NEW SALONA 46: BEST VALUE?

It is always good news when small shipyards that offer sailboats at a price between mass production builders and high-quality shipyards make a new boat. Unfortunately, it is also a rare event, with those brands struggling to survive. It is the case of Dehler and Azuree, without a new boat for several years and Salona, that launched the last one five years ago, and now is presenting a new 46ft Yacht.

It would be expected that these brands, that offer a better quality product at a very reasonable price, would not have a problem on the market. But sailboat yacht market is a tricky one, sometimes what appears logic does not work.

Most buyers look for the less expensive mass-produced sailboats and are not interested to pay more to have a better sailboat (many don't even understand that they are better) and the few that want and have the money for more, want to have yachts from brands that can offer them not only the quality but the satisfaction of owning a yacht from a prestigious and well-known brand with a clearly superior quality interior, even if they have to pay much more.

This situation, that resulted in the lack of demand for this market segment, has led these companies to struggle to survive and not properly to a very successful history. I have resumed Salona's situation on this post 4 years ago:

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2016/11/salona-38-great-boat-but.html

Since then Salona has been fully restructured with a new team, More Yachts experienced trouble, and I do not have a positive feedback from them, you can read about the subject here:

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2020/02/dusseldorf-2020-good-news-from-more.html

I have exchanged some emails with Marin Donadini, the new CEO, that has come from the Naval Industry to the Yacht industry two years ago, and he tells me that he was aware of Salona's past situation but that things changed and they have had no complaints from clients in the last year.

They are not only making a new 46ft but they also have plans for new smaller boats in the next two years.

I want to believe that this time, after several CEOs in the last 8 years, Donadini, is the right one and that the relation between CEO and investors has become an effective one, because in the past the lack of success was not only due to the CEO but mainly due to the investors, that had not understood that without investment there is no successful yacht business, and that a strong part of that investment has to be the promotion of the product.

Salona 460, below Oceanis 46.1

Anyway, the new 460, that is, in reality, a 44.3ft boat (hull length) is offered at a very interesting price, 259 000 euros, a middle price between high-quality yachts like X4-6 (44.3ft - 424 700 euros) XP44 (43.6ft - 327 400) or  Grand Soleil 44P (44.0ft - 319 000 euros), and mass production boats, like the Oceanis 46.1 (44.8ft - 220 000 euros).

The price is closer to the one of  Beneteau but the way Salona is built is much nearer to Grand Soleil 44, both using vinylester resin (epoxy on X-Yachts) and they all use vacuum infusion foam-cored hulls and the Salona even uses a steel structure, not very different from the one used on the more expensive X-Yacht, the X4-6.

The Oceanis 46.1, in what building is concerned, has almost nothing in common with these boats, particularly in what regards the hull, that is built using much cheaper polyester resins on a monolithic hull and using as internal structure a huge liner that they call a monolithic structural "contre-moule", that is bonded to the hull.

Only in what regards deck the building technique is similar, even if Beneteau uses a system that they call injection (same as Jeanneau), versus vacuum infusion on the others. They all use foam-cored GRP decks but while the resin on all the others is vinylester or epoxy, on the Beneteau a much less expensive and lower quality, polyester resin is used.

The 460 is designed by J&J, the cabinet that designed the first Salona models before they started to be designed by Ker and Cossutti.

Above X4-6, XP44, GS44P

I have to say that I don't understand the change and even if J&J has designed the most successful Salonas, the 38, 41 and the 44, I don't believe the boats' success had much to do with the designer, the same way I don't believe the not so big 380 success, or the relative unsuccess of the Ker 60ft, had to do with the designs or designers.

It seems they have never attained with other designers cooperation that they had experienced with J&J and that the production problems they experienced had there their origin and that's probably the reason they decided to renew the partnership with J&J.

Salona 380

I don't like their designs as much as I like Ker or Cossutti designs, but they are certainly a competent yacht cabinet and I have no doubt the boat will sail well, as it was the case with the Salonas they designed before.

The design looks elegant, a tad conservative, but not too much, a well-balanced yacht with medium beam, a transom closed by a large swim platform, with not all beam brought back. All in all, I would say a nice looking boat except in what regards the huge swim platform that makes the transom look massive. A solution like the one used on X Yachts or Grand Soleil, with a smaller swim platform, would have been preferable and would make the boat look better.

