Baia quality and handling !!! comments ??

Could you tell us the size of the boat and which Volvo engine.

A friend in England is the agent for Baia, if that helps. he runs them all over the Med.

A better question is why all the exclamation marks? And why sign off with a sticking-tongue-out emoticon? I'm guessing eloy is 12 years old?

Not much of that in the Miami area.

I had a listing on a Baia 80 and a 48. Both were great boats, good performers, but the earlier 80s had mega engine problems. Arneson issues on a Baia don't seem to be any different than the usual range.

Judy

Capt. J: Thanks for the clarification.

Driven and sold a few Baia Flashes over last 10 years. The handling and performance is amazing a bit like driving a huge speed boat. Not bad sea boats but not the best in the world. Build quality can be lazy in places. Have the boat surveyed thoroughly, hard tops used to leak and we had issues with the water pipes between the various outlets below decks blowing under pressure. Fix one and it would move to next weak spot and they were always a pain to get to. As with many beautiful Italian things looking behind the scenes can be a little scary.
I love Arneson’s, as long as they are kept clean and the anodes are replaced when needed they are a brilliant addition to the boat. The Flash with the smaller Volvo engines was still doing late 30’s knots. Handling once you get use to them is very straight forward as you have the huge drag of the props when you come into the marina with the legs down. Plus when you put them into gear to manoeuvre those huge props really take a bite and allow you to do some pretty tight manoeuvring.

Whats the alternative?

Drove it and loved it!

I think Baia's are among the best Arneson surface drives performers.
History says the Baia B50 designed by Don Aronow launched in 1983 was actually the first commercial sport yacht cruiser equipped with the drives, Magnum soon followed suit a few years later. This model also won the Veneizia Monte Carlo race.

The 48 Flash is very good in following seas, 23 degrees deep Vee closing aft, but if the wave is quite deep and longer then the hull you need to be more careful in headseas of six feet plus as the forefoot was not super deep about 32 degrees.
With 2 x 480hp Volvos you should be able to make 37/38 knots.
The Baia 48 Flash was born as the B43, became the 46 Bimini with aft looking radar arch and then the 48 Flash with the innovative hard top.

I sign what Deckies wrote, but later examples new fixed hard top in 2004 and new version railing with internal screws where much better as well. Still the benefit of the early example with removal hard top is a bonus IMO.

They are still heavy, the 48 Flash is 48 foot oeverall weighs about 16 tons loaded but still light compared to other siblings as Magnum, Otam, or Itama. But anyways this also make it the most economic to run, as the above mentioned all have 600hp + engines.
You should get about 100 liters per hour at 25 knots with 480hp Volvos which is very good for a boat of this size and increases your range quite a bit.

I also know of a Baia 48 Flash which made the run from Antibes to Malta in 3 days in Force 6 seas average 25 knots cruise and hardly a drop in the windscreen.

Hi,

As Antibes to Malta is downwind in any sort of meaningful wind direction in the Med I would fully expect a dry windscreen if making the journey myself.

I have done it from Capd'Ail around Cap Corse on a Superhawk 52 downwind when I would not have undertaken it upwind on anything.

Actually those upwind trips are not so bad as the NW Mistral has usually long Atlantic ocean style waves. You can do it if you back down a bit in my book even when wind is touching 30knots and is around the Force Six strength. In all the med the NW is the most nasty in the Bonifaccio straights between Sardinia and Corsica due to its bottle neck.

Another story is the E part of the Med which with E or NE wind gets pretty nasty and has those short nasty high waves, can test a lot of boats and crew.

Try to pass the straights of Messina when you have NW coming in the Tyrrhenian sea and Easterly coming in the Ionian, and I can guarantee it might be one of your worst trips in five miles you ever had. By the way this also happens in Summer sometimes in the afternoon and I know 60 - 80 feet boats who where pretty tested there and also got scared.

Anyways got a bit OT.

The wind in the trip was NW and it still comes a bit to the side hitting you on Starboard.

Hi,

Try going around Cap Corse heading upwind when there is a 30kt NW and accompanying seas, you will have to more than "slow down a bit".

I have been around there numerous times in beautiful weather and a few in a mistral. I know which I prefer and which way I prefer to be heading in a big blow.

No Gentleman ever intends to be out in anything above Beaufort Three, and certainly would never mention doing so if caught out inadvertently.

Hi,

You could have extracted a good portion of that from the Sea Trial section of many build contracts.

Depending on what your on and where you are going you will encounter poor conditions from time to time but the good conditions tend to out number the bad by a long way in my experience.

I spent some time boating with a friend who had Arnesons. When anchored and playing the drives were too much in the way of stern fun and water toy and dinghy tie ups. If you plan on lots of FL type fun consider this issue vs out of the way pods or straight shaft drives.