DUSSELDORF 2020: MORE IS HOLDING ON

I have said on previous posts that More yachts were doing the best quality for the money in what regards the yachts they offered, a 40ft and a 55ft, but at a certain point things didn't look right to me and I stop recommended them to the ones that reach me looking for help in choosing their yacht.

And I was right because they were in trouble, don't know if they went bankrupt but the production was affected and things went downhill. More was previously a charter company, a Swedish Croatian one and it was that company, specialized in offering boats for kind of friendly regatta events among groups or in offering faster and better charter boats to the public.

They used to have Salonas but at a certain point, with Salona already having problems with production, and wanting a 55ft boat without any positive response from Salona, they decided to produce it themselves, to equip their fleet and also sell it to the market and that's how the 55 was born.

Things went well, most of the specialized workers from Salona opted to moved to More, including their main engineer and the boat was built with Salona well known expertise and similar process and materials, using a stainless steel grid for hull structure and epoxy based vinylester resins on a sandwich with a foam core. The bulkheads are made also of GRP, laminated and glued to the hull.

Then a 40ft followed, but things did not went well on the charter company, probably because the brand was not well known and failed to attract the clientele they were hoping for, and ended up to bankrupt leaving the shipyard in very bad situation. The shipyard was then bought by Croatian investors and things seem to be going well, at least for a while since they came to Düsseldorf with a big stand showing both boats with nice black shinning hulls.

The boats looked good on the outside and inside there was some finish problems that I pointed to Abraham Rakuljic (head of development and production). He seemed genuinely surprised and he said that a boat would not be delivered with that kind of problems and if it was, it would be solved rapidly. For sure he has not the experience or technical knowledge of Leo Curin (that has been working for other companies including Bavaria), he is a  young man but he seems to listen to what one has to say, seems eager to solve problems and in some way to customize the boat to clients' needs and that is rare in boats of this price.

The quality of the interior is not bad, I would say average and good if we take into consideration the price, certainly comparable to the one of mass production main market boats in quality even if their design is generally better in small details.

I liked the engineer that seemed honest and competent ( the original engineer that came from Salona and developed the boats, Leo Curin, is not with them anymore having his own firm) but the fact is that I did not like what was visible there regarding the new management, a pretty lady in high heels that seemed not to understand anything about boats or boat business and that refused to give any detailed information about who had bought or invested on the shipyard making impossible to understand the solidity of the company, maintaining all the time a very arrogant atitude one that I did not find on any other stand.

By comparison Contest, Swan or Solaris were very humble, it looked like she was representing the more exclusive yachts on the market with a very solid reputation and a two year waiting list and not one of the cheapest, coming from an almost bankruptcy situation and trying to survive.

Well, she did not give me a good impression regarding management but I would say that at least for some time it will be safe to order More yachts. The investment of capital should allow that boats ordered now to be built without problems so if you want to have a well built fast boat for not much take the opportunity now, because I don't think it is going to last.

Regarding the boats, the basics are solid and light, meaning the hull, keel, rudders, cabin and even the interior. The boats come with six good quality winches and even if the blocks and other sail hardware are not top quality, as in many other boats, that's a thing you can change with time.

The yachts, specially the 55, have been around for some years, several crossed the Atlantic for several times (for doing charter on the Caribbean) one of the 55 has even raced with very reasonable results so I would say that they are a good solid investment, if we can call buying a sailboat an investment LOL.

But inexplicably (or maybe not) the 55 continues to have a layout more adapted to charter than to private ownership and the three cabin version, the version more adapted to private use, continues to have the same longitudinal galley that is a nonsense on a boat of that size, when one wants to give it a cozy and nice comfortable interior for private use.

The good thing is that the engineer from production and development was open and even interested in modifying the interior at the demand of a client. The bulkheads position makes it not easy to do another type of galley but it will be possible to have a proper comfortable saloon with two sofas on the opposite side of the table with a smaller (chart) table in between, at the cost of the smallest of the three heads.

The 40 has a better layout but an inexplicable error on the interior design, I mean one that has nothing to do with functionality but only with looks, but that they are willing to solve: The inserts that work as windows on the saloon are too low and give a disagreeable feeling, like if something was not right (and in fact it is not LOL). That can be easily solved doubling the inserts and putting one over the existing one, like it is done for example on the Azuree 40, or even better, substituting that insert for a much bigger "window" (in height).

Among the  more inexpensive boats of their size the More 55 and 40 are the best offers on the market for one that wants to have a fast solid cruising boat and has no money to buy a much more expensive one.

I would say that without a substancial change on the layout the 40 is a better offer than the 55 where, except for charter use, other luxury is to be expected on the saloon looks and comfort (unless they modify the saloon). The Layout of the 40 is a good one and that problem with the saloon "window" is easy and not expensive to solve. I have some difficulty in understanding why they have not done it already.
https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2018/01/more-40-best-pricequality.html

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2017/02/more-55-more-40-too-good-to-be-true.html
https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2018/01/more-40-best-quality-price.html