Salona 460, below Oceanis 46.1, XP4-6, XP44

I prefer the Salona 380 design, by Cossutti, that looks more contemporary. The 460 design represents a break with that tendency and a return to the origins,  a kind of evolution of the Salona 41 design, the last Salona commissioned to J&J. Nothing wrong with that, I have sailed the Salona 41 and it is a great boat, but I doubt that commercially this is the right move for Salona.

J&J like IRC/ ORC boats with not too much ballast. That solution can have advantages in racing, under certain conditions, especially inshore and represents the opposite tendency followed by X-yachts, that are designed by Niels Jeppesen, that believes in boats with lots of ballast.

Even so, regarding the new Salona 460 when I say not too much ballast, I am not talking about boats with a  light ballast like the Oceanis 46.1.

Let's start by looking at B/D to understand what I mean:  Salona 460 has 29.3%B/D with a 2.44m torpedo keel; Oceanis 46.1 has 25.8%B/D with a much less efficient iron massive bulbed keel with less draft (2.35m); X4-6 has a 41.3%B/D on a 2.30m torpedo keel; XP44 has a 44.5%B/D on a 2.30m torpedo keel and the Grand Soleil 44s has a 30%B/D with a 2.50m torpedo keel.

We can see that in what regards B/D the X-yachts are really in another championship. That has partially to do with being narrower boats (XP44) that need to have more RM coming from the keel to compensate the lesser beam, but that gives them also much better safety stability and AVS.

Salona 460, below Oceanis 46.1

The Salona 460 and the Grand Soleil 44P are not far away, but the Oceanis, with its smaller draft, less efficient bulbed iron keel and much smaller B/D, is out of place in this group, and even if its shape looks not very different from the others, its place should be among Jeanneaus and Dufours, the ones he should be compared with.

There are also differences in what regards beam: Salona 460 has 4.20m, Oceanis 46.1- 4.50m, X4-6 - 4.27m, XP44 - 4.07m, and the GS 44P - 4.30m. XP 44, the one with the narrower hull, is also the one with the bigger B/D and the Oceanis, by far the beamier boat, is the one with less B/D.

X4-6, below XP44 and GS44P

In what concerns displacement the Salona 460 has 9800kg, the Oceanis 46.1-10597kg, the X4-6 - 10900kg, the XP44 - 8650kg and the GS44P  - 9000kg. Note that the much lighter XP44, carries more 1274kg ballast than the heavier Oceanis 46.1 (+ 1974kg displacement) and that it is only possible due to the XP44 being built with top materials and top building techniques.

On the Oceanis, because they have not much weight in ballast, only possible due to the big hull form stability obtained through a very beamy hull, they manage a relatively light boat, using simple building techniques and low-quality material.

That allows the Oceanis a very good performance downwind with strong winds, as all the press has pointed out, but not such a good performance in light wind, an average performance upwind with medium to strong winds and waves, and of course, a smaller safety stability and a smaller AVS.

I say average performance upwind with stronger winds because I am referring to all boats, but if we are comparing it only with these ones, the right word is mediocre and not average because all of them will sail much better, by far, with special relevance for the XP 44, that on those conditions would be faster than any of the other boats.

On the new GS44P they haven't yet announced the sail area but the Salona 44 should have a similar cruising sail performance, due to a not very different hull and a not very different B/D, the GS44P just slightly faster on most conditions, being a slightly more powerful boat due to a lesser weight, slightly bigger B/D and a bit more beam. On the racecourse probably the GS 44R will outperform the Salona 460. The GS44R can be made all in carbon and it is designed by Matteo Polli, one of the best ORC race designers.

Salona 46, Oceanis 46.1, X4-6, XP44, GS44

Between the two there is an announced 60 000 euros difference but probably that difference will be bigger because the GS 44P comes with not much sail hardware, for a performance boat, and you will have to add several expensive items that are normally standard on Salonas, like mainsheet traveller, genoa traveller and 6 winches (instead of four on the GS).

Traditionally Salonas have a good interior but on Grand Soleils the quality and mostly the design are a bit better.

On the new 48GSP, the last boat from the same series, there was one detail I didn't like which probably can be modified but except that, all were of very good taste, great quality and impeccable.

Salona has the know-how to do very well and I saw on the Salona 60 a very high-quality interior, but on smaller boats, the interior, even if good, has not the same quality of design and finish of Grand Soleil. Regarding this particular boat, we have to wait and see, but I would be surprised if it was an exception.

