Bavaria Yachts, Germany's Industrial Sailboat Builder

A window maker and a charter broker build a boat factory

Bavaria Yachtbau was founded in 1978 by Winfried Herrmann, who ran a window manufacturing business, and Josef Meltl, a yacht charter broker. Their plant sits in Giebelstadt, in northern Bavaria, hundreds of miles from salt water. That location says a lot about the company's approach: Bavaria treated boatbuilding as an industrial process, with robotic machining, a moving production line and a factory floor of more than 656,000 square feet.

The formula worked. By the mid-2000s Bavaria was one of the highest-volume yacht builders in Europe, employing about 600 people, and its boats filled charter bases across the Mediterranean. In 2007 Bain Capital bought the company for an estimated 1.1 to 1.3 billion euros, a price that left it heavily indebted when the 2008 crash hit.

Insolvency, new owners and the C-Line reset

After years of financial strain, with Anchorage Advisors and Oaktree Capital each taking large stakes in 2009, Bavaria filed for insolvency in 2018. Capital Management Partners acquired it later that year, and the new management refocused the sailing range on designs by Maurizio Cossutti. The resulting C-Line, including the Bavaria C42 that debuted at boot Düsseldorf in 2020, brought a modern hull with chines, twin wheels and much better finish than the older Cruiser models.

The C42 is the model we cover in depth. Its early production saw notable changes in 2021, when hand lay-up replaced infusion, the Modutech grid was dropped and the mast was shortened, so buyers should know which build they are looking at. Bavaria also owns the French catamaran builder Nautitech, acquired in 2014, and builds powerboats under the R and S lines.

Buying a Bavaria in the United States

Bavaria has a modest US dealer footprint compared with Beneteau or Jeanneau, and many American Bavarias were imported for charter companies or bought in Europe. That keeps used prices low and makes older Bavarias some of the cheapest 35 to 45 foot cruisers available, but buyers should budget for a thorough survey.

Resale is lower than the Scandinavian or premium French brands. A newer C42 typically lists from about $220,000 to $380,000.

• Keel bolts, the structural grid and the hull-to-grid bond, especially on ex-charter boats that may have grounded
• Rudder bearings and steering cables
• European 230-volt systems and their conversion for US shore power
• Deck leaks around windows and hatches on older Cruiser models
• Build year on C42s, given the 2021 construction changes