Bavaria 42 CruiservsHunter 38
Bavaria against Hunter · used asking prices, listed in Europe and the US
At the same age, the Hunter 38 asks 10% less than the Bavaria 42 Cruiser. Neither has a published depreciation curve yet, so we can't say which holds its value better.
same age · 5 shared build years · 11 and 12 boats in them · Indicative · in today’s prices · asking, not sold
Head to head
The better figure on each line is in orange. Where either side has too few boats, we say so rather than pick a winner.
Year by year
Each build year's Gauge Estimate, for the 5 years both have boats in. Pooled across those years (11 and 12 boats), the Hunter 38 asks 10% less than the Bavaria 42 Cruiser.
What your budget buys
At £80,000, only the Hunter 38 has a build year within reach.
A year of ownership
Each at its Gauge Value, on a South Coast marina berth, 44 engine hours a year (the median of 103 UK-listed sailing boats that report hours). An estimate in pounds from published rates, not a quote.
Each line is the middle of the cited range, to the nearest fifty pounds. Depreciation is a year of age on each model's published curve, at its Gauge Value, and stays out of the totals.
Neither model has a published depreciation curve, so depreciation is withheld on both sides.
Sources: Lake Yard price list 2026 · BerthFinder · Boatsetter · Velos Insurance; Admiral Yacht Insurance · Boating Magazine, "Calculating Boat Fuel Consumption" · Littlehampton Marina fuel prices
Specification
Questions
Which is cheaper, the Bavaria 42 Cruiser or the Hunter 38?
At the same age the Hunter 38 is cheaper: the Hunter 38 asks 10% less than the Bavaria 42 Cruiser across 5 shared build years. Their Gauge Values, the median asking prices of all the boats we observed whatever their age, are £83,000 and £75,500.
Which holds its value better?
We can't say yet: neither has a published depreciation curve, and we fit one from at least 20 boats across six build years and publish it only when the fit holds. We have 16 Bavaria 42 Cruiser boats across 7 build years. We have 13 Hunter 38 boats across 6 build years.
Which spends less time on the market?
Boats of the Bavaria 42 Cruiser had been listed a median of 1,211 days when we last saw them, against 38 days for the Hunter 38. That is time listed so far, not time to sell, which we don't measure yet. 80% of the Bavaria 42 Cruiser boats we saw 14 or more days apart cut their asking price, against 22% of the Hunter 38 boats.
How do you compare them like for like?
We compare boats of the same build year. For each of the 5 years both models have boats in, we take the ratio of their median asking prices in today's prices, then pool the years, giving more weight to years with more boats on both sides. The figure is Indicative because the thinner side has 11 boats in those years.