Beneteau Sense Quality Issues

[PeglegLeVoy]

I've owned both French built and American built Beneteaus and have seen the difference in woodworking; the American boat being inferior. The explanation we got was that the American factory put the wood together from kits the French sent to them and, of course, they sent 'reject' pieces that they wouldn't put in the French boats. Don't know if that's true, but it looked like it could have been. Our dealer made all of the visible problems right by some after the fact woodworking but bad on Beneteau for even allowing a difference.

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by Kevin Wixom

I've owned both French built and American built Beneteaus and have seen the difference in woodworking; the American boat being inferior. The explanation we got was that the American factory put the wood together from kits the French sent to them and, of course, they sent 'reject' pieces that they wouldn't put in the French boats. Don't know if that's true, but it looked like it could have been. Our dealer made all of the visible problems right by some after the fact woodworking but bad on Beneteau for even allowing a difference.

Mate, where you ear such ridiculous thing, french wood kits send it to american builders?? if for something American builders are recognized is for the use of real wood in their constructions , aka Teak in many instances, i dont say Bene dont use teak or other woods, but this days production boats dont got to much real wood in their furnitures, many are considered Ikea interiors, meaning composite laminates in some cases imitating wood, or not wood at all except Ply bulkheads with a thin teak laminate, even cabin soles this days are made it from plastic laminates, maintenace 0...

You cant expect in a Bavaria or Hanse lots of teaks or wood for the simple reason Teak is expensive, and dont make any sense... even some american builders use Laminates or litle teak or other woods in their construction, and even some french builders use lots of teak in their models, take a look at some Jeaneaus, teak decks, teack cockpits ...

And to be honest Americans can got better prices for Teak and other exotic woods, i guess.... and French builders cut their wood paterns to fit in a expecific model, cant imagine a Bene rejected Bulkhead fited in a Hunter Lol... but just saying....

[IdoraKeeper]

Do you think you generate a thread of this magnitude about Hunters? Bennies are more than half the fleet in my marina. There are only a few of us with wood boats. Furthermore the Bennies are all used more often than all of the rest. That says something.

Todd

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

Do you think you generate a thread of this magnitude about Hunters? Bennies are more than half the fleet in my marina. There are only a few of us with wood boats. Furthermore the Bennies are all used more often than all of the rest. That says something.

Todd

Dont know exactly what is your point?? i point a example between a french builder and a american one based in Kevin post, and is about wood in their constrcutions, now pls enlighten us with a solid link about French builders sending rejected or bad wood to American builders...

In your marina, your right, now cut the dock lines and see by yourself other places, Benes used more than the rest of the fleet? you mean charter? yeah i agree....

[Brob2]

Originally Posted by neilpride

Dont know exactly what is your point?? i point a example between a french builder and a american one based in Kevin post, and is about wood in their constrcutions, now pls enlighten us with a solid link about French builders sending rejected or bad wood to American builders...

In your marina, your right, now cut the dock lines and see by yourself other places, Benes used more than the rest of the fleet? you mean charter? yeah i agree....

The Beneteaus made in France will have the same dimensions (hopefully!) as those made in the Carolina's so it could certainly stand to reason that the wood composites with a teak veneer that they use in Bene's would be cut by the high falutin' computerized machine that they are quite proud of in France and then shipped to the US for assembly. I'm not saying they do it, I'm saying it's easily within the realm of possibility. Kind of like the way they built Airbus's.

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by Brob2

The Beneteaus made in France will have the same dimensions (hopefully!) as those made in the Carolina's so it could certainly stand to reason that the wood composites with a teak veneer that they use in Bene's would be cut by the high falutin' computerized machine that they are quite proud of in France and then shipped to the US for assembly. I'm not saying they do it, I'm saying it's easily within the realm of possibility. Kind of like the way they built Airbus's.

Haaaaa, could be, between EU bene and Usa bene, yeah i agree , who know? but anyway if a piece of bulkhead or furniture is defective i dont see a reason to send it to Bene usa, there is quality controls in USA bene factory? i guess same as in france.

[PeglegLeVoy]

Originally Posted by neilpride

Haaaaa, could be, between EU bene and Usa bene, yeah i agree , who know? but anyway if a piece of bulkhead or furniture is defective i dont see a reason to send it to Bene usa, there is quality controls in USA bene factory? i guess same as in france.

Note I didn't say I believed it but Indefinately heard it. Keep in mind that BUSA can't just reject bad parts. BF is the corp owner, not a separate vendor.

We saw silly things like shelves that weren't quite long enough and corners that were offset, etc. of course it could be that the material was good and the assemblybwasn't as good. Who knows but no mattere where your boat comes from, ya gotta check everything.

[stevensuf]

On the brass sea cock issue , yes i agree, this is wnkrs interfering , just silly, but would you drive to work in a tank just in case of a car crash?

[stevensuf]

Regardless of name, the simple facts are, make sure everything that holds the mast up is good, and everything that makes the rudder work is good, oh yes and make sure the keel dont fall off. the engines, well they are all the same. Doing 900 nm with no engine was far easier than doing 300nm with no rudder.

[DDabs]

Not sure if this was said or not, but sidenote:

I always thought it was weird that Beneteau put a clear window from the salon to the head...

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by DDabs

Not sure if this was said or not, but sidenote:

I always thought it was weird that Beneteau put a clear window from the salon to the head...

Very French

Dave

[DDabs]

Haha I suppose so!

[robert sailor]

One of the things that has always been in the back of my mind is this.

If quality is important and the product is "not" built down to a price then why would a builder use brass skin fittings and sea cocks???

My wife and I were home builders for many years and no industry is more monitored by all levels of government than ours however just because something "met the code" didn't mean that it was well built. We had our own standards that meant that for many parts of construction we simply built well beyond code because our experience taught us that there are areas that should not be built cheaply.
Some of the lower cost homes just met the code and they attracted what we referred to as "poundage buyers", Their expectations were much lower and they got what they paid for.

Back to my question: What does it say about a builder when he knows he is putting substandard material into something he is building?

In our industry we have a saying..If this is how you build where I can see it then what do you do where I can't.

[JJ77]

Hmm brass seacocks,HR uses them too.
Recently I came across this site;
Regina Sailing – Cruising in Safety, Comfort and Style

They use a completly rebuilt HR46,the seacock issue is described in detail here,sroll a bit down;

Regina Laska -

This particilar HR46 was built in 1997...I like that sauna though.


Regards and have a nice weekend!

[robert sailor]

Yikes, hard to believe because it doesn't make any sense for someone like HR to allow crap into one of their boats.