Bavaria C50 Buyer's Guide, From Charter Spec to Owner's Yacht

Launched at boot, weeks before the yard went under

The Bavaria C50 made its debut at boot Dusseldorf in January 2018, on a stand Bavaria had dressed with drummers and acrobats to introduce the C45, the C50 and a 65-foot flagship. Three months later the company filed for insolvency. YACHT magazine reported that production problems had followed changes to Bavaria's famous assembly line, and that only four C57s had been delivered in the year after that boat's launch. Capital Management Partners bought the yard in September 2018, and the C50 survived the reshuffle while the C65 was handed back to its Croatian builder.

That history is worth knowing because it explains why early hulls vary. The design itself is consistent: Maurizio Cossutti drew a long-waterline 50-footer with a plumb bow, a flat, low coachroof, big hull windows and a broad transom that hides a dinghy garage. What changed over the years is equipment, finish details and, at the margins, published weights and tank sizes.

Why Bavaria went back to one rudder

The Farr-designed Cruisers that preceded the C-Line used twin rudders. The C57 kept them. For the C45 and C50, Bavaria switched back to a single central blade despite a 16 ft 5 in beam, and Yachting Monthly's David Harding was told why: owners wanted the maneuverability under power that comes from prop wash over the rudder. Anyone who has tried to spin a twin-rudder 50-footer in a tight Mediterranean marina will understand.

The numbers point to a boat that sails respectably for its volume. Yachting Monthly's test data gave a ballast ratio of 29 percent, a displacement to length ratio of 149 and a sail area to displacement ratio of 20, with 131.73 square meters (1,418 sq ft) of upwind sail. The verdict was that the C50 is by no means slow or unresponsive, though she was not conceived as a blue-water cruiser and is better suited to island-hopping than trade wind passages.

A cockpit built for one person to sail and ten to sit

All halyards, sheets and control lines run aft to two pairs of winches at the twin wheels, leaving the area beside the companionway clear for guests. A self-tacking jib is standard, genoa tracks are available, and the headsail furler sits below deck to keep the foredeck clean and the luff as long as possible. Both helm stations carry touch displays for instruments and systems, so the person steering can check tank levels or switch navigation lights without going below.

The cockpit is split into a sailing zone aft and a lounging zone forward with two tables. Aft, the transom drops to form a 2.68 m (8 ft 10 in) wide bathing platform, and the stern houses an outdoor galley with grill and sink that doubles as a helm seat or sunbed underway. Yachting Monthly's complaints were practical: smooth, slippery areas on the coachroof, high topsides for boarding from a pontoon and too little small-item stowage in the cockpit.

Three, four, five or six cabins, and which to buy

Bavaria offered the C50 with a mix-and-match interior: three, four or five cabins, plus a six-cabin version aimed at charter, with three or four heads. Unlike the older Cruisers, the galley is no longer a linear run along one side but moved aft, and the dinghy garage takes the space that older boats gave to the aft cabins. The builder quotes more than 75 square meters of living space below.

The owner's three-cabin layout puts a large master forward with an en suite head and separate shower, and two doubles aft. Four- and five-cabin boats split the forward area into two cabins and add bunk cabins, which is where charter companies made their money. For private use and resale in the US, the three-cabin owner's boat is the one to want; five-cabin ex-charter boats are cheaper to buy but harder to sell later and carry more wear on heads and pumps.

Interior wood came in mahogany, walnut or light oak, with ten layouts, three floorboard finishes and four upholstery choices. Two trim levels, Holiday and Style, sit on top of that, and YACHT reported a third, Ambition, with black mast, boom and bowsprit and carbon-look wheels.

• Holiday: the simplest specification, aimed at charter fleets
• Style: higher grade fit-out for private owners
• Ambition: sportier cosmetic package with dark spars

The smart boat idea, and what to check on it now

The C-Line's selling point in 2018 was integrated electronics. B&G's Naviop system lets any display call up navigation data and act as a switch panel, and Bavaria promised remote monitoring by phone with remote control to follow. Yachting Monthly noted that this connectivity has to be designed in from the start rather than bolted on, one reason the cheaper Cruiser 51 stayed in the range alongside the C50 for a while.

Eight years on, that integration is a double-edged sword. When it works, it is genuinely useful on a boat this size. When a display, gateway or digital switching module fails, parts and software support become the issue. On any used C50, ask for the electronics service history, confirm which features actually work, and budget for updating older chartplotters.

Power comes from an 80 hp Yanmar 4JH80 on a saildrive, with 220 liters (58 gallons) of fuel and 540 liters (143 gallons) of water in the current builder data. Launch figures quoted 250 and 650 liters, so check the actual tank fit on the boat you are viewing. We could not find an independent speed and fuel test, so treat any brochure range claims with caution.

What a C50 costs to buy and to keep

In 2019 Yachting Monthly called the C50 far from expensive for a 50-footer, at 448,696 pounds as tested. That is the core appeal: you get the volume of a 50 ft production cruiser for less than the equivalent Beneteau, Jeanneau or Hanse once similarly equipped. For 2026 we estimate a new US-commissioned C50 at about $620,000 to $850,000, depending on generator, air conditioning, sails and electronics.

Used boats from 2018 to 2024 generally ask $390,000 to $640,000. The low end is mostly five-cabin Holiday spec charter boats leaving fleets in Croatia, Greece and Turkey; the top is lightly used three-cabin Style boats. Annual running costs in the US land around $35,000 to $70,000, driven by a 50 ft slip, insurance, haul-out, the Yanmar and saildrive service, and a sail and rigging reserve.

How the C50 fits between the C46 and C57

Bavaria's C-Line now runs C38, C42, C46, C50 and C57. The C46 replaced the C45 and borrows the V-bow and chines first seen on the C42, while the C50 keeps the earlier, softer Cossutti hull. If you want the newest design language and more volume per foot, look at a C46. If you need four real heads and space for a crowd, the C50 is the better tool. The C57 adds twin rudders, a 110 hp engine option and a tender garage big enough for a jet tender, at a much higher price.