Vision 42

[Bailey1234]

Dear forum.

My wife and I are at the final stages of securing a new Vision 42 in the UK. The current plan is 2 maybe 3 years on the East Coast before moving the boat to Greece.  All subject to change of course... We will be ordering above standard as follows:
2 head version
Upgraded engine
Bow thruster
Furling headsail
Laminate sails
Gennaker prep
Additional primary winches
Upgraded primary winches
Additional water tank
Teak cockpit floor
Saloon conversion to berth
Coastal navigation pack
Plus a few other bits such as 3 burner hob, additional lighting, cushions etc

We would welcome any experiences or thoughts on the Vision 42 specifically around performance & sea motion alongside any suggestions when preparing for extending cruising.

Thanks in advance.

[Yngmar]

Welcome :-)

Ground tackle is missing from the list. I don't know what Bavaria fits as anchor these days, but it's probably nothing suitable for extended cruising.

Also no mention of power, which is crucial to staying in Greece, even if you don't want to stay at anchor for extended periods, as many of the town quays have no electricity or it's difficult to track down the right guy to hook you up. A stern arch with solar is great, as it can carry more than just solar panels.

Amongst the things we didn't think we needed but now that we have them wouldn't want to be without are a watermaker (not needed until you get to Greece though) and (small, portable) washing machine (useful once you get into the Med and laundry prices suddenly skyrocket).

What we would like and don't have (yet) are some davits, as towing the dinghy is inefficient and can be dangerous, and putting it away is annoying and gets tedious quickly.

Secondary winches are very handy. Upgrading the primaries is probably overkill. If your arms are flabby, work out a bit and/or watch a racer on how to use a winch efficiently (swinging your torso above the winch).

Oh, and (reflective) sun shades are a must on every window, and mosquito nets on all that can open. And a bimini of course (although whilst you're on the east coast, a cockpit tent is probably more useful).

For electronics, AIS is very common now, Radar is expensive and sits around unused a lot, but even if you do few night sails, it's incredibly useful then. And do save yourself some hassle later and get whatever NMEA/Wifi box they're offering - everyone is always asking me about those

[tiger79]

My wife and I are at the final stages of securing a new Vision 42 in the UK. The current plan is 2 maybe 3 years on the East Coast before moving the boat to Greece. 

Welcome to the forum!  As a bit of background, can you tell us what boat you have currently, and where on the East Coast you're thinking of putting the Vision 42?

[Bailey1234]

Thanks for the replies.

Ground tackle is part of the standard inventory and suitable while we are in the U.K, mosquito nets for all hatches comes with one of the packs that we have ordered. We have decided to have sprayhood and Bimini fitted during commissioning rather than from factory as I wanted control over the design and materials. We are undecided on cockpit tent given fitting to a Bimini appears to be complicated and the end result being more functional than aesthetically pleasing...  Our previous boat had one and it was used a lot on the not so sunny East Coast! The plan is to fit stainless arch with solar panels, davits and outboard hoist during the winter prior to moving the boat to the Med partly due to available budget alongside it not really being necessary for the sailing we will be doing for the first few seasons. The upgraded winches may be overkill as you say however it is a relatively modest cost compared to retro fitting should we find we need it. We found when sailing the Vision for a week that the small foresail was easily handled however it will require a larger sail for light(ish) airs and should we want to have some fun with a reacher or similar then a larger winch may well make life a bit easier.  I didn’t want electric winches indeed have deliberately reduced the amount of electrical options such as cockpit table and saloon table opting for manually operated. Last time I looked my arms weren’t that flabby (I also checked with my wife and she confirmed!) and I race intermittently but still consider the upgraded winches desirable.

Tiger79; we sold our Dufour 36 Classic in February and have been researching and viewing potential boats since, indeed we have had enough of looking now and just want to have secured a boat for next season.  We didn’t necessarily set out to purchase new and remain open to a used boat should the right one come along before we make our final decision.  Our budget and needs have steered us toward production boats focusing on the Beneteau 41.1, Jeanneau 410, Hanse 418 and the Bavaria Vision 42. (We preferred the Vision to the cruising range). Having viewed them all on many occasions and sailed 2 of them eventually chartering a Vision 42 in Greece for a week we came to the personal conclusion that the Vision was the better finished and the layout/specification best suited to our cruising plans. In regards to price we have found that after negotiation all 4 boats with relatively comparable specification were around the same cost albeit the recent Euro/Pound turbulence may well affect this going forward.

