Beneteau interiors

[Laskadog]

My wife and I are slowly preparing for our cruising, possibly blue water boat. We own a Beneteau First 235 on a small lake and love it, so we were super excited to look at a 2012 Beneteau First 40. Unfortunately, we were very dissapointed by the quality of the interior. So much laminate! Most Bene's we have seen seemed to be built much stronger. Now I assume that these boats are built light for speed and that might be part of the reason, but can anyone tell me when did Beneteau make the move to cheaper materials? Seems to me that these materials might not age well in the heat and humidity.

[Tetepare]

Agreed. I'm not sure the date, probably around 2005, Beneteau switched from real wood (some solid, some laminate, as appropriate) to really cheap fake junk.


Case in point, we looked at a 1988 B430. The flooring sections that pull up were thick and all edged. Then we looked at a 2005- I showed my wife how think the fake laminate is, and it's totally unfinished on the edges, meaning if it gets wet, the water will be drawn in and could delaminate the piece.


I looked at a 423, forgot the exact year, the "wood" made Ikea look high quality.


I've not spent a lot of time on the newest sharp-chine models, so can't speak for them. But the ~2003-2012 models are built cheap.

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Agreed. I'm not sure the date, probably around 2005, Beneteau switched from real wood (some solid, some laminate, as appropriate) to really cheap fake junk.


Case in point, we looked at a 1988 B430. The flooring sections that pull up were thick and all edged. Then we looked at a 2005- I showed my wife how think the fake laminate is, and it's totally unfinished on the edges, meaning if it gets wet, the water will be drawn in and could delaminate the piece.


I looked at a 423, forgot the exact year, the "wood" made Ikea look high quality.


I've not spent a lot of time on the newest sharp-chine models, so can't speak for them. But the ~2003-2012 models are built cheap.

Tetepare, by "B430" do you mean the Oceanis 430?

[barnakiel]

It is not just Bene.

It is how boats are build today, except very few expensive boatyards that build things like Huisman, Hoek and other boats for the upper shelf in the market.

If you do not like modern Benes, go for a different brand. There are major variances of finish from Varianta to Hallberg Rassy and anything in between.

BTW, internally, I did not find the new stuff like Sense exiting. I like the design and the cera, but furniture ...

b.

[barnakiel]

Or else get an older boat with an interior that you like and refit her.

b.

[robert sailor]

It's a tough game having to build down to a price, a race to the bottom so to speak but selling new boats is all about size and price and less on quality so these high volume builders don't have a lot of choice these days. Interior finish is a big chunk of the costs so it's where larger savings can be had. You can't expect to buy a hand crafted stick built sailboat for anything even close to a new Benni. They do still achieve a very high value purchase if not high quality and considering that they are still making sales in high numbers it would suggest that lots of folks consider them good enough.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

Tetepare, by "B430" do you mean the Oceanis 430?

Yes. Don't make me cry.

There are 100,000 boats on Yachtworld.

We have a short list of features (1) step-through transom (2) real bed forward (3) total three state rooms and (4) great natural light below. And something with the "old school" quality, between 40-45 feet. That narrows down to the B O 430 and the Jeanneau 12.5.

There is currently one B430 listed in USA, and it's not a layout I like.

[Laskadog]

Thanks for the input. I assumed that it's common to other builders as well. I had read alot about the cheap finish, but hadn't expected it to be so obvious. Finding the right balance between age and quality will be key. So I'll reduce my searches to pre-2005 production boats or higher end builders.