NEW 40 ft CRUISERS: OCEANIS 40.1 VERSUS BAVARIA 42 C

Let's have a look at the new mass production 40ft sailboat offers:  the Bavaria 42 C and the Oceanis 40.1. Judging by the name the Bavaria is not a 40ft but a 42ft and that is misleading. In fact the Oceanis is 1
cm longer (hull length) than the Bavaria.
Both boats look good and very successfully manage to disguise the high freeboard and the big interior volume, not to call "fatness". I would say the Beneteau looks just a bit better, meaning more sportive than the Bavaria, but I admit that some will prefer the more sober and elegant Bavaria look.

Both boats have about the same length being the Bavaria in what regards hull length  1mm shorter (11.98m to 11,99) and about the same LOA, both boats with bowsprit(12.90 to 12.87). The Bavaria bowsprit is optional  it remains to be seen if the one of the Oceanis 40.1 will be standard or also optional.

The Bavaria is beamier (4.29 to 4.18m) being the Oceanis 40.1 slightly less beamier than the previous model, the 41.1, that notwithstanding the name is 1mm shorter in length. The Bavaria has a bigger displacement (9678kg to 8180). This is due partially to the bigger ballast (2698kg to 2007kg with a draft of 2.10m to 2.17).

I confess that this difference in weight is quite intriguing because due to hull building techniques the Bavaria should be lighter and stronger for the same weight. Bavaria uses  vacuum infusion and polyester resins on a sandwich hull having Divinycell foam as core and a structural grid bonded to the hull.

 Beneteau uses similar resins but on a monolithic hull with a structural inner moulding bonded to the hull. Only on deck the technologies are similar, using  both  a sandwich composite using injection technology.

For the same weight the Bavaria should be stronger and considerably more stiffer than the Oceanis so it is hard to explain why the Bavaria weights 807kg more  (already discounting the difference in ballast weight).

However sometimes there are considerably differences in the real weight (after building) and the projected weight, at expenses of the boat stability because the ballast is the same even if the boat weights more and that is translated in a lesser B/D on the real boat than on the project.

Anyway this Oceanis is built the same way and with about the same weight as the previous ones so it will not be less resistant than them. The recent Bavaria C series are designed differently than previous  boats specially in what regards boat structure. The engineer that designed that structure said to me that it was considerably stronger than the previous ones and I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Above the 40.1, below the 42 C

It is also true that the first boats of the C series were plagued with a series of  annoying problems that pissed clients and influenced sales negatively. Probably those problems were due to the adaptation to new building methods and a new designer and I can only hope they are in the past but I have no information that allows me to say what is the present situation.

The keels of the two boats are nor very different, modern efficient ones with a torpedo but maintaining an L shape not to snag nets or ropes. The Bavaria has two available keels, standard with a 2.10m draft (27.9%B/D) and a shallower one with 1.70 draft (30.1% B/D). The Beneteau offers three different keels, a deep draft one with 2.27m (24.5%B/D), a standard one with 2.17 (24.5%B/D) and a shallow one with 1.68m (26.6% B/D).

This  means that while probably the Bavaria offers a similar stability with both keels the Beneteau offers more stability (RM) with the deep draft, that they call performance draft, and probably a smaller and identical stability between the standard and the shallow draft keel. Overall the Bavaria 42 C will offer an overall bigger stability due to bigger displacement, bigger beam (bigger hull form stability) and bigger RM generated by the keel (due to its bigger B/D on similarly designed keels).

Abobe the 40.1, below the 42 C

The AVS and safety stability are also probably better on the Bavaria even if close to the one of the Oceanis with a performance keel and this because it does not seem to me that the difference in draft (Oceanis has 17cm more) can compensate the superior Bavaria B/D (more 2.4%). That  difference in AVS and safety stability will be much bigger between the Bavaria and the standard Oceanis or the one with a shallow draft keel.

To put things in perspective if we look for instance at the Solaris 42, that has a bit less beam (3.99) but about the same LOA (12.36) and displacement (8 800 kg), we will see that for a more efficient keel (bulb in lead) with a much bigger draft (2.50) the B/D is 34.1%. This means not only a much more powerful boat, specially upwind, but also a boat with a much better safety stability (and AVS) than the Bavaria and an incomparable one regarding the standard Oceanis 40.1.

This has to do with boat design but also with price and a boat budget because one of the things that increases more the price of a boat is to increase B/D considerably . The bigger ballast (or more draft) will generate more efforts on the keel structure and hull and because the boat will gain in power (and weight) it will be able (and need) to carry a bigger mast and more sail area, generating again more efforts and contributing also for the need of a stronger boat. That's the real reason why main market mass production boats have a low B/D.

That and because making the boat lighter, using a low ballast (instead of  expensive high tech building technology and materials) if the boat is well designed, it is possible to have, on a beamy boat with lots of hull form stability,  a great performance downwind, a very good performance with light winds, a reasonable performance while beam reaching with medium low winds and even upwind if the waves are not big or too steep.