We plan to moor the boat at Burnham Yacht Harbour for a couple of seasons and then maybe one season on the Orwell. We winter at Fambridge Yacht Haven for convenience.

Regards.

[Symphony]

Excellent choice of boat.

Brings back happy memories for me having bought 2 new Bavarias, the first a 37 for chartering and then part time liveaboard in Greece and more recently a 33 through Clipper for use in the UK. From what you have written you seem to have a grasp on the additional gear that is needed in the Med (and sailing to get there). The key things are keeping cool (both people and food), good electric and water capacity, good motoring performance and good ground tackle. actual sharp sailing performance is a lower priority as you will spend more time motoring than sailing - and the pleasurable sailing will be mostly light airs downwind.

When buying new the decisions to make are about what to have fitted at once and what to add later. One cardinal rule with Bavaria is to have everything you can that is a "system" factory fitted as it will be well engineered and in most cases cheaper than retro. This does not apply as you have already found to canvas work where the OE is low quality. Suggest you speak to John Bland at Tecsew (who is probably doing your basic canvas work anyway) about your bimini/sprayhood/cockpit tent as he is good at designing such things. If you are adding a gantry it may be possible to design this to be part of the cockpit covering framework.

Other than that my only comments about your original list of items would be the wisdom of spending money on laminate sails. In my view really not needed for cruising in the way you plan. The boat will perform very well without them and once you get going the amount of windward sailing (and indeed sailing of any kind!) will gradually decline. Laminate sails do not in general like UV so will have much reduced life. Better to have the "performance" sails Bavaria offer and spend the money save on a good furling offwind sail with the Selden gear for running the furling lines back to the cockpit. Personal choice if it were me I would also have the furling mainsail for ease of handling and stowing out of UV. If you are adopting a cruising lifestyle you will likely spend over 90% of your time stationary so priority is towards things that make this more comfortable. The sailing bit is primarily a means to get from one desirable anchorage/town etc to another, not squeezing the last bit of performance out of the boat.

Of course a lot of these choices are personal and even then some you are going to find out are not what you expected and regret and others you will find  you got just right. The joys of buying and sailing boats!

[Bailey1234]

Thank you Symphony. I agree entirely regarding cruising the Med and our brief experiences of chartering in Greece over the past few years suggest the same. Sailing performance and being able to enjoy a ‘cracking’ sail are quite important factors and in part were the reason for selling our Dufour. She was a great boat, well built, safe and with a shallow keel perfect for the challenges that East Coast sailors have no choice but to face. However at times I found myself wanting for a boat with slightly better pointing ability and speed alongside the other factors that we felt were important for our long term boat. This is mainly the thinking behind adding the laminate sails (alongside a folding prop), partly because because we have opted for the in mast furling and maybe naively I have concluded that this would have an impact on performance too. During the process of deciding on which boat to go for there have been many things to consider as you suggest, I guess I just want to maximise what I can get from the boat in the short and long term without compromising our aim to have a boat that will serve its primary focus of being our home for a few months of the year whilst in the Med.

I believe it is Tecsew as recommended by the dealer and widely regarded in the forums.

Thanks again.

[Kibo]

We have a Vision 46. 2014 Liveaboard in Caribbean Dec to April. This will be our 5th season 2019 - 2020. Have learned a lot in those years by experience.

I have all the stuff others have recommended.  I installed an arch with upgraded rigid solar panels last season Have nearly 600 Watts. Much better power management now. I also installed Lithium batteries for the house bank which re charge more quickly and can be discharged more than Lead acid types. Pricey but worth it including a whole boat inverter/charger from Victron.

We also have a 7kW genset installed below the cockpit sole behind the steering gear which I like as a backup and we use sometimes for having the AC running if its rainy days that the hatches need to stay closed. We started with a small one, Fischer Panda 4.5 kW, installed over the engine in the cupboard in the aft cabin, which was a factory option, don't go with this if offerred. It is noisy in the cabin and under powered. Our boat was in charter for 18 months before we retired and a charterer overloaded it trying to use all 3 AC units at once so we threw it out and installed the Onan/Cummins as described. Much quieter down below and even in the cockpit.   

