Bavaria 39 Sport Buyer's Guide, Open, HT and Highline

The Bavaria 39 Sport and the half-price question

Motor Boat and Yachting framed its January 2013 test of the Bavaria 39 Sport with a blunt question. With Princess, Sunseeker and Grandezza fighting over the top of the 40 ft sportscruiser market, Bavaria reckoned there was room for a boat offering similar pace and space for much less money, and the magazine noted it cost about half as much as a Sunseeker Portofino 40. Tester Nick Burnham went to Alacati in Turkey to see whether it was also half the boat. His conclusion: great hull, masses of space, excellent value, provided you do not get carried away with options.

That remains the right way to think about the Sport 39 today. It is a big, beamy, twin-sterndrive cruiser from Germany's largest volume builder, sold between 2012 and 2014, and almost every example lives in Europe. If you are in the US and searching for a bavaria 39 sport, you are probably weighing an import against a domestic Sea Ray or a British boat, and the numbers below should help you do that.

Dusseldorf, January 2012: a Sport 38 rethought

Bavaria gave the Sport 39 its world premiere at boot Dusseldorf on January 21, 2012, the same weekend it unveiled the Vision 46 sailing yacht. The 39 replaced the Sport 38 and brought a newly designed cockpit with an ergonomic sport pilot seat, folding bench seats with storage beneath, sleeker hull windows and a new stern. Bavaria also said it was the first yacht from the yard available with a full teak interior finish, and offered an optional colored hull and design stripes.

Pricing was aggressive. The open boat started at 144,500 euros before VAT and the hardtop at 162,900 euros. MBY saw it as an update rather than a revolution: high, pale-gray topsides disguised by scalloped sides, elongated hull windows and graphics, under a low deck molding, a long windscreen and a forward-facing radar arch. Backlit engine vents and pin lights in the side-deck coamings gave it a bit of evening glamour. Seven months later, Bavaria folded it into a refreshed Sport line alongside the new Sport 29, 32, 35 and 44.

Reading the spec sheet, including one length discrepancy

Bavaria's launch data give the Sport 39 an overall length of 11.80 m (38 ft 9 in) on an 11.65 m hull, with a beam of 3.99 m (13 ft 1 in). The yard's later website quoted the same boat at 12.21 m overall and 13.22 m (43 ft 4 in) including the bathing platform, while the 2014 brochure went back to 11.80 m. The difference is almost certainly how the platform and pulpit are counted, not a different hull, but measure before you sign a slip contract.

Light displacement is about 8,200 kg (18,100 lb) for the open boat and 8,500 kg (18,700 lb) for the HT. Draft is 0.70 m (2 ft 4 in) with the drives up and 1.05 m (3 ft 5 in) with them down, and the height above the waterline is 3.33 m (10 ft 11 in) for the open boat and 3.23 m (10 ft 7 in) for the HT. Tankage is generous: 720 liters (190 gallons) of fuel and 250 liters (66 gallons) of water. The CE plate allows 12 people in category B.

Petrol V8s, D4s or D6s

Every Sport 39 is a twin-engine boat. The petrol choice was a pair of MerCruiser 377 MAG DTS engines with Bravo III drives, 320 hp each, which the 2014 brochure lists as the standard installation. Diesel buyers had four Volvo Penta options: twin D4-260, D4-300, D6-330 or D6-370, all with DPH drives, and Volvo's joystick was available on the diesels. MBY's test boat specification listed twin D4-260s and twin D6-370s as the diesel bookends.

For a used purchase the twin D6s are the boat to want. They give the most performance and hold value best, and the six-cylinder engines are less stressed pushing 8.5 tonnes than the four-cylinder D4s. Twin D4-300s are a sensible middle ground. No independent speed and fuel figures were published for the Sport 39 that we could find, so do not rely on a seller's quoted cruise speed: check the EVC data and run the boat at rated rpm with full tanks before agreeing a price.

The 2013 Highline edition, and why it is worth finding

In August 2013 Bavaria added Sport 39 Highline and Sport 39 HT Highline editions with a much richer standard specification. The exterior package included an exclusive look, a larger bathing platform, teak in the cockpit and on the side decks, underwater lights and an LED cockpit lighting pack, with a choice of two exterior upholstery schemes. Below, it added a Fusion sound system, an interior lighting pack, an upgraded worktop with lacquered galley fronts and teak interior joinery.

Bavaria priced the Highline at 225,743 euros including German VAT, or 248,710 euros for the HT, and claimed savings of about 17,400 and 18,900 euros against ordering the same items as options. On the used market a Highline is the easiest way to buy a well-specified Sport 39 without checking a long options list line by line.

• Larger bathing platform
• Teak cockpit and side decks
• Underwater lights and LED cockpit lighting
• Fusion audio and interior lighting pack
• Teak interior and lacquered galley fronts

Two cabins and 6 ft 11 in of headroom

Despite its size, the Sport 39 is a two-cabin, one-head boat with four berths, and Bavaria quotes cabin headroom of about 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in). The brochure describes a lounge area, a saloon table and a fully equipped galley, a roomy head compartment and an owner's cabin with a large double berth. That plan gives each space more room than a three-cabin layout would, which suits couples and small families who entertain on deck and sleep four at most.

MBY's main criticism was a lack of hull windows in the cabins, so the sleeping areas are darker than the saloon. On deck, the massive bathing platform (hydraulic as an option) is the practical way aboard from a floating dock, because the topsides are tall. Check whether the boat you are viewing has the hydraulic platform, since it doubles as a tender lift and adds noticeably to resale appeal.

38 Sport, Sport 39 and Sport 400 compared

Bavaria's numbering can confuse buyers. The Bavaria 38 Sport and Sport 38 HT that preceded this boat were built from about 2006 to 2011 and have an older interior and deck design. The Sport 39 ran from 2012 to 2014, with the Highline editions from late 2013. By 2015 the yard had replaced it with the New Sport 400, offered as Open, HT and Coupe, a newer design that later became the S40. Do not confuse any of these with the Bavaria 39 Cruiser, a sailing yacht.

When comparing listings, the hull identification number and build sheet matter more than the name on the transom. Some sellers describe a Sport 39 HT simply as a Bavaria 39 HT, and some later boats are listed as Sport 39 Highline even when they lack the full pack.

What it costs to buy and keep in 2026

Expect roughly $140,000 to $230,000 for a Sport 39 in 2026, with petrol boats at the bottom and late Highline HTs with twin D6s at the top. Because the boat was sold mainly in Germany, Croatia, Italy and Scandinavia, an American buyer should plan for a survey abroad, ocean shipping and import duty, and should make sure the CE documents and VAT status are clear.

Annual running costs in the US typically run from $20,000 to $40,000 before depreciation: slip, insurance, haul-out and antifouling, yearly sterndrive service on two drives, engine service, canvas and electronics. The twin-drive setup is the single biggest maintenance item, so budget for bellows and U-joints every few seasons.