Bavaria Cruiser 41 Review, Prices and Buying Guide

Bavaria Cruiser 41, the Cruiser 40's hull under a new deck

The Bavaria Cruiser 41 is a clear case of a builder keeping what worked. Boating New Zealand's John Eichelsheim described it as in many ways a copy of the old Cruiser 40, built on an identical hull, and SAIL's report from boot Dusseldorf in 2014 said the same: of the previous Cruiser generation, only the hulls remained, under brand new deck layouts and interiors.

Bavaria Yachts USA made the 41 the first of its five new Cruiser designs to be shown in America, at the Newport and Annapolis boat shows in the fall of 2013, and quoted $248,901 delivered for 2014. Farr Yacht Design kept the naval architecture, and the UK studio Design Unlimited took over styling and interior. The boat stayed in Bavaria's range until the Cossutti-designed C42 arrived in 2020; it no longer appears on Bavaria's website in 2026.

What Design Unlimited changed on deck

The biggest visible change is the coachroof. The Cruiser 40's concave cabin sides are gone, replaced by a flatter, lower roof with shallower but longer side windows and flush hatches. Eichelsheim noted that the lower profile did not cost headroom, which is still 1.94 m in the saloon. The plumb bow, aft-swept spreaders on an 18.6 m deck-stepped Selden mast and inboard-angled wheel pedestals give the boat a sharper look than the 40.

Practical details improved too. The backstay splits high, so the helmsman is not ducking under it, and one leg has a hand-crank adjuster for mast bend. A central cockpit table carries the Garmin chartplotter where both helms can see it, there are good lockers under both benches plus two sole lockers behind the wheels, and the companionway gets swinging doors with windows and a clear overhead hatch, which Cruising World called classy.

A modest sail plan that rewards a gennaker

The standard rig is deliberately easy: a main and a 106 percent jib totaling about 82 square meters, with the jib on a Furlex 300S furler and its tracks on the coachroof for tight sheeting angles that leave the side decks clear. Cruising World's test boat had in-mast furling; a full-batten main was the option to choose. The jib sheets run to self-tailing Lewmar primaries on the coamings, the double-ended mainsheet goes to winches on the coachroof (it can be led aft near the wheels), and halyards and reefing lines come back through Spinlock clutches.

Boating New Zealand sailed a family-owned boat with a fully battened main and a gennaker, set up with two extra Lewmar winches within reach of the helm. In a 15 to 18 knot southwesterly it went upwind at seven knots and more, and with the gennaker drawing it cruised at nine knots off the wind. Eichelsheim reckoned 10 knots was on the cards in more breeze. Cruising World's own sea trial was a near calm, in which the boat still managed 3 knots.

His summary was that the 41 is easy to sail; the owner's 11-year-old son helmed most of the day.

A grid bonded and post-cured with the hull

Cruising World described the structure in detail. Hull and deck are hand-laid E-glass in polyester resin with an outer protective layer of vinylester, reinforced in high-load areas, with Coremat and PVC foam in other parts of the laminate. Below the waterline a one-piece E-glass grid is bonded in place and post-cured with the hull, and the iron keel bolts directly to that grid to spread loads. Above the waterline, the interior furniture itself contributes stiffness.

The standard keel is cast iron with a 2,736 kg bulb drawing 2.05 m; a 1.65 m shoal version was offered. Lightship displacement is 8,680 kg, and the Jefa steering on a single large rudder gave Eichelsheim a nimble response.

Cruiser 41S, a traveler in the cockpit

Alongside the standard boat Bavaria offered the Cruiser 41S, for Sport. SAIL's Dusseldorf report singled it out for its white powder-coated Jefa steering pedestals and a mainsheet traveler mounted in the cockpit, calling it less family-friendly but eminently practical. Bavaria's own range pages listed the 41S separately into the late 2010s, describing it as combining speed and comfort.

For a couple who sail actively, the cockpit traveler fixes the classic Cruiser complaint that the mainsheet is out of the helmsman's reach. Check exactly what a given 41S carries, since sail and hardware packages varied.

A big forward master cabin and an island seat

The three-cabin, two-head version puts the master in the bow with a large double, an en suite head, plenty of storage and a dressing bench; a Bavaria representative told Cruising World it was the biggest master cabin among recent 40-footers. Two identical aft cabins share the second head at the foot of the companionway, opposite a proper nav station. The two-cabin version has one head and more stowage.

Between them, a straight galley runs down the port side with a three-burner stove and oven, twin sinks with covers and a top-loading fridge-freezer, while to starboard a long U-shaped settee wraps the dining table, with a two-seat island bench for big dinners. Natural light pours in through the overhead hatches and long windows.

Engine access good enough to climb through

Eichelsheim's favorite feature was the machinery space. The companionway steps hinge up and there are large removable panels in both aft cabins, so filters, the water pump and belts are easy to reach. The owner's children treated the engine room as a crawl-through between cabins, which says everything about its size.

Bavaria's data sheet lists a Volvo Penta D2-40 of 39.6 hp with a saildrive as standard. The boat Boating New Zealand tested had a 55 hp option with a three-blade folding Kiwiprop and made 5 knots at just 1,200 rpm.

What to pay for a Bavaria Cruiser 41

Used Cruiser 41s ask roughly $120,000 to $210,000 in 2026, with 2014 to 2016 charter boats at the low end and 2018 to 2020 private boats at the top. That is meaningfully more than a Cruiser 40 on the same hull, and the premium buys the much better deck, light and interior. It is also well below what a used C42 commands.

Plan on $12,500 to $25,000 a year for a 41-foot slip, insurance, a haul-out, saildrive and rigging service and sail care. The saildrive and Jefa steering are the two systems to have inspected before purchase.