Will Beneteau Last?

[joshstoneman]

Hey guys! I'm reaching out to the sailing community for some advice. I'm looking for a blue water cruising boat and the Beneteau oceanis 40 has caught my eye. I love the layouts inside but I'm not sure how sturdy they are. I've been getting some mixed recommendations about them that they may not be known for holding up. I thought I would see if anyone else here has any experience with them and could help me out. Thanks a lot!

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by joshstoneman

Hey guys! I'm reaching out to the sailing community for some advice. I'm looking for a blue water cruising boat and the Beneteau oceanis 40 has caught my eye. I love the layouts inside but I'm not sure how sturdy they are. I've been getting some mixed recommendations about them that they may not be known for holding up. I thought I would see if anyone else here has any experience with them and could help me out. Thanks a lot!

Josh--

While you will likely receive/hear derogatory comments about Beneteau yachts, they are most often made by folks that are parroting the opinions of other folks, none of whom have owned a Beneteau and simplistically based on the fact that Beneteau is a production rather than be-spoke builder. Most all actual owners of Beneteau boats have been/are very pleased with the performance/endurance of the yachts. (I say most all as I suppose that there may be a small minority of dissatisfied former owners although I haven't met any, although I have met more than one former owner that regrets having traded away from his/her Bene). Needless to say, as a yacht ages, systems will wear down/out and need repair or replacement. Diligent maintenance discipline can minimize that however and, particularly aboard a yacht, an ounce of prevention is worth a/several pound(s) of cure.

FWIW...

[Steven UK]

Look up SV La Vagabond on YouTube, these guys like their beni and have sailed the hell out of it.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by joshstoneman

Hey guys! I'm reaching out to the sailing community for some advice. I'm looking for a blue water cruising boat and the Beneteau oceanis 40 has caught my eye. I love the layouts inside but I'm not sure how sturdy they are. I've been getting some mixed recommendations about them that they may not be known for holding up. I thought I would see if anyone else here has any experience with them and could help me out. Thanks a lot!

Everything is relative. They don't hold up, relative to significantly more expensive boats. And I base that on talking to endless service workers here in Annapolis, where there are a TON of Benes. They love Benes, because the period between required refits is shorter than on more expensive boats. That's particularly true with respect to rigging and deck hardware, not so much plumbing/electrical/mechanical, which is pretty standard.

That said, you get a tremendous amount of value for the money. I heard from someone in a position to know that it costs Beneteau about $35k to build a 35' boat. Their buying power in the industry is enormous, and the result is that they can build a boat at a price point that others can't touch.

Whether it's the right boat for you is a function of what you want to do with it.

I used to race on a First 36.7. Poking around inside in the stern area one day to fix something, I forget what it was, I made a couple of startling discoveries. The rear bulkhead, to which elements of the steering gear were attached, was unsealed 1/2" plywood. That's just plain wrong. Also, the bracket for the autopilot was loose and was missing one of it's bolts. Closer inspection revealed that they had simply left the bolt off as that hole was too close to an obstruction to get a bolt through. WTF. We fixed both those issues pronto.

That said, and even knowing the above, I raced offshore a couple of times on the boat with only a modicum of anxiety. It was basically a well built, well thought out machine, and it was in the end a very fun boat to sail.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by joshstoneman

I've been getting some mixed recommendations about them that they may not be known for holding up.

Holding up what?

On deck mine is holding up my bicycle but the chain is a bit rusty.


It can't hold up my dinghy.
My davits hold up the dinghy and the boat holds up the davits.


Ummm my Beneteau held up a beautiful woman for a long term relationship - a whole weekend.



Mark

[redsky49]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Holding up what?

On deck mine is holding up my bicycle but the chain is a bit rusty.


It can't hold up my dinghy.
My davits hold up the dinghy and the boat holds up the davits.


Ummm my Beneteau held up a beautiful woman for a long term relationship - a whole weekend.



Mark

Commitment issues, Mark???

[robert sailor]

Boats are no different than most other manufacturered items, some offer very high quality at very high prices and others offer high value at lower prices. I'm not sure there is such a thing as high quality at the lowest price. Beneteau seems to have found the measure by building boats that offer reasonable quality at good prices, they are all the boat 95% of their owners really need.

[jigray3]

Beneteau owner for 23 years. First Series boats built before 1990 are a blue water boat I could be comfortable with, plenty of documented blue water miles. While mine might hold up well enough for a modest amount of cruising with some hardware upgrades, the hull wouldn't be comfortable for long term cruising. It's designed for coastal cruising, with few of the design attributes that would recommend it to blue water.

[Freshman]

As the owner of Oceanis 46 I have asked myself this question many times.
Than I have started to check net to find out if are there any B46 sailing not only at MED.
And there are many.
Several has crossed Atlantic with ARC, some other has circumnavigated....
I agree that these boats are not for far north to south voyages.
But for sailing with trade winds, between Tropics are strong enough.

[TheOffice]

All boats have issues. Bene does not use proper seacocks with backing plates. In-mast furlers are a love-hate discussion point. Others boats may sail better. The cheap standard sails are not offshore grade. Its not a Swan, and isn't priced like one. How much true blue water are you really going to do? Like most, I am rarely out of site of land, although I have great plans.

[RickG]

joshstoneman, if you're still looking, our Beneteau 40 has held up well for coastal cruising. When we have done upwind crossings from St. Thomas to St. Martin she did pound a good bit. Given that, she could sail quite close to the wind and had a comfortable motion otherwise.

Cheers, RickG

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Suijin

That said, you get a tremendous amount of value for the money. I heard from someone in a position to know that it costs Beneteau about $35k to build a 35' boat. Their buying power in the industry is enormous, and the result is that they can build a boat at a price point that others can't touch

What a ridiculous statement. $35k to build a 35 ft boat? Even if you got all the materials for free the cost would be more than $35k. A statement like this leads me to wonder at anything you might post

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[sailorboy1]

Get a Hunter instead

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Vasco

What a ridiculous statement. $35k to build a 35 ft boat? Even if you got all the materials for free the cost would be more than $35k. A statement like this leads me to wonder at anything you might post

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Whatever Vasco. That is what I was told by someone in a position to know (the individual broker who sells more new Beneteaus than anyone in the country). Since we were talking about hardware, he might have just been talking about materials but it didn't sound like it. In any event, I trust his knowledge more than yours.

[maine50]

Are all the Bene Keels iron? - How do they finish them so they don't become maint headaches?