

RIG AND DECK
The Bavaria 36 has a deck-stepped, near-masthead rig with an anodised aluminium mast and boom, supported by slightly swept-back spreaders.

The overlapping genoa is set up with a roller-furler, and the standard sail inventory from Elvstrom in Europe includes a UV-strip on the genoa, plus a battened mainsail with lazy jacks and boom cover. The test boat has instead been equipped with working sails from the local Quantum loft and the optional spinnaker pole system, which stows the pole vertically on the front of the mast, ready to use with the headsail on those twilight no-extras races.

Halyards are led back to the aft end of the coachhouse, where there are Harken 16 winches for the halyards, sail controls and the mainsheet. The main traveller is also on the coachhouse, in front of the generously-sized companionway.

The cockpit is fairly modest in size, allowing more interior space, but it could seat up to six and has a protected feeling due to the relatively high coamings. There are Harken 40 self-tailing winches for the genoa (be prepared to put some effort into bringing it on under load) on the cockpit coaming, and mounting space further aft for spinnaker sheet winches if the racing bug starts to bite.

The cockpit floor and seats are teak-laid, and there is a timber cockpit table that lives on the front of the substantial GRP-moulded steering pedestal and required a little bit of fiddling to set up for use on the test boat.

A binnacle compass and Raymarine Tridata and wind instruments are housed on the steering pedestal, right under your nose when you're behind the wheel. There isn't a lot of room to move back there, but enough to stand comfortably or sit on the transom seating, which opens to the boarding platform and swim ladder. Steering from outboard is not quite as comfortable, because it's quite a long arm's reach to the wheel when you're sitting up on the coaming. Andrew Parkes would like to try a larger diameter wheel.

BELOW DECKS
The two-cabin version represented by the test boat includes a large master cabin forward, with a double V-berth, twin hanging lockers and a dressing seat. Aft in the port quarter is another large double cabin with a hanging locker and shelving. The bathroom is positioned to starboard of the companionway and includes a large wet locker which, in a novel touch, houses a toilet brush holder. A moulded seat over the Jabsco manual toilet hinges up or down to provide a safe perch when showering. A waterproof door protects the storage space under the sink, which like the galley has pressurised hot and cold water on tap.

The saloon has settees either side of the central table, which with the drop leaf extension up can provide a dinner setting for six.

The galley to port is well set up with stove and oven, refrigeration unit, twin sinks and storage shelves for utensils and provisions.

Opposite is the navigation station, which is traditionally-styled with a forward-facing benchseat and reasonably-sized chart table, plus an overhead mounting space for the GPS chartplotter, in this case a Navman colour unit.

While the mahogany joinery combined with the teak-and-holly-look flooring result in a quite cosy but subdued atmosphere, the ample natural lighting and white moulded headliners lighten the mood.

The layout seems well-suited to owners who don't need lots of sleeping space for family or guests, because of the extra room it allows in each of the cabins and the bathroom, as well as the additional aft cockpit locker space.

On the three-cabin version, room is cleared for the additional aft cabin by moving the bathroom forward of the mast and reducing the living space of both the existing cabins.

SAILING PERFORMANCE
We sailed the Bavaria 36 in a moderate 10-15kt breeze on the flat water of Pittwater. Straight out of the blocks this boat displayed a level of self-possession that caught me by surprise. Once we had the sails trimmed up for a windward course, I let go of the helm to see how long it could stay on course. Minutes later I was still waiting for it to stray. In the gusts it gently feathered up towards the wind, and then it cranked itself away again when the breeze lightened. What a sweet disposition! The Bavaria 36's willingness and ability to take care of itself really impressed me.

Not everything about the sailing experience was quite as captivating. Although there are clearly persuasive reasons for placing the mainsheet and traveller on the coachroof and the practice has become common on modern production cruising yachts, I still feel a little insecure not having the mainsheet right at hand beside the helm, particularly when the steering pedestal is big enough to complicate a fast dash forward, in the event that the mainsheet must be freed.

One specific detail that I would also like to see changed is the hinge fitting on the cockpit lockers: it sits up just high enough to catch and potentially tear clothes and skin. But this is a minor quibble.

The test boat was the first of 10 Bavaria 36s ordered from the plans by Australian buyers, Andrew Parkes told Trade-A-Boat. Okay, these buyers were not really committing to an unknown quantity, as the 36 is a bigger, roomier replacement for the popular 34, but nevertheless this level of consumer confidence says a lot. Judging by the performance of the 36 during our test sail, and the apparent value for money represented by the standard package, that confidence will not be misplaced.