Overview
The Ovni 400 is an aluminum fractional sloop designed by Mortain & Mavrikios and built by Alubat in France, first built in 2019. It belongs to the Ovni line of welded aluminum cruisers with a lifting keel or centerboard, a range John Neal rates 5 of 5 in his Boats to Consider for Ocean Cruising.
Design and Construction
The hull is 42.32 ft overall on a 37.96 ft waterline, with 14.27 ft of beam. Draft is 3.22 ft with the keel up and 9.45 ft down, so the boat can take the ground or enter shallow anchorages that a fixed deep keel would not. It has twin rudders. Displacement is 24,692 lb with 8,598 lb of ballast, a ballast ratio of 34.8 percent. The fractional sloop rig carries a reported 915 sq ft of sail. The listed engine is a Volvo D2-50 of 50 hp.
Buyers Notes
Neal describes Alubat as a builder of simple and innovative lifting-keel aluminum cruising boats, and rates the whole 36 to 58 foot range 5 of 5. That is a rating of the yard’s range, not a survey of this model. On an aluminum boat the usual checks apply: condition of the paint system, anodes and signs of stray-current corrosion, and the working order of the keel or board lifting gear.