I have power winches all round (5 of them) We are a couple in our late 50's and I also race quite a bit and we are both in good shape but when cruising the electrics are a must have for us frankly. You might regret not having them in a few years.... just a thought.

Despite the winches I also went with simplification on some of the electric stuff.... I did not go with the autotrim system on the winches just simple electric winch in style, manual operation cockpit table, definitely NOT the joystick docking system that is much vaunted by some armchair sailors.

Not sure if its standard on the 42 but I have a bow thruster which I would not be without.

I have roller furling on both head and main sails and an assym with torsion rope roller furling and bowsprit for off wind sailing. However in the Caribbean its usually a little too windy to use it so I am questioning whether we need it. I think in the Med you would probably use it more and the roller furling is a good system. Ours is the Selden one.

Sailing performance is good on our 46 but its not a race boat and is always loaded with spares, water, fuel etc so not quite the speeds you might expect from a similar sized race boat of course. She points well and I can tack through 90 degrees quite easily in most wind conditions.

The other thing I would look at for your Med cruising in a few years is what spares you will need. I carry the obvious stuff like filters, impellers, water pumps, lots of appropriate shackles, cotter pins, etc. Think also about tools since you WILL end up having to fix stuff. A good basic toolkit including drills, soldering irons, electrical multimeter, socket sets, spanners etc etc   Also hose clamps/jubilee clips of all sizes, cable ties. If you have electric heads then consider having a spare motor and pump assembly. I have two electric heads and am considering switching one to a manual operation just in case...

We do have a watermaker and use it a lot. Went with Spectra 150. It simply makes life easier and minimizes watering dock/marina time

Think thats about it. Happy if you have any questions.  Enjoy your Vision. We love ours and she get's many admiring glances at the dock.

Ian, S/V Kibo

[Bailey1234]

Hi Ian. Many thanks for the thoughts, very helpful.  Bow thruster is included in one of the packs, as you say invaluable. The general consensus seems to be the need for electric winches so will give this some more thought. We may consider generator and water maker closer to the stage we move the boat from the U.K although views differ amongst the med cruisers I have spoken to.

Out of interest did you add teak or synthetic teak on your side decks and if so how are you finding the decks under foot in the heat?

Regards.

[Symphony]

Having a folding prop is a good move. I have had a 2 blade Flexofold on both my boats, although you will need a 3 blade. Also fitted a rope cutter which you will maybe appreciate if you sail down the Atlantic coast which is littered with pot markers. However if I were buying a prop now I would probably go for a Featherstream feathering prop, which was not available for saildrives at the time. I had its predecessor JF type on another boat which was excellent. The advantage of this prop is that it generally gives better motoring performance than a folder with similar drag reduction under sail. The pitch can be altered easily to fine tune it to your boat and you can set a different pitch in forward and reverse allowing a steeper pitch in reverse to improve stopping power.

So many choices - but whatever prop you choose will be better than the standard fixed prop.

[Kibo]

Hi again,

I avoided any kind of teak or synthetic decks. Many others on here will agree. Teak is too hot in the sun and takes maintenance which only escalates with time. There is a thread on "Bav Yacht Help" tab about replacing older teak decks on here if you want to se what happens after 10 or 15 years to teak decks ! 

I did not even go with teak or synthetic on cockpit sole, only on the seating areas.

I think the "standard package" is now teak or synthetic " duradeck" only on the cockpit sole and seating. I had this combo on previous boats in the Caribbean and that was OK since you have full bimini and dodger up almost all the time. I did charter a 2013 V46 prior to purchase with duradeck on the cockpit sole. It's personal choice but I don't like the plastic look and feel of that v teak. Obviously the pros and cons are lower maintenance v look and feel.

I still like my white non slip decks all over. Only the toe rails are wood and that is OK for maintenance. A little teak oil every now and again, same with the teak seats.

Also get the best cushions you can. I have the Sunbrella fabric ones in the grey colour outside and they have lasted great in the sun. I had the synthetic "leather" down below which was useless and fell apart after about 2 years, the vinyl/PU coating just disintegrated. I had all my saloon and cabin cushions recovered in Sunbrella fabric 2 years ago. Much better. I think Bavaria discontinued the use of the "leatherette" because of reported issue in hot climates. My dealer friend in the BVI now recommends either Sunbrella type fabrics or real leather only down below for his new clients boats.  He paid out under a friendly "warranty" for my new covers since Bavaria Germany didn't want to know and claimed they were OK in Northern Europe !

