Bavaria 32 Cruiser Review, Specs and Used Buying Guide

The Bavaria 32 that closed the J&J chapter

For two decades a Bavaria sailboat meant a J&J Design hull: sensible, roomy and a little dull to sail. The Bavaria 32 changed that. Announced in June 2009 and scheduled for factory completion that September, the Cruiser 32 was drawn by Farr Yacht Design in Annapolis, with styling and interior work by BMW Group DesignworksUSA, the industrial design arm of the car maker. According to Cruising World, Farr was first commissioned for the Cruiser 55 and the 32 came next, ahead of the 36, 40, 45 and 50 that filled out the range.

The timing was brutal. Bain Capital had bought Bavaria at the top of the market in 2007, reportedly for 1.3 billion euros, and the recession hit the yard hard. The new Cruiser line was the yard's answer, and the smallest boat carried a lot of the weight. Yachting World reported in 2010 that the Cruiser 32 had sold around 300 boats since its launch the previous September, which made it one of the quickest-selling small cruisers of its day in Europe.

Searches for a Bavaria 32 today usually mean this boat, built from 2009 until 2013, when a restyled version arrived as the Cruiser 33. It is a two-cabin coastal cruiser for a couple or a young family, and it is now one of the more affordable ways into a modern, Farr-drawn hull.

Two boats answer to the name Bavaria 32

Brokers and listing sites use Bavaria 32 for two unrelated designs, and their specs should never be mixed. The older one is the J&J Design Bavaria 32 of 2000. SAIL tested it in 2003, quoting 32 ft 6 in overall, 8,250 lb displacement, a 19 hp Volvo and a base price of $95,200 FOB Annapolis. Its tankage was modest at 20 gallons of fuel and 35 of water.

The Farr Cruiser 32 is a different animal: about 3,200 lb heavier, with a near-vertical stem, a low coachroof pierced by slot windows and a full-width transom that folds down. The J&J boat has a more traditional profile with overhangs and a mainsheet traveler on the cabin top. If the listing says 2009 or later and shows a grey hull or a plumb bow, you are looking at the Farr boat.

• J&J Bavaria 32 (2000 era): 8,250 lb, 19 hp Volvo, overhanging ends, cabin-top traveler
• Farr Cruiser 32 (2009 to 2013): 11,464 lb, D1-20 saildrive, plumb bow, fold-down transom
• Cruiser 33 (2013 onward): the same Farr hull with bigger windows and a reworked cockpit

A heavier hull than most 32-footers, and why that is fine

Yachting Monthly's Rachael Sprot noted that the Cruiser 32 is about 10 percent heavier than several rival 32-footers. The published lightship figure is 5,200 kg (11,464 lb) with 1,300 kg (2,866 lb) of cast iron in the bulbed keel, on a 29 ft waterline and an 11 ft 2 in beam. That beam is carried well aft, which is where the space for the big aft cabin and the generous cockpit comes from.

Construction is conventional for Bavaria at the time: hand-laid glass, solid below the waterline and foam-cored above and in the deck, with a laminated grid bonded into the bilge to take keel and rig loads. Germanischer Lloyd certification was part of the launch pitch. The extra weight shows up as a steadier motion and less slamming than lighter French rivals, and it costs a little light air sparkle.

Mainsheet on the table, platform on the stern

Farr and Bavaria made a bold call on deck: there is no traveler. The mainsheet is anchored to a stainless base at the cockpit table, just forward of the single wheel. Cruising World's Herb McCormick liked it because the helmsman can actually reach the main, and Yachting Monthly argued that a powerful purchase plus a reef is all most cruisers need. Racers will miss the traveler; families will not.

The cockpit seats are long enough to sleep on, the coamings are high, and the port locker is deep enough to swallow a deflated dinghy or paddleboards, although its hatch is small. Aft, the transom drops on a counterbalanced hinge to form a bathing platform, and the boarding ladder slots in. One complaint carried over into the redesign: the seats run straight to the stern, so you clamber over them to get round the wheel.

Watch your footing forward. Chainplates are on the hull, so the lower shrouds cut diagonally across the side deck, and Yachting Monthly's test boat had jackstays that stopped short of the bow.

Below decks, the head is the star

The interior is a simple two-cabin plan: a V-berth forward, a big double aft under the cockpit, a long straight settee to port whose aft end serves the small aft-facing chart table, an L-settee to starboard and a galley at the foot of the companionway. Saloon headroom is just over 6 ft (1.84 m). Joinery came in mahogany, oak or walnut with 11 upholstery choices on US boats.

The head is the surprise. SAIL said stepping into it would convince you that you were on a much bigger boat, with room to shower and a dedicated wet locker. Yachting Monthly praised the holding tank installation, which sits in a waist-height locker with the outlet seacock reachable under the sink.

The compromises are typical of a boat built to a price. Narrow slot windows make the saloon darker than the Cruiser 33 that replaced it. Hull linings are thin plastic panels with a wood look, some plywood edges were left unsealed, and the berths are short on vertical clearance aft and pinched at the foot forward. None of this matters much on a weekend, but it shows on a tired ex-charter boat.

What the test boats actually clocked

SAIL's 2012 test boat was a worst case, with a shoal keel and in-mast furling, yet in 5 to 10 knots on the Chesapeake it made 4.7 knots at 35 degrees apparent and 5.2 knots cracked off to 40 degrees. Downwind without an asymmetric it managed only 2.5 to 3.5 knots, so budget for a gennaker on the optional sprit. Cruising World saw a little over 6 knots upwind in 12 to 14 knots of breeze and high fives when it eased to 10.

Yachting Monthly sailed an owner's deep-keel boat in Plymouth Sound and logged 4 knots at 35 degrees apparent in 5 to 6 knots of wind. Practical Boat Owner's David Harding sailed the 32 in 20 to 25 knots and called it a revelation compared with earlier Bavarias.

Under power, the SAIL boat made 6.4 knots at 2,300 rpm and 7.4 knots at 2,900 rpm in flat water. An owner's boat with the optional 30 hp engine cruised at 5 knots at 2,000 rpm and 5.8 knots at 2,500 rpm in Yachting Monthly's test. The standard engine is an 18 hp Volvo Penta D1-20 on a saildrive.

Keel, furling main and the Avantgarde box

Two original options decide how a Cruiser 32 sails. The deep fin draws 6 ft 5 in and the shoal version 4 ft 11 in; the shoal boat is heavier and less weatherly, so think about your home waters before you fall for a cheap shoal-draft hull. In-mast furling was standard in the US and makes the boat easy, but every tester who sailed one recommended a battened, slab-reefed main if you care about pointing.

In Europe many boats were ordered with the Avantgarde pack, which on Yachting Monthly's test boat included Webasto heating, the 30 hp engine in place of the 18 hp unit and an electric windlass. Those boats are worth a premium, because factory installs are usually neater than retrofits.

Buying a Bavaria 32 in 2026

Prices are driven more by history than by year. Ex-charter boats from the Mediterranean, Croatia or the Caribbean are plentiful and cheap; one-owner private boats are rarer and worth a 15 to 20 percent premium. In the US, a good Cruiser 32 typically asks $52,000 to $84,000, which is less than many 20-year-old American 32-footers with far less interior volume.

Running costs are modest. Plan on $7,000 to $14,000 a year for a slip, insurance, a haul-out with bottom paint, saildrive service and sail care. The saildrive needs its diaphragm and seals replaced on Volvo's schedule, and the raw water seacock sits behind the engine, which Yachting Monthly found awkward to reach when the engine is hot.