Hi Fred,
I also have a Beneteau
Oceanis 54 although mine's in the
Med. I spend summers on her (3-4 months at a stretch cruising with up to 5 friends) and have found it to be a fantastic boat. I don't have many complaints but there is a bit of a lack of
storage space, especially in the
galley. Seems crazy to complain about the lack of space on a 54' boat but to maximise on the
interior space they've pushed the lockers right to the edge and minimised their size somewhat. I was on the boat 2 weeks ago (she's currently in a marina in Northern Cyprus) and removed the dishwasher to reclaim some more
galley space. (By way of explanation, the boat I bought was the actual one at the 2011 Dusseldorf
Boat Show so I got it with whatever was already installed including the dishwasher which I'd never have chosen and never used in 2 seasons sailing).
I chose a dropping
mainsail with lazy bag but regret this a bit after having 6 years of flawless in-mast
furling aboard my previous
Bavaria 49. I decided to go down the "purist route" and get a proper
mainsail but sailing single-handed (as I do 2-3 weeks a summer) it's certainly more of a handful than the
furling mains - not sure what the boat you're looking at's got? Either is ok.
Please feel free to ask any specific questions or we can talk on the
phone if that's easier. I know another 3 people with Beneteau 54's and they all love them and are very happy with their purchases (2 in
Med, 1 in New Zealand).
That all said, I was on the Jenneau 57 at the
boat show this year and really loved it - given the choice I think it'd be hard to turn down a swap!
The other boat that impressed me this year was the new Hanse 55 - nice boat!
Rgds,
Phil