The Bavaria 390 Lagoon

Unusually, for a 40ft yacht with good sailing characteristics, the 390 Lagoon has an enormous aft stateroom with equally impressive ensuite heads and showeroom. Apart from a late model Moody 42, which was outside our price range, no other yacht I had seen would provide such luxurious liveaboard accommodation.

I began to research existing owners, and found that all owners, existing and past, were full of praise for the boat. In 1990, Bavaria were a low volume production high quality yard, and the 390 cost substantially more than the equivalent Moody or Westerley of the day. Subsequently as Bavaria moved into volume production, the brand image suffered, together with the residual values of early Bavarias. As a consequence, to the uninformed, the early series Bavarias are considered as if they were merely the current cheaply constructed volumes boats but older. To those in the know, the early Bavarias were innovative and well constructed boats devalued by later changes in the brand.