Bavaria 36 Cruiser Buyer's Guide, Specs and Used Prices

Bavaria 36, the 350-boat Farr Cruiser of 2010 to 2013

The Bavaria 36 most buyers find on the brokerage market today is the Farr-designed Cruiser 36, which followed the Cruiser 32, 45, 55 and 40 into production in the autumn of 2010. Yachting World noted that the 36 was due that autumn while the 32 and 45 were already selling strongly, and Boating New Zealand later put the total at more than 350 Cruiser 36s before Bavaria replaced it with the twin-wheel Cruiser 37.

It was conceived as the middle of the range: big enough to live aboard for a couple's summer, small enough to handle without crew. Bavaria Yachts USA marketed it as having space comparable to rival 39-footers, and SAIL's tester agreed that the headroom and saloon volume were very impressive for a 36. In 2010 SAIL reported that it sold in Europe for just 82,000 euros before tax.

Four Bavaria 36s, and how to tell them apart

Bavaria has reused this number more than any other, which makes searching for a Bavaria 36 yacht for sale confusing. Keyword data shows people searching for 2003, 2004 and 2005 boats as often as for 2011 and 2012 boats, and those are entirely different designs.

• Bavaria 36 (J&J Design, 1998 to 2000): masthead sloop, about 5,360 kg, 29 hp; renamed Bavaria 37 in 2000
• Bavaria 36 (J&J Design, 2002 to 2004): fractional rig, about 5,500 kg, 19 hp Volvo MD2020, conventional open stern; often listed as a 36 Cruiser
• Bavaria Cruiser 36 (Farr, 2010 to 2013): 7,000 kg, plumb bow, single wheel, fold-down transom, small windows in a low coachroof
• Bavaria Cruiser 37 (Farr, from 2013): same basic hull, twin wheels and long continuous coachroof windows

Beam carried forward as well as aft

Farr and Bavaria made no secret of the brief: maximum volume. SAIL noted that the Cruiser 36's beam is carried forward as well as aft, which is why the forward cabin and saloon feel so large and why saloon headroom reaches 6 ft 3 in. The penalty is a hull that needs some breeze; at 7,000 kg (15,432 lb) on a 32 ft 6 in waterline it is not a light boat, and the iron keel carries 2,080 kg of ballast.

Construction is typical of the Farr-era Cruisers. The hull is E-glass with Airex PVC foam core in the topsides, stiffened by a substantial fiberglass grid that is bonded in and also held by the keel bolts. The deck and coachroof are Airex-cored with a partial grid to stiffen the cabintop. An aluminum toerail, heavy mooring cleats and outboard chainplates complete a deck that SAIL called safe and easy to move around.

Single wheel, side decks to the stern, and a platform that becomes a seat

Unlike its twin-wheel successor, the Cruiser 36 has a single large wheel, which lets you steer from well outboard. The side decks run all the way from stem to transom, a real help when handling dock lines, but they eat into cockpit width: SAIL found it a bit tight between the benches, the wheel and the folding table.

The bathing platform spans more than half the transom, rises and lowers on gas struts with a tackle to tame it, and its outboard edge doubles as a helm seat when raised. Sail handling is simple: a blade jib that tacks easily, two Lewmar sheet winches near the helm and two more beside the companionway, and a double mainsheet bridle in place of a traveler that takes some getting used to. Cruising World found the single wheel a little sticky after sailing the twin-wheel 40 and 45 the same day, so check the steering system on any boat you view.

Two cabins with a chart table, or three without

The two-cabin version keeps a proper navigation station and pushes the head aft into what would be the port quarter cabin, making it larger. The three-cabin version adds a second aft double and swaps the nav desk for a fold-out table and a removable section of the port settee that serves as its seat.

Both share an L-shaped galley with twin sinks near the centerline under covers, and a stainless fiddle rail that doubles as a handhold, although SAIL worried that cutlery could slip through it. The forward berth is short on legroom for a six-footer; the aft doubles are a generous 6 ft 8 in long. Joinery came in mahogany, oak or walnut, and US boats offered 11 upholstery fabrics.

For a cruising couple, the two-cabin boat is the one to hunt for. It has the nav desk, the bigger head and better stowage, and it is easier to resell in the US.

Light-air manners and a brisk 27 hp

Both American magazine tests happened in light Chesapeake summer air, and the boat did better than its volume suggests. SAIL saw 3.2 knots on a close reach in 5 knots of true wind and a little over 4 knots when the breeze edged past 9, with the standard in-mast furling main. Cruising World's boat clicked off nearly 5 knots upwind in single-digit wind. Both testers recommended a conventional slab-reefed main for anyone who cares about performance, and a sprit for an asymmetric is an option.

Under power the 27 hp Volvo Penta saildrive fitted to US boats is well matched to the hull. Cruising World recorded an even 7 knots at 2,600 rpm, and SAIL's figures are in the table below. The boat behaved predictably in reverse, and SAIL's tester docked it in a tight marina without the optional bow thruster.

Why the 37 replaced it, and what that means for value

Bavaria replaced the 36 with the Cruiser 37 around 2013 to 2014. Boating New Zealand's John Eichelsheim summed up the changes: twin wheels instead of one, a more open cockpit with better flow to the platform, and long continuous coachroof windows in place of the 36's individual square ports, which transformed the light below. The hull and Farr lineage stayed.

That leaves the 36 as the value play. You give up the brighter interior and the twin-wheel cockpit, and you get a boat that typically costs $15,000 to $30,000 less than an early Cruiser 37 with similar hours. If you prefer a single wheel anyway, the 36 is arguably the better cockpit for short-handed sailing.

Bavaria 36 yachts for sale, prices and running costs

In 2026 a Farr Cruiser 36 typically asks $70,000 to $106,000 in the US, with most of the supply in Europe and the Caribbean. Boats that spent their first years in charter, as many did, should be priced toward the bottom of the range unless they have had new sails, upholstery and saildrive work.

Budget $9,000 to $18,000 a year for a 37-foot slip, insurance, haul-out and antifouling, saildrive service and routine rigging care. The electrical system on SAIL's US boat was two 135 Ah house batteries and an 85 Ah engine battery, so a liveaboard couple will want more capacity and a way to charge it.