Cape Town South Africa. Factory Tour of Maverick 440 Catamaran. One of our favourite Catamarans.

[@davidlvoutdoors989]

That Rudi is a sincere and impressive guy. Gives a lot of faith in his boats.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Agreed

[@marceld6061]

I like the details that Maverick puts into their boats like the bed support/ backboard idea. As well as the textured paint on the underside in case of the unthinkable. It shows they are thinking of these things before they are needed. Nice.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

I agree completely Marcel. Thanks for writing in.

[@86config]

Maverick has an 'interesting' history, worthwhile spending time looking into.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Yes we know the history.

[@stephenbradshaw5334]

What a nice and genuine guy Rudi comes across as,I had never considered a Maverick but I will give them a look when buying my Yatch in 2020.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

He was really nice.

[@brentfriedland]

Thank you to Rudi and to you, Craig for the exposure to great boat builders. I hope all involved are blessed and profit from this.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks Brent

[@pjo12]

The 440 is my personal favourite cat that you guys have featured on your Annapolis tours. I’m even more smitten with it now. She’s a great boat.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Yes. Very nice boat and in our probable price range. "Love the wood" is all I kept hearing Janice say at the show. ha ha

[@pjo12]

Hopefully by the time I can get set up there will be a few “lightly”used and ones when I’m ready to retire. Which is more than a few years away lol. One of these companies should invest in your talents and figure away to put you on their boat to sail. I’m sure you feel the same way lol.

[@Niagra2011]

Wow Craig, I am highly impressed with the build quality of this boat. Rudy is a super nice guy and a very conscientious builder. I used to be a furniture/cabinet maker and was glad to see the lay up of the wood done the right way and the bending of the layered veneer was impressive! Now to go back and re- watch the boat review form the boat show. Great boat Rudy and great interview Craig and your before and aft picture are ingenious!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks Niagra. I'm glad you liked it

[@soving]

Great informative video Craig. You can feel the Maverick Company Owners pride and passion. I bet they have a good company culture there which shows up in their boats.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

He did seem really proud. Im guessing it would have been more impressive with the employees there working on the boat like I had with the Xquisite tour but we only had this Saturday together before I had to head to the boat I was coming to get on. But the final product does seem really top notch. Make sure to watch the full guided tour I got at the Annapolis show. It was very impressive.

[@anic6559]

I really like this boat

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Us too. It’s a possibility.

[@h.v7461]

Great tour of the Maverick facility. Rudy did a nice job explaining the process. Maverick is the on my list...one day! Thanks Craig.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks HV. Yes it is on our list of strong possibilities too. We shall see what we one day end up with. I wish I had a Crystal ball and knew now. 😜

[@itzanopinion]

Rudy is one great, awesome guy! Would buy a cat. from him any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

[@evagreenwell3610]

Oh wow, I have been waiting for this! Thank you so much! I really do love the 440s.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

You are very welcome Eva. Glad to bring it to you.

[@robweiss748]

Just found your channel. Metro Detroit lake house owners here. We take our little power boat onto Lake St Clair. Our son used to ice dance with an Orillia girl. We are in the same price range as you, 42-45’ boat as a liveaboard. And that was a great factory tour, very interested in the 440 and the 440 Hybrid. Thank you!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

You are very welcome Robert.

[@robweiss748]

Cruising Off Duty Also, thank you for your service as a police officer. I did 21 years in the USAF. Still working as an engineer.

[@richardcremer]

welcome home Craig, amazing episode again! looking forward to the next!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks Richard. It's nice to be home.

[@allynonderdonk7577]

That stretcher also would allow for the standard emergency rudder configuration. You put a pole down the middle of the board and lash it to the pole. Dragging the pole will allow enough rudder control to get you near your destination.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Yes. That would a good size for an emergency rudder . The good thing about a Cat vs a Mono is you have 2 rudders and it is very unlikely you will break off both of your rudders at the same time, but, I guess anything is possible.

[@alextodd5487]

Very excited for the journey's start! Not least because this video means you made it safe and sound - congrats!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks Alex. Yes, I made it through unscathed. Now the real work begins editing all the massive amounts of footage I shot.

[@pjo12]

I honestly have been waiting for these videos since you announced this adventure.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Glad to hear it PJO. Now it is just a matter of finding the time to edit all the footage I have into episodes. It will be a mammoth amount of work.

