Bavaria 50 Cruiser (2009) equipment (part 1: 23 photos)

[Viking]

I have added quite a lot of extra equipment to my Bavaria 50 Cruiser, which is one of the very last builds of the "traditional style" Bavarias.
Below are a few of the extras - more to follow. Any comments and ideas are welcome 

Sprayhood
I opted for a custom made sprayhood instead of the standard Bavaria one. I find it better looking and of very high quality. It is a semi-series production by Kapell & Annat (Malmø, Sweden).
The frame - made of stainless steel - has an extra arc at the rear end which functions as a very practical handlebar to grab instead of grabbing the sprayhood cloth.
(Photos 1,2,3)

Sprayhood storage pockets
These two small pockets are handy for offloading all sorts of small items that have no natural place in the cockpit and tends to slide around if left somewhere under the sprayhood.
The material is a black perforated mix of rubber and plastic, which gives it a soft and non-slippery feel. Top edges are reinforced by same material as the sprayhood. They are fixed to the sprayhood's steel frame by three pieces of velcro that wraps around the pipes.
(Photos 4,5)

Cockpit cushions
Cockpit cushions have turned out to be a dramatic improvement of both the visual impression and of the comfort level in the cockpit. I find that it looks much more inviting.
I had a complete set made, also for the bench behind the steering wheels and for the two rear seats integrated into the pushpit. The material is Sunbrella and it has been made with nice details like an armrest. It is a one-off custom production by Pacyfyc (Poland), which also manufactures cushions for X-Yachts.
(Photos 6,7)

Pushpit seats & outboard storage
Teak seats have been integrated into the pushpits. It is the original pushpits that have been altered to accommodate the seats and they were also widened to close the wide gap at the rear. Now only the passage to the bathing platform is open (guarded by clip-on guardrail lines).
The outboard 'storage'  consists of two V-shaped teak planks that have been bolted through the upper and lower pipes of the pushpit.
(Photo 8)

Man over board rescue module
The Jon Buoy MOB rescue module (Mk V) has been fixed to the port side of the pushpit.
From here, it drops freely into the water and the release handle is easily accessible from behind the steering wheel.
(Photos 9,10)

Life raft
I have opted for an 8-person Viking offshore liferaft (RescYou), stored in a container.The cradle from Niro Petersen (Flensburg, Germany) has been customised with two pieces of stainless steel pipe that integrates it with the pushpit and a stainless steel 'foot', which rests on the step on the bathing platform for stability.
 It has been mounted on the transom in an upright position, so that it is easy to deploy and it can be released from the cradle even if the boat is inverted. Many boat owners choose to place it on the coachroof, well out of the way. In my opinion, this can be a dangerous choice, as it is very heavy and difficult to man-handle, especially in rough seas, and in case of an inversion, it will be very difficult to deploy.
(Photos 11,12)

Antenna T-pole
To provide an extra platform for antennas, I installed a T-pole from Scanstrut on the transom/pushpit. It presently hosts the sender and receiver antennas for the Raymarine AIS transceiver (AIS 650) and the active radar reflector (Echomax XS dual-band RTE). This leaves one slot free for future use. Cables are run through a Deckseal (Scanstrut) which is fixed on the transom.
(Photo 13)

LED navigation lights
For reduced power consumption, I have replaced all navigation lights to LED types from Lopolight:
1 stern light (pushpit), 1 red/green (pulpit) and a combined unit in the mast top with an anchor light and a 3-color navigation light unit (red/green/white). The latter is used when in high seas instead of the ones on push/pulpits.
(Photo 14)

Bowroller & bowsprit
I found the standard bowroller unit to be under-dimensioned (it was bending slightly even when under light loads). Therefore, it has been reinforced by:
a) welding a 6mm stainless steel plate on top of the base plate
b) adding two vertical vangs to the left of the anchor roller with stainless steel through-pins all the way from left to right I(through all vangs)
c) adding a flat stainless steel bar from the tip of the bowroller to the bow, where it is fixed with 3 through-bolts (photos 20,21,22,23)
d) adding extra screws to fix the topside at the bow to the hull, padding the inside joint of topside and hull with reinforced epoxy and adding a couple of layers of glassfibre (mats and resin) on the inside, to bond topside and hull better at the bow.
While a) and b) provides better torsion rigidity, c) and d) provides better distribution of the vertical forces applied to the bowroller.
The two new vertical vangs are used to fix the bowsprit, which has been custom made from 60 mm stainless steel pipe, which has itself been reinforced by welding vertical and horisontal steel plates inside the pipe. Reinforcement d) (see above) supports the load applied to the bowroller via the bowsprit.
(Photos 15,16,17 + 20,21,22,23)

Bow cleats
The standard stainless steel cleats are fixed on top of the teak plank on the toe cap. Teak being soft wood, the base plate of the cleats 'set' slightly into the teak planks when under heavy loads pulling at a downwards angle, e.g. Mediterranean-style mooring lines.
I had a large reverse U-shaped stainless steel plate custom made to provide a much larger area of contact between the cleats and the teak planks. It acts as a large washer between the cleat and the teak plank, and distributes the load on an area more than 6 times the original. With 2 extra bolts through the topside for each cleat, they are is now much stronger.
(Photo 18)

Halyard bags
Made from the same material as the sprayhood storage pockets (see above), the halyard bags are fixed to the mast with a strap and plastic clip. The bags provide some UV protection and keeps the area around the mast tidy.
(Photo 19)