Another test, this one with beautiful images, that concludes that the Maxi 1200 is a great boat and very good value for the money...and yet the boat is not a sales success. I find that ironic since this boat is all that many sailboat forum posters are demanding: less beamier, fast, well built, with a superior quality interior at a very nice price...and they seem not be buying it!!! LOL.
The reason this boat is not a success is because what most cruisers look for in a first place on a sailboat is the biggest interior they can afford for a price and that is not what they got with the maxi 1200.
Having talked, over the last years, with many cruisers that do 1000's of miles on each season and live several months on a sailboat (and those are a minority among cruisers) I reached the conclusion that most use the boat as a mean of transport and as a house, being sailing ability in itself and sailing pleasure a very small part of what they search on a a sailingboat. That explains the little success of the Maxi 1200.
That and for the ones that like sailing, the absence of a traveler, that ironically a professional racer that tested the Maxi 1200 says it is a good compromise. The boat features a central two way electric winch just below the boom, allowing for high tension on the leash and the reverse function on the electric allows to spill wind quickly. Being the winch very close to the helm it makes easy a bigger ‘dump’ if needed. In fact, sailing solo, more easier than on most cruiser racers, where the traveler is on the other side of the steering wheel and you have to move around to let it go.
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2015/11/maxi-1200-one-of-best-cruising-boats.html
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2015/01/maxi-1200-does-it-worth-money.html
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/12/maxi-1200.html
My God , this boat looks phenomenal for under 200 boat dollars , love this modern hull and traditional lines , marketing is to blame for not being a great success . One concern is a resale value perhaps? I would remove that nifty electric winch and install proper traveler and drop price in options .
ReplyDeleteThey have been making a good marketing and the boat was test sailed by many boat magazines. It is just that it is not the type of boat cruisers want. They want a bigger interior, I suppose and don't care or don't know about the diference in quality.
ReplyDeleteI have been on the boat and no way you can install a traveler. The rigging was studied to be very easy for a solo sailor and the central winch is one of the factors that makes it easy to sail.
But as many had said this is a performance boat and the traveler makes not a big diference. There are other well known performance boats, like the Swan 60, that have opted by the same solution without degrading significantly the performance and making the boat control easier.
Compare azuree 41 with maxi 1200, what is your opinion? I want to buy one or other. What to chose?
ReplyDeleteHow can you give you advice on that? They are quite different boats having the Azuree a much bigger interior due to being bigger and being beamier. However I would say that I like more the quality and feel of the Maxi interior.
DeleteThe weight of both boats is not very different but the Azuree has more form stability and more ballast, for a similar keel and draft, so his stability is bigger and that's why it can have more sail area.
Even so the smaller Maxi beam and hull lines should somewhat compensate that diference in sail area and power specially in light winds and upwind. Less sail makes it also an easier boat to sail. The Maxi 1200 will sail upwind with more heel than the Azuree.
But I would say that the feeling while sailing is very important and I am quite sure these two boats will have a different sail feeling since they have quite different hulls, so try them before you buy one.
They are two very nice cruising boats and if you like the way both sail and you can live with the smaller Maxi interior I would say that price would be an important factor. And don't forget that besides the price tag the discounts you would get on each boat can be very different.
Go to Dusseldorf boat show and talk with both companies letting them know that you are undecided between these two boats and that price would be the decisive factor. You are going to be surprised, besides Dusseldorf is a very nice town with lots of breweries and a great beer.
I can give you my opinion as owner of an Azuree 41 from a year ago. Personally I am delighted with the decision; It is a very well constructed and very fast sailboat. The double rudder blade is something that I had never tried and is totally recommended. It is very easy to sail at 9-10 knots of speed with only main and jib. With the asymmetric it is easy to reach 10-11 knots and larger points with only 15 knots of true wind. At constructive level and comparing it with the Maxi 1200, both use vinilester resin and carbon reinforcements in the structural counter-mold. The difference is that the Azuree 41 also uses carbon in the deck (it's something I checked when making holes and removing many panels).
DeleteThe Azuree 41 measures 1 meter more in length and has almost 1 ton more ballast. I have not sailed the Maxi 1200, but I think this should be noticed when sailing.
As Paulo says, the Maxi has a lower interior habitability and also a lower At the time when buying the Azuree 41 I considered the Dehler 42 and the X4. Dehler 42 was cheaper, but I did not like the perceived quality (I think that since it belongs to Hanse are not the same) and neither the fact of having to go through the bathroom to go to one of the cabins. I did not like too the layout of the cockpit either.
From the X4 I did not like the price; almost 100,000 euros more. I think is not 100.000 euros better.
So I can only say that I am satisfied and very happy with the Azuree 41.
Alex