[@pjo12]

I can’t believe how fast your getting your videos out. I live vicariously through folks like you because I’m a father of young kids in Alberta. One day I hope to fix the living in Alberta part lol.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Ya, I bet it is hard to be a blue water sailor in Alberta. Well, you can always move to the Ocean once the kids grow up and move out and you are ready to retire on a boat. Good luck with that. :-)

[@pjo12]

It’s super hard to be any kind of sailor here in Alberta lol. It takes a lot of imagination.

[@thedriverseye]

Can't wait to watch the entire trip

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Glad to hear it Kiran. Thanks.

[@RogerC68]

Great episode!! Looking forward to the crossing!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks Roger. Been on vacation with Janice and now back to work taking OT to pay some bills so its been tough to find time to edit but I am at it this weekend so should have a new episode out soon.

[@MalloyUnfiltered]

Awesome build quality.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Agreed

[@nukert1]

I love the comment about youngsters that have been previously disadvantaged... they must be 40 years old..

[@svequinox]

Thank you for featuring Equinox, must say she looks super awesome..!!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Ha Ha. She does look pretty. Too bad no time to go sailing with you guys. Maybe next time I'm in Cape Town (one day?) or when you make it to the Caribbean (someday?). Hopefully we meet again in person and this time you can meet Janice.

[@svequinox]

@@Bowmans-Woods If we had known that you would have been delayed in CT you could have sailed with us to Hout Bay and Rudi could have fetched you there by car. Definitely let us know if you coming to Cape Town again, will take you & Janice for a sail...otherwise see you on the water somewhere someday.

[@quintingrillenberger9130]

Thanks, Craig great tour of the Maverick, great boat option!!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks Quintin. We agree. It is high on our list of possibilities.

[@bmjforbes]

Great video. Love the owner tour! If I couldn't sail a boat, I would love to be building them for other customers. Great idea to do the picture-in-picture from the previous tour. Looking forward to the series!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks Brian. Glad you liked the picture in picture comparison of the raw build vs final product.

[@deibertmichael]

Love it! The option to customize a plus!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Yes. It is a a plus to having a boat built buy a boutique builder like this vs the mass production shops.

[@deibertmichael]

@@Bowmans-Woods 2013 "Our Rose" on KZbin is sweet. A Maverick

[@leojoseph6385]

Good job on the tour, though it looked you were just in sponge mode and didn't ask enough questions that would get him to do a deeper revealing discussion on other areas of the build process/materials/systems used. It was good to learn the 40 & 44 are basically the same except they just chopped then extended the 40.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Ya. I let him talk. But from what I got from this tour is that you really want the 440 to get the extra body length for extra speed and stability. I wish the 44 was actually designed to be a 44 though. A bigger cockpit would have been nice.

[@st.k.4528]

Hi, your video as great! Big improvement! I moved to Ottawa last summer and now bought 16 ft sailboat! Hope to see you on river. I love your idea to go but catamaran for retirement!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks St. K. You know Im on the St Lawrence and Lake Ontario with my boat now, right?

[@rayallen1479]

Awesome tour. Thanks...

[@Bowmans-Woods]

You are welcome Ray

[@nicomeyer2176]

Before falling in love with the maverick, look up Peter Windsor. And his experience of owning one

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Seen it. The company has tried in the past to deal with this guy and his "issues". He refuses. From what I was told he requested a different interior smooth gelcoat that they told him was not a good idea but he wanted it so they did it for him. He sailed the crap out of the boat and when it had some cracks HE wanted a full refund. They refused but offered to do what they could to re-do the interior and he refused. He is the squeeky wheel that refuses to allow anyone to give him grease or do anything to stop his noise.

[@vancemiller5115]

Great video, I love factory tours. I'd love to know more about how Rudy came to own a boat producer? Like, how the hell does that happen?

[@Bowmans-Woods]

I think he is the original owner? I am not sure how he got started. It is a small shop building 1 boat at a time so I guess he just got the money and the expertise together and started?

[@pieterviljoen2527]

What about the currently disadvantaged?

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Not sure who you are referring to?

[@allanjurgens7699]

Interesting but what about the you tube video from New Zealand that shows all kind of quality problems with the Maverick 440. I would like to know Rudy's take on it as I was considering to buy his boat but now a little scared.