Of course, when more power is really needed , upwind with some waves or sailing in more demanding circumstances (except downwind) it will lack power and it will have a poor performance, but because these are circumstances very rarely experienced by most of the ones that will buy these boats, I have to say that they make all the sense for the ones they point to, allowing the lowest possible price for a sailing boat that will suit their needs.

Above 40.1, below 42 C

Why should those that never sail with more wind and waves and never sail in more demanding conditions, motoring always when going against the wind, need a better and much more expensive boat? Why to pay more for one? But if these boats will be enough in what concerns sailing they also have an average (not to call it mediocre) safety stability and AVS.

Anyway, it is not a bad one since they are designed to be certified class A and that gives warranties regarding a minimum safety stability for bluewater conditions. They are therefore suited for crossing oceans on the the right season when storms are very rare. But the fact is that most owners will never sail them bluewater and therefore will never really experience bad weather.

The problem here is for the few ones that buy these boats thinking they are what they are not and imagine that they have the seaworthiness of true bluewater boats and that is why it should be created a new certification for boats with a better bluewater potential than this type has (low B/D, a poor safety stability and AVS). I wrote an article about that:

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2019/05/please-rcd-certification-for-bluewater.html

Coming back to the Bavaria/Oceanis comparison, there is a thing that I really don't like on the Oceanis and that is the way the rudder stock is hold: on the bottom, on the hull, it is like on the other boats but on top, instead of coming all the way up to the cockpit floor and be secured there, it is secured inside the boat on the top of a plywood box bonded to the hull.

Below and above  42 C

They have used this system for many years and there are a small number of cases where those boxes become loose (even in almost new boats) with the effects you can imagine.  I really don't understand why they persist with this system, it costs probably less but the number of cases, that are not more because these boats are used rarely in nasty conditions for a long time, should have lead already to changes on the system.

Both hulls seem very well designed and have many things in common and some differences: they are both "fat" boats with a  huge interior even if they disguise that very well. I particularly like  the  bow on the Bavaria, a rounded one that allows a big buoyancy there and also a big chain locker with space for some fenders and this without making the forward section be less finer than the one on the Oceanis.

The hulls have the same basic shape, using chines to diminish heeling and rolling while sailing and  they should perform in a very similar way. In what regards keels they are very similar, modern and efficient L keels with most of the ballast on a torpedo, but the rudders are very different: a two rudder system on the Oceanis, a single one for the Bavaria and here I have to say that I prefer the Oceanis set up.

It is not a question of efficiency, a single rudder can be as efficient or more than a double rudder and offers advantages in what regards maneuvering in a marina but on a very beamy boat like the Bavaria, with a large transom, to be efficient the single rudder has to be very deep and that creates not only additional problems in what regards the forces generated on a single shaft but also expose much more the rudder to possible ground contacts that can happen easily while med mooring, if one is not very careful.

The sailing hardware seems to be very similar on both boats being the main difference the position of the two cockpit winches.They are near the wheel on the Oceanis and in the middle of the cockpit on the Bavaria. The winches on the Oceanis allow the helmsman to operate them but make them hard to operate  by someone else and the opposite happens on the Bavaria even if in this case one wonders why they have put them in the middle of the cockpit and not a bit aft. This way they would be very difficult to operate without disturbing eventual "passengers".

There is another significant difference with the optional genoa traveler that is on the deck on the Bavaria and over the cabin on the Oceanis. At a first glance we would say that would allow the Oceanis to have a better regulation of the genoa to sail close upwind but then, even if there is probably a small difference, we notice that the necessity to have it over the cabin is because the deck lateral passage is much narrower on the Oceanis than on the Bavaria.

Below and above 40.1

One wonders if that would not pose some serious problems going forward with bad weather. Certainly it would make it not easier specially because the hand rails over the cabin on the Oceanis are much smaller than the ones on the Bavaria.

The Bavaria has as standard much more sail area than the Oceanis, even in what regards the more expensive sportive version with the 2,27m draft and a bigger mast: 106.2 m2 to 76.70. On its standard version the Oceanis has only 69.40 m2 sail area and a  17.4 SA/D while the Bavaria has 22.5 SA/D. On its more sportive version the Oceanis has a SA/D still considerably smaller than the one of the Bavaria (19.8).

Beneteau gives not the size of the geenaker but its code 0 is 61.2m2 while the one from Bavaria is 85m2 (geenaker with 140m2) and therefore I would say that the same proportion regarding upwind sail area between the two boats will be maintained downwind.

The Bavaria is a heavier boat with a 188.1 D/L versus 141.6 on the Oceanis but due to the much bigger SA/D probably the Bavaria will be faster on most occasions and only downwind with strong winds the Oceanis will be faster. A pity because the Oceanis with a much bigger ballast and more RM could be a very interesting and much faster sailboat.