On the other stuff; my new genset was installed in Grenada two seasons ago so its a relatively easy retro addition for you later.
Spectra Watermaker was a dealer install at new delivery but again its an easy retro when/if you decide you may need it. If I had my choice again I'd go with a bigger model than the 150. This gives around 6 gallons per hour but I know folks with bigger units that produce much more and since they are 12V power hungry a shorter running time is better. Having said that I run it when motoring typically so its not too bad.

If I think of other stuff I'll let you know ! Send me a PM if you want.

Cheers
Ian

[Kibo]

One thing I forgot based on Ingmar's post...

We have davits for the dinghy and bought a lightweight Aluminium RIB at 11 feet with an 8 HP Yamaha. In my opinion Davits are a "must have" if you are cruising as mentioned since you don't want to to tow it on long passages and breaking it all down, taking the engine off and stowing the dink  on the foredeck is a pain.

The dinghy is your car !

[Porquerolles]

Bonjour,
J'espère que tu as pu profiter, malgré le "virus", de ton nouveau 42 Vision.
Peux-tu nous dire si tu es satisfait du bateau ? As-tu rencontré des problèmes particuliers ?
Désolé de toutes ces questions…
Bernard

[SYJetzt]

I think nearly all is said. For cruising the med a light colour of bimini would be preferable. I have a dark blue one, but the next one will be a light colour under all circumstances.

[reepaykeerwayno]

Thanks for the replies.

Ground tackle is part of the standard inventory and suitable while we are in the U.K, mosquito nets for all hatches comes with one of the packs that we have ordered. We have decided to have sprayhood and Bimini fitted during commissioning rather than from factory as I wanted control over the design and materials. We are undecided on cockpit tent given fitting to a Bimini appears to be complicated and the end result being more functional than aesthetically pleasing...  Our previous boat had one and it was used a lot on the not so sunny East Coast! The plan is to fit stainless arch with solar panels, davits and outboard hoist during the winter prior to moving the boat to the Med partly due to available budget alongside it not really being necessary for the sailing we will be doing for the first few seasons. The upgraded winches may be overkill as you say however it is a relatively modest cost compared to retro fitting should we find we need it. We found when sailing the Vision for a week that the small foresail was easily handled however it will require a larger sail for light(ish) airs and should we want to have some fun with a reacher or similar then a larger winch may well make life a bit easier.  I didn’t want electric winches indeed have deliberately reduced the amount of electrical options such as cockpit table and saloon table opting for manually operated. Last time I looked my arms weren’t that flabby (I also checked with my wife and she confirmed!) and I race intermittently but still consider the upgraded winches desirable.

Tiger79; we sold our Dufour 36 Classic in February and have been researching and viewing potential boats since, indeed we have had enough of looking now and just want to have secured a boat for next season.  We didn’t necessarily set out to purchase new and remain open to a used boat should the right one come along before we make our final decision.  Our budget and needs have steered us toward production boats focusing on the Beneteau 41.1, Jeanneau 410, Hanse 418 and the Bavaria Vision 42. (We preferred the Vision to the cruising range). Having viewed them all on many occasions and sailed 2 of them eventually chartering a Vision 42 in Greece for a week we came to the personal conclusion that the Vision was the better finished and the layout/specification best suited to our cruising plans. In regards to price we have found that after negotiation all 4 boats with relatively comparable specification were around the same cost albeit the recent Euro/Pound turbulence may well affect this going forward.

We plan to moor the boat at Burnham Yacht Harbour for a couple of seasons and then maybe one season on the Orwell. We winter at Fambridge Yacht Haven for convenience.

Regards.

if you have the specification can you share with me

[Porquerolles]

Bonjour,
Je ne sais pas quelle est la situation actuellement en Angleterre, mais en France,
lors du dernier salon nautique de Paris, les chantiers de construction indiquaient,
pour la commande d'un bateau neuf, en décembre 2021, une livraison…. au printemps 2024 !!
De ce fait, les amateurs se "ruent" sur les bateaux d'occasion, qui sont devenus rares
et donc...chers !!