If we compare Salona 460 with Oceanis 46.1 (and I am considering this comparison because some buyers that are on the market for an Oceanis or a Jeanneau, can also be possible Salona clients) the difference in SA/D, 24.2 to Salona, to 22.8 on the Oceanis will not reflect the real difference in performance, being the Salona mutch faster upwind and in light winds.

Only downwind with 20kt winds and over the Oceanis will probably offer a close performance being also easier on the autopilot and easier to explore, but I am talking about an Oceanis maximized for performance and far away from the standard boat that, with a furling main and an auto-tack jib, has only 17.9 SA/D. I guess that many, looking at the shape of the two boats will assume that the Oceanis 46.1 will be faster on all conditions or as fast, and that is certainly a mistake.

Regarding prices, we can see that between the two standard boats the Oceanis 46.1 is 39 000 euros less expensive than the Salona 460, but this difference in price does not reflect the difference in sail hardware between the two boats: the Oceanis comes standard with only two winches, the Salona with 6, the Oceanis comes standard with a self-tacking jib and no traveller for the main, the Salona comes standard (looking at the pictures) with two more expensive genoa tracks and a mainsheet traveller.

If you are satisfied with the sail performance given by the standard Oceanis, with an auto-tacking jib as and a furling main, then the difference in price will be the one above and the Beneteau will be a relatively slow sailboat under most conditions having only a 17.9 SA/D, but if that is OK, then 39 000 euros is a considerable difference and it makes sense to have the Beneteau, especially if you are doing coastal cruising and don't care much for upwind performance with stronger winds.

But if you want a faster or more seaworthy and well-built boat, you will have to spend a lot more in extras, you would have to pay for 2 extra winches, two extra genoa tracks, an extra taller mast, an extra 110% genoa, the extra boom with automatic reefing system, the extra bigger mainsail, a backstay tensioner, many extra clutches and blocks and even so you would not have traveller for the main and would have less two winches than on the Salona.

Salona steel keel structure.

And I suspect that with the taller mast you should also have the performance keel, a torpedo one similar to the one of the Salona ( with a lead torpedo) but with a bigger draft (2.65 to 2,44m) that giving to the boat a slightly smaller 24.7%B/D increases, in fact, the RM, more than compensating the lowering of the keel CG, the difference of less 159kg ballast.

If you pay for all this then the difference in price for the Salona 460 will be very small, if any, and the Salona is still a faster and better-built boat with better safety stability.

Regarding interior design, I would have to see the Salona 460 interior for comparing it but small companies seem not to understand the importance of having the interior designed by a top design cabinet instead of designing it at "home" and I would not be surprised if the interior from Oceanis offers a nicer design.

The Salona layout seems functional but the solution for the saloon is in what regards apparent space worse than the one on the Oceanis. On Oceanis the chart table is on the same side of the galley while on Salona it is on the opposite side, a small detail that is an important one because, while on the Oceanis, seating on the saloon main seat you will be looking at a large open space, that includes the galley and the other side of the saloon, on the Salona you will be looking at a much smaller open space because the large head occupies all the space opposite the galley.

Regarding quality and interior materials, taking as reference older Salonas, I doubt Oceanis will match Salonas's quality. In what concerns sails, Oceanis comes with basic sails and I don't know if that is the case with the Salona. Normally more expensive boats don't include sails on the standard price. Anyway for having an Oceanis closer in performance to a Salona you would need other sails than the ones that are offered on the standard boat, namely a bigger main and a genoa instead of the jib.

Bottom point, as you can see the Salona 460 can be for some that, due to price are interested in mass-production yachts, but want a fast and seaworthy boat, a very interesting option, one that will make a lot more sense than to spend a lot of money to upgrade an Oceanis 46.1 to have a good sail performance, but a lower quality sailboat.

Of course, it remains to be seen if Salona is on the right track again. According to the information provided by the shipyard since November last year till now they have produced 12 boats and that is a healthy number for a small shipyard that almost went bankrupt some years ago.

Anyway, a yacht can always be bought with bank insurance, that will return you your money in case the shipyard fails to deliver. That costs about 4% of the boat value but does not need to cover all the boat cost since a part of the boat can be paid at delivery and obviously, you will only pay that part if they deliver the boat as contractualized.