Both boats are designed by NAs with experience designing fast boats being the Bavaria designed, as all boats from C series, by Maurizio Cossutti and the Oceanis by Marc Lombard. Beneteau has an odd policy in what regards the designers of their boats and keep changing them from boat to boat without apparent reason.

The previous boat, the Oceanis 41.1, a successful boat was designed by Finot/Conq as well as the  very successful new 46.1 while Racopeau has designed the 51.1 and now it is Marc Lombard that designs the 40.1. This policy of keeping changing designers is a peculiarity from Beneteau and I cannot imagine why they do this. It seems they are unable to find out what is the best cabinet to design the type of boats they want and keep rotating them.

On the Oceanis the cockpit table is huge when folded, so big that it has space to carry the life-raft inside. I don't like it. The one on the Bavaria is more reasonably sized when folded and gives more space to the legs while seated and circulating.

In what concerns the interior your opinion is as good as mine, you just need to visit both boats. The one of the Oceanis is still on the paper but I have already visited the Bavaria 42 C that, without having a remarkable interior, is well done and designed offering a big galley and a good saloon.

Maybe I should revise my opinion because when I visited the 42 C I was convinced I was looking at a 42ft boat and it is was in fact a 40ft boat and I had not noticed. That means that if it seemed to me an average space for a 42 ft boat, it is in fact a very good interior for a 40ft boat.

The finish is OK for a mass production boat and the design without looking spectacular is nice and functional, except  the shower in the main head that has a kind of odd (grey) material, the design of the chart table or its location and the design of the main saloon table.

Above Solaris 42, below 40.1 and 42 C

A chart table of that size with an uncomfortable seating position would serve for nothing and  it would be better transformed in a small table between the two seats. That small table could be provided with an extending/rotating part that allowed someone sitting comfortably to have a frontal support for a laptop and a place to work.

Most cruisers use a laptop to prepare navigation and it would be much more comfortable doing that  comfortably seated than using the set up that is provided. And that would have the added if not main advantage, to make that space must cozier and nicer.

And of course there is that disastrous attempt to put some art on the interior using odd and ugly plastic parts on the bulkhead that separates the saloon from the cabin. I hope they are an option, if not one can certainly ask not to install them.

The interior storage is good and the outside not bad, having space on the chain locker for some fenders, two cockpit lockers under the settee and one on the transom floor, one  that allows more storage than what it seems looking at the layout of the boat (where that space is smaller than the one on the Oceanis) because the rudder mechanism is higher than what it usually is, separated from the storage space and easily accessible from the cockpit.

Regarding the Oceanis I can only comment on the layout where it seems the solutions are very similar in what regards outside storage. In the interior the main difference is a much bigger main head with a real separate shower. The shower on the main head on Bavaria is also separated but it also has the sanitary in that space. That seems a good idea to me since for not wasting so much water most choose to take a bath seated there, or at least seated most of the time.

Bavaria 42 C bow.

The space needed for that big head conditions the saloon on the Oceanis. It has a big longitudinal galley with the main table and the seats on the other side. I believe the space is not going to look as comfortable or nice as the one on the Bavaria and the galley will be a bit less appropriate to use while sailing.

Both boats have several possible layouts maintaining the central space (galley, head, saloon table) always unchanged. The Bavaria can have one of the aft cabins transformed as storage space and a second small head inside the forward cabin and the Oceanis has the same options plus one, that is a  masterpiece of design considering charter work:  maintaining the head on the front cabin they manage to introduce there a small cabin with two superimposed bunks on that space.

All in all the design seems quite good with the disadvantage, that except for the small space over the main cabin, there is not any storage space for clothes inside both cabins and that makes them unpractical except for a week charter, with the clothes remaining in the bags or backpacks.

The prices are good and similar being the Bavaria slightly less expensive at 157 900 euros while the Oceanis will cost 161 650 euros, both boats without any tax and on the factory. To really compare the prices of the two boats it is necessary to have them equipped the same way and ready to sail. On the Bavaria case a well equipped boat ready to sail will cost about 230 000 euros without transport, commission or taxes.

It really looks like a very attractive price and I believe that after the bankruptcy and some problems with the new boats Bavaria is really betting everything on this boat making it as inexpensive as possible. The numbers are good, the design seems right, I do really hope that they have managed to solve all the youth problems on the C series boats and that this may be the boat that allows Bavaria to recover the position they once had on the market.

 This is far from being a complete review, obviously I have not visited the Oceanis 40.1 and there are no sail tests on any of the boats. Anyway I hope this will give you an idea of the diferences between the two sailboats, some of them invisible to the naked eye. When I have enough information from sail tests and after having visited the Oceanis 40.1, probably next year, I will complete this report.

Important note: Some of the information regarding the Bavaria C42 specifications have been altered by Bavaria, in what regards displacement, ballast and sail area, with relevance to boat safety stability, AVS and upwind performance. There is a new post about them (08/10/2021).