[@andylee4000]

Allan, we had similar concern initially. However, our surveyor gave very favorable opinion of the boat and the previous owner showed that their/ our boat was constructed under a buyer’s “surveyor” so we feel comfortable with the quality of her construction. The previous owner sailed her from South Africa, through Panama Canal to SEA where we bought her. We figure, given she was able to handle that punishment from the different oceans, then we are probably ok so we bought her. We have been live aboard for a few years now and experienced no special problem. I did pay attention about NZ owner’s assertion about Maverick and I can’t tell what is fact from fictions other than we are happy with our decision. My feeling is whatever the issue Maverick had, they are probably resolved by now. We plan to do circumnavigation if COVID let us:). If you are serious about Maverick and want to know more it feel free to reach out. Btw, we don’t want to sell our baby just yet so it will not be sales pitch.

[@jimanderson2518]

Met Rudy several times Annapolis and Miami. Really really nice guy . The detail to his finishing work is getting better and better with each boat. I to like the Exquisite and plan on purchasing this model...... Opps update ...Loto Max ticket only two bucks and a free ticket maybe next week .55 mill.😁 lol Thanks for the tour Criag , Janice you get better soon stop crashing your car.😊. Fairwinds from the @captains.chair

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Yes. We both need some sort of windfall and then we can meet in the Caribbean somewhere on our new X5s. Ha Ha.

[@dougmarder]

Good job, Craig! I don't suppose you used any of that extra time to in Cape Town to drive out and check out St. Francis or Knysna?

[@Bowmans-Woods]

No sorry. I didn’t have a car and those builders made no effort to have me come visit. They were hours away by car, so I’m told.

[@Hiltontadi]

Anyone from South Africa 🇿🇦 here

[@Bowmans-Woods]

There has been s few comments from there.

[@ysesq]

nice

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks.

[@markjennings2315]

Maverick looks great. How much is that compared to X5?

[@Bowmans-Woods]

It is about 1/2 the price vs an Xquisite. Now I know it is comparing a Maverick at 44' vs a X5 at 50' but I think it is around $700K new vs $1.3M . We will probably try and buy used to get a discount on those prices but even used I dont think I could get an X5 to fit in my budget. So the Maverick is a realistic option.

[@geoffreymint5764]

Interesting to see the differences between this factory and the xquisite that produces a 1.3M cat, any thought on that? @cruisingoffduty Thanks for the great video, been waiting for that one too!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

It was hard to compare the Factory tour at Xquisite that was much larger and had all the employees working and this much smaller shop with no one at work but I was still impressed with the quality of build at both. The Maverick is about 1/2 the price of the X5 so you of course you aren't going to get all the bells and whistles that the X5 comes with. Both good options, just at different price points.

[@pmbnet]

I felt the separation anxiety when you departed. My wife and I are joined at the hips too. We even work together from home.

[@Bowmans-Woods]

It was too long. I wont do a passage again, this long, without her. The time would have flown by had she been there enjoying it with me.

[@Tiger-mq6zn]

Fine cat!

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Totally agree.

[@Tiger-mq6zn]

@@Bowmans-Woods My choice of catamarans at the moment: Maverick, sea wind 1260, Lightwave 45.

[@rodneygaul2227]

you lover her , but bangs thing I can see looking around , if serious , look at seawind range and those sail like brick

[@Bowmans-Woods]

OK? Not sure I completely understood everything there but, I got the Seawind part.

[@stevefuller6499]

The Maverick was on my shortlist until I came across the following thread. www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f48/maverick-440-a-157522.html

[@Bowmans-Woods]

1 hull owner complains and that is what they always have to answer to. Contact the company so they can explain the issues. There is more to the story.

[@stevefuller6499]

@@Bowmans-Woods I'm wondering if you actually watched the link? We're not talking about a leaky faucet. I wrote to Maverick three weeks ago using the contact us on their website. I have had zero response. As a prospective buyer, I'm confused! you think they would want the business. If there's no customer service now, I can't imagine it getting any better after the purchase.

[@briandanker8431]

I a,m also retired LEO, keep up good work, friend me on facebook?

[@Bowmans-Woods]

Thanks. Always nice to meet other LEOs that are also into sailing. Send me a friend request and I'll accept. Craig Bowman