Beneteau 50 - Few Questions

[DDabs]

Just looking for a little more info regarding this boat:

2004 Beneteau 50 Two-Cabin Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Is this an Oceanis or a Cyclades?

With all the mass-production boat hate on these forums, would you feel comfortable crossing oceans in this boat with the open transom, etc? It has a keel-stepped mast and seems to be a decent blue-water cruiser with a few outrigging preparations.

Are there any known problems with this model that I should be aware of?

Thanks for all your opinions.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by DDabs

Just looking for a little more info regarding this boat:

2004 Beneteau 50 Two-Cabin Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Is this an Oceanis or a Cyclades?

With all the mass-production boat hate on these forums, would you feel comfortable crossing oceans in this boat with the open transom, etc? It has a keel-stepped mast and seems to be a decent blue-water cruiser with a few outrigging preparations.

Are there any known problems with this model that I should be aware of?

Thanks for all your opinions.

I don't beleive beneteau were making Cyclades models in 2004 were they

Anyway looking at the pictures she's definitely Oceanis

Nice boat , not sure what you understand as a open transom. She's more closed then most.

Yes of course she,ll take you anywhere. I've sailed a few good sea boat strong well screwed together and quite fast too. You need a good crew loads are high. Bit big for two.

Dave

[TheOffice]

Be sure you are comfortable with the in mast furler. There are several threads on the plusses and minuses.

[DDabs]

Dave,

You really think it's too much to be handled by two? What if electric winches were installed?

*edit* just re-read posting, the yacht has electric winches for main and headsail

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by DDabs

Dave,

You really think it's too much to be handled by two? What if electric winches were installed?

*edit* just re-read posting, the yacht has electric winches for main and headsail

I certainly think its on the limit. Electric winches are great but IMHO you have to be able to sail without them. It's a big boat.

Two big male gorilla types might manage, a male and a female hmmmm.

Dave

[TOM]

I disagree this boat would be perfectly handled by 2 people . generally you will find that once you have set the boat up and is sailing it will sai leasier then a smaller boat. We come across many couple circumnavagators on our travels who are sailing 48- 50 ft boats easily and that extra space at anchor is a real bonus.
this looks like a nice boat but i would imagine in todays market they may bea asking a bit much?

www.byamee.com

[goboatingnow]

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. , go sail her and see what you think.

Dave

[Rocketman]

I would take this boat in a second, I don't know where the people are comming from that think this would be hard for 2 people to sail. I sail my 40ft Beneteau solo with no problems. This one has a bow thruster that would be great. The in mast furling is no problem as long as it works right. I would try to get the price down however, but it looks like a great boat in near new condition if the pictures are any represetation of the actal boat.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

I would take this boat in a second, I don't know where the people are comming from that think this would be hard for 2 people to sail. I sail my 40ft Beneteau solo with no problems. This one has a bow thruster that would be great. The in mast furling is no problem as long as it works right. I would try to get the price down however, but it looks like a great boat in near new condition if the pictures are any represetation of the actal boat.

Sorry I've sailed the beneteau 50 quite a few times. Theres a massive difference between a 40 footer and a 50 footer. Sheet loads are way higher. Sails are way bigger, operating loads are way higher.

I'm not saying its impossible, I base my argument on experience with that particular boat. Can it be done by two, of course. Can it be easily done, as I said try it and see. The inmast will at least make that part easier. Remember two sailing is in effect solo sailing.

Dave

[Rocketman]

The question that you have about the step through transom. If you are looking at most modern sailboats today, they often have walk through transoms and I would not buy a boat again that did not have one. IMHO they are great, it makes getting on and off the boat so much easier whether by dingy or at dock. Also scuba diving is a dream, I have mounted my scuba tanks on the back and leave them there with BCD and reg attached so I can jump in, in seconds notice if I need to. When you arrive by dinghy, it is very easy to throw all your supplies on the step then a small step to the back of the boat. In all my other boats, it was a pain to climb aboard and retrieve my gear from the dinghy without help. I also see no disadvantages for open water cruising.

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Sorry I've sailed the beneteau 50 quite a few times. Theres a massive difference between a 40 footer and a 50 footer. Sheet loads are way higher. Sails are way bigger, operating loads are way higher.

