According to the Bavaria brochure, the C46 offers “ideal conditions for the ambitious sailor who values not only performance and easy handling, but also comfort and a sense of style.” The design is by Cossutti Yacht Design.

The D/L ratio of the C46 is 151, and L/B is 2.97. There is a single chine that runs from the stem to the transom. Freeboard is on the high side, but it is a good looking hull if you don’t mind the lack of overhang. In plan view, you can see the bow is not quite as full as the bow of the Hanse 360, but darn close. It makes me wonder how long it will be before true scow-bow designs are put into production as cruising boats.  The scow-bow is the obvious answer to maximizing volume forward. 

You can choose from a deep draft of 7 feet 2 inches or shallow draft of 5 feet 7. The Bavaria has a single rudder. I wonder if designers are choosing single rudder over double rudders out of concern for cost and complexity, to the detriment of handling advantages.

There are several interior options to choose from. If you plan on taking eight friends out cruising, you can choose the interior with four separate sleeping cabins and four heads. In this layout the galley is amidships adjacent to the long U-shaped dinette. Alternatively, you can eliminate one of the aft heads and use that space for a utility-storage cabin. There is another layout having an owner’s cabin forward, with its own head and separate shower stall, and double berth. The dinette in this layout is more than 8.5 feet long, along with a centerline bench seat. Adjacent to the aft head to starboard is an area the drawings call a “big utility room.”

Again, no surprises in this deck plan, it’s almost as if the designers are reading off the same set of requirements in order to attract the largest set of potential clients. Forward there is a track on the cabintrunk for a self-tacking jib. There are genoa tracks on top the cabintrunk, all lines are led aft to winches port and starboard at the wheel. Genoa sheets are led to winches on the cabintrunk. I’m sure all the hatches are flush. The drawings indicate a “bathing platform,” that is 3 inches wide on the drawing but drops down to make a full-size bathing platform.

The sailplan shows a handsome boat.  There are running backstays and a standing backstay, both running to the masthead. I can understand running backstays or a standing backstay, but I don’t understand the need for both.

There is no mainsheet traveler. The mainsheet is dead center along the length of the boom, so a sailor will have to use the vang to control the shape of the mainsail off the wind. There are port and starboard mainsheet blocks on the cabintrunk, which makes me wonder if the mainsheet is a double-ended German-style system. This would allow you to center the boom in light air. The SA/D ratio is 21.52

Gone are the days when you could identify the designer by looking at the design.  Individuality in design, as far as I was concerned, was the target. I wanted people to be able to look at one of my designs and say “that’s a Perry boat.”  Even today, it gives me a lot of pride, makes me feel good. I hope the members of the European design committees get the same sense of personal pride when they see one of their designs.

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LOA 47’6”; LWL 43’7”; Beam 15’4”; Draft standard 7’2”, shallow 5’7”; Displ. 28,065 lb.; Sail area 1,097 sq. ft.; Auxiliary 57-hp; Fuel 64 gal.; Water 146 gal.; D/L 151; L/B 2.97; SA/D 21.52 www.bavariayachts.com