Beneteau Family Tree

[EllanVannin]

Originally Posted by Capt.Don

What I'm finding is that my family would prefer a newer and more cruising oriented boat, with aft cabin, larger tankage, more storage..... I'm trying to balance my wants with the more practical reality! This is now moving our search into the mid/late 90's and early 00's, and expands our choices. Don

Hi Don

Just to add my two cents worth. For the above reasons we were converted to Beneteau, albeit reluctantly at the time! We have the Oceanus 40cc 1998 and the above mentioned features are great. Huge aft cabin for a boat of this length with the trade off that the saloon is on the small side tho. Enormous amount of storage which is great. (In fact i have 80 seperate locker spaces on my stowage plan!) Tankage......well we are happy with the 600l water and 200l fuel but it is no where near the 1000l a previous poster listed. So I guess depends what YOU require. Will do us for a South Pacific cruise.

We have struggled with the in mast furling system, but are getting used to it.
All to do with having your boom perfectly parallel before stowing away, sorted this by finding the right position when standing on the dock, noting it against something that doesnt change, in our case the fixed bimini frame and bingo now the in mast furler no longer jams.

She sails extremely well to windward. Seems to be incredibly well thought out designwise, we still find things that surprise us with their ingenuity, two years on. The interior in this particular series of Bene is in no way Ikea or plasticky, in fact it was the first production boat I had seen that gave an instant feel of solidity and sturdiness.

For us the bene has given us less to do before going offshore and way more bang for our buck.

Good luck with your search :-)

Regards Clare

[goboatingnow]

The CC range seemed to be particulary strongly built. I've looked at a few 44 cc they have keel stepped masts too.
Dave

[EllanVannin]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The CC range seemed to be particulary strongly built. I've looked at a few 44 cc they have keel stepped masts too.
Dave

Looked up the previous models that a previous poster listed (thanks for that link) and the blurb does bear this out. The CC range was designed specifically for blue water. This is what we were told by the broker who basically cudgelled us into looking at this boat. It honestly blew us away compared to the Bene's we had preciously chartered. Changed 20 years of thinking!

[SaltyMonkey]

Pricy little bugger

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=77288&url=

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=64851&url=

Anyone know anything about the Idyll?

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=1852&url=

Personally, I do like the evasion series

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=6944&url=

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=1021&url=

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Personally, I do like the evasion series

Here's one in Panama... did'nt look at your examples.... Opps
Beneteau Evasion 37 Boats for sale Panama, Beneteau Used boat sales, Beneteau Sailing Yachts For Sale 37' Beneteau Evasion - Apollo Duck

[SaltyMonkey]

beauty there boatman! Yessir do like the looks of thi$.

[Capt.Don]

To wrap up this thread, I appreciate all of the input from everyone and the various twists and turns this has taken in discussing the various Beneteaus, including the mid 80's Firsts and the more modern Oceanis cruising boats. I very seriously was considering a Beneteau. The problem was (and still is), which one? I looked at several, old and new, First and Beneteau/Oceanis. In my search, I realized that while I wanted the mid 80's 38' or 40' First, my wife wanted more cruising and comfort accomodations. That lead to looking at a lot of boats, including the newer Beneteau, C&C, Ericson, and even Catalina. At this point, I can probably tell you about most 34'-38' boat made in the last 20 years!

It just so happens that we found a boat that meets our expectations and seems to us to be perfect boat. In fact, this is the first boat that my wife and I felt would work. So, without much debate, we made an offer on a Tartan 3500. From what I've learned, this boat is a great all-around boat that sails very well in all conditions. The Tartan 3500 is on mahina's list of offshore boats, often quoted on this