D and D Kufner 50 | Prestige

The boat's equipment leaves a lot to be desired. The generator and the bow thruster didn't work. The anchor winch only worked after we repaired it. The interior was OK, but all the boxes were warped and extremely difficult to open. The staff were very unfriendly, in my opinion - absolutely not recommended.

The marina is unkempt and the charter company is absolutely unfriendly and dubious. We set out with about a full battery and our plan was to anchor in bays for most of the week. Already on the first day the anchor chain (40m) could not be brought up, so we had to do this manually. In the evening in the first bay, first one of the refrigerators gave up and then the anchor light - we discovered that the attached solar panel brings in energy, but does not divert it into the battery. We communicated this to the charter company - his response was a picture of how to connect shore power. When we were at the buoy in front of Vis and had no power again, the pool manager "Lubo" sent a mechanic who sprayed contact spray for 2 minutes and then told us it was safe to go. We wanted to start at 4 a.m. the next morning - but the engine wouldn't start. Mechanic came at 10am and worked and said we can drive! We did it - the engine failed again in the harbor exit in the path of the ferry at Beaufort 5, so we were unable to maneuver and had to be towed away. Mechanic came again and found a defective diesel pump and 2 defective fuses. We called the charter company because most of the crew were there 3 mechanic missions and the incredibly risky maneuver in the harbor basin did not want to continue. He had no understanding, didn't ask how we were doing, was just annoyed and couldn't offer us a solution. His biggest concern was that the boat would not be ready for the next crew on time. Our predominantly female crew decided to give it a try and so we set sail - just before Milna the solar panel came loose, which we then secured with ropes. I explained this to the base and offered to wait for a mechanic in Milna in the evening because it was expensive equipment - his answer was "use a hairclip - girlway" - after that he didn't respond to any more messages. Overall, the boat had serious safety-related defects and the charter company cares neither about the maintenance nor about the safety and satisfaction of its customers - our female skipper (yacht master) was forced to listen to sexist comments about this. Never again!

Check-in of the boat very poor, felt like the person who assisted us did not have full control of the boat. Same thing when we came back, didn't check sails or bottom and keel for example. The boat is incredibly poorly maintained. Cupboard doors are crooked and hinges are loosening. Door to fwd cabin broken. Only clothes hangers in one of five cabins. Also missing curtains for skylights. It's like a lower IKEA quality over the boat's interior. Guardrail in the stern does not work (too long). Had the boat been of higher quality, I would not hesitate to hire it again. Now it will be something else next season.

What I didn't like, on the other hand, is what is repeated in various forms in most user reviews, not only for this particular one, but also for the other Kufner 50 and 54 models on which I sailed six years ago. I was lucky with those when they were a maximum of two years old and the reservations about them, even thanks to the price setting at the time, were only minor things. On a five-year-old ship, however, it turns out that the combination of some technical solutions and neglected maintenance form an increasingly difficult cocktail to digest. In the interior, doors that open and close by themselves all night, sliding doors with which you have to wash every time, crossing cabinet doors in the salon, the cabinet directly opposite the stairs to the salon in which the wine cabinet is located has rounded corners, but the wine cabinet itself protrudes from it with sharp metal edges, the interior is generally incredibly cracked, a generator that turns itself off after a few minutes, and so does the air conditioning. On board, old stiff ropes, an almost invisible anchor light, its indicator light on the panel does not light at all, the dinghies keep slipping... You can live with it, the boat sails, the engine starts, the rudder turns and you unfurl and pack the sails. After last week, when we decided between the Kufner 54 and chose the year-old Dufour 53, which was even cheaper, I can confidently write that the real value of the Kufner is somewhere around 50%, then everyone could say a big boat for little money, that was to be expected . I regret it all the more because I really like Kufner thanks to the deck solution and I see it as a missed opportunity.

The boat lacks maintenance and appears very worn for being a 2018 model. Rudder bearings loose making noise and vibrations during motoring. One of the refrigerators not working (saw this from an earlier review as well, so should not be a surprise to the charter company). Very small holding tanks (one which had blocked venting meaning it would not empty, so we needed to fix this ourselves during the rental). The guy doing the technical check-in did not really know the boat and stated that we should not disconnect the start battery while moored as is normal, resulting in engine not starting. Luckily we had brought a start booster which got us started again.

The boat is quite worn for its age, the ropes are hard, the winches are crooked, the handles too. The dinghy was leaking, but we were told to blow it up :/, the footbridge cracked and just splinters. The bimini can't be folded properly, the solar panels are in the way. The hatches are repaired in different ways and used to require a skilled and strong man to close them. Charter obviously doesn't deal with some of the cosmetics when taking over the ship, the answer was we know about it and what are we supposed to do with it like now with a magic formula. Fortunately, they treat it the same way when returning the ship. The payment of the deposit by card and especially its subsequent return was also not without problems, leaving Trogir with a piece of paper that says cancellation 1 Euro instead of 2000 is quite unpleasant, however, the deposit was returned to the account after less than two days.

Weak bow thruster. Bad/heavy manipulation with the bathing platform. Small space at steering wheel side when platform up.

lack of enough lockers in all cabins except fore cabin, tight space and no seats behind helms - hopefully autopilot solves these