Yachting Monthly – September 2019

FACTS AND

FIGURES

PRICE AS TESTED

£448,696

LOA 15.39m (50ft 6in)

HULL LENGTH

14.99 (49ft 2in)

LWL 14.75 (48ft 5in)

BEAM 5.05m 16ft 7in)

DRAUGHT

2.30m (7ft 7in)

DISPLACEMENT

15,490kg (37,765lb)

BALLAST

4,500kg (9,920lb)

BALLAST RATIO (29%)

DISPLACEMENT /

LENGTH 149

SAIL AREA

131.73m2 (1,418sq ft)

SA/D RATIO 20

DIESEL

250 litres (55 gal)

WATER

650 litres 143( gal)

ENGINE 80 hp

TRANSMISSION

Saildrive

RCD CATEGORY A

DESIGNER Cossutti

Yacht Design

BUILDER

Bavaria Yachts

UK AGENT

Clipper Marine Tel

01489 550583

http://www.clippermarine.

co.uk

conduits for cabling running through a few inches
higher up.
Steel stringers in the topsides, one each side, are a
new feature in the C range. They’re said to make the
hull rigid enough for the boat to sail even before the
bulkheads are fi tted.
Hull and deck are vacuum-infused and the hull is
foam-cored except below the waterline in the central
and forward sections. A transverse member extends
from the matrix up to the chainplates to distribute the
loads from the rig.

IN WITH THE NEW
As ever with Bavaria, joinery is assembled as modules
outside the boat and then fi tted into the hull with
most of the systems already built in. It’s all part of
what Bavaria calls its Modutec system.
As for the result – well, the C50 is far removed
from Bavarias of old. The interior is more sumptuous
and although sealant is still in evidence it has been
used sparingly.
Our test boat was fi nished in walnut. Mahogany
and light oak are the alternatives. The layout was
one that’s likely to be popular with private owners
who want to keep open the option of having a
skipper on board. A bunk and heads in the forward
compartment take up little space, so it still serves
as an enormous locker. Abaft the bulkhead is the
owner’s cabin with a massive berth, a shower
compartment to port and the heads to starboard. You
can have two cabins up here, each with combined
heads and shower.
Two more double cabins are in the stern. Forward
of the starboard cabin can
be a heads and shower,
entered from the saloon, or
the space can be used for a
smaller heads plus a utility
area. A third option is a
bunk cabin, so you could
theoretically have six
cabins. You can mix and
match the arrangements
in each section to your
heart’s content.

BAVARIA C50

Access to the 80hp Yanmar is

good. A tunnel extends between

the aft cabins all the way aft

Control centre: with B&G’s Naviop system,

all navigation and systems data can be

controlled from the Zeus displays and

monitored remotely via mobile devices

THE TEST VERDICT

Time was when the biggest asset of a Bavaria was its

incredibly low price. You had to accept that you got what

you paid for.

For a 50-footer, the C50 is still far from expensive. Now,

however, you get much more than just volume and

Sikaflex. Bavaria is promoting the performance, the

comfort, the range of options, the integrated technology,

the innovation, the style, the light and airy interior and the

vacuum-infused laminates among other features.

You can see why. In many ways this is quite an

impressive boat. It’s a calculated, engineered product;

one that has resulted from a lot of analysis and number-

crunching and that has been created to appeal to the

widest possible audience.

The time is approaching when we will no longer need

to make comparisons with Bavarias of old, in the same

way that the younger generation these days doesn’t stop

and point at a Skoda and say, ‘Remember what they used

to be like?’

With the C50 Bavaria has, perhaps, come of age. It has

produced a boat that will undoubtedly be seen in some

respects as setting the standards for mainstream cruising

yachts in this size range.

WOULD SHE SUIT YOU AND YOUR CREW?

If you want a roomy 50-footer for coastal cruising with all

the mod cons, the C50 will probably be on your list. Of

course you could sail her across the Atlantic if you wanted

to, but she wasn’t conceived as a blue-water cruiser: her

design makes her better suited to island-hopping in the

Med, and that’s the sort of thing she will do in some style.

This is a boat you might buy instead of a villa. At the

same time she’s by no means slow or unresponsive to

sail, so you might have some enjoyably swift sailing as

you move your comfortable home on the water from one

location to another. Whether or not she appeals to your

soul, she will give the logical and analytical parts of your

brain plenty to think about.

PROS

Very competitive

price

Choice of interior

layouts

Remarkably roomy

CONS

Smooth areas on

coachroof

Topsides high

for boarding

No small stowage

in cockpit