I'm not saying its impossible, I base my argument on experience with that particular boat. Can it be done by two, of course. Can it be easily done, as I said try it and see. The inmast will at least make that part easier. Remember two sailing is in effect solo sailing.

Dave

I have never sailed the Beneteau 50 so I could be wrong about the need for extra hands to handle sails and soforth but I am having a hard time understanding why. I do understand that the loads on the sheets are going to be higher but I would assume that you also have bigger winches to handle those loads. The layout of the lines are all going back to the cockpit so access is not a problem, I would assume it has an auto pilot so where am I going wrong. Maybe if you still have access to a 50 you can show me.

[DDabs]

Thanks for the responses guys. Basically it would mostly be sailed by myself (26) and my father. I believe that with the in-mast furling, winches, bow thruster, etc., there should be no problem. The only problem I have with the yacht is the lack of a dedicated, forward positioned nav station, but it's not a deal breaker. I agree that the boat is a bit overpriced, and it's a bummer because I cannot find an Oceanis 50 with this same configuration.

In 2007 they changed the design to include a dedicated nav. station, and I like the interior design way more, however they added a large sun window on both sides of the salon and I do not like this look.

[bene505]

Come up to Long Island, NY and sail mine.

I solo sail a lot. She sails really well and the big winches make things fairly easy. We don't have electric winches either. I sometime reef the headsail without a winch -- just pull. Also, the mast is not the high one that they offer. We have the same mast. The smaller sails make the sail handling easier, IMHO.

Regards,
Brad

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by bene505

Come up to Long Island, NY and sail mine.

I solo sail a lot. She sails really well and the big winches make things fairly easy. We don't have electric winches either. I sometime reef the headsail without a winch -- just pull. Also, the mast is not the high one that they offer. We have the same mast. The smaller sails make the sail handling easier, IMHO.

Regards,
Brad

Brad, thanks for the prospective, I have now sailed a lot of older boats, smaller boats, that were a lot of work to sail correctly. The extra hands were perhaps not absolutly needed but IMHO, need to comfortably sail them safely. When we bought our Ben 40 I thought it would be to much for me to handle solo until we started sailing it. Everything is done from the cockpit, the winchs handle the loads easily, and with the bigger boat it is much more stable so if I have to move to the front to untangle a line it is not a problem. I belive now that bigger, does not mean harder to sail, actually I think it can be easier to sail if the boat is set up properly. Docking may be more chalanging if room is tight but with a bow thruster I would think this would change that equation also.

[Dockhead]

This boat does have a very nice nav table (like all the Bene cruising boats I've sailed).

It's a perfectly decent blue water boat which might not be quite as nice here and there as a non-production boat, but should take you anywhere and will be a lot stronger than you are, in any case. Probably the biggest disadvantage of a boat like this is the hull liner modular construction, which means the cabinetry is less nice, and which will make modifications and installing new equipment unpleasant, but worth putting up with IMHO to get so much boat for so little money.

When I first sailed a Beneteau, a long time ago, I really hated the crappy plastic port lights, and thought sheez, they sure do cut corners on these cheap production boats, don't they. Then I sailed my first Oyster, and guess what -- exactly the same crappy Lewmar plastic port lights. And my present boat has got the same ones, too. The gorgeous tempered glass port lights, set in chromed bronze frames, which I had on my old boat, went out with horses and buggies, it seems.

As to the size -- as Dave said, sail it and see. My boat is still much bigger (54 feet on deck, about 60 feet LOA, and half again the displacement of that Bene), and I have sailed it single handed, including docking and undocking. I often sail it two-handed with a non-sailor, which makes it like single handing except that I have someone to jump onto the pontoon and tie on a line (very handy). I don't think you will find it unpleasantly large. You will have to learn to dock better, because you can't manhandle a boat that size into the slip (no matter how much crew you have). Sail handling is not really any different when you have electric winches for the genoa sheets. You will not be able to raise or lower the sails single-handed, but there is not any particular reason why you would need to do that on an all-furling rig.

The 40 foot water line length will give it long legs. It's got extraordinary deck storage -- much better than my boat. One minus is that this boat seems to have the shoal keel, which will hurt windward performance. But looks like a great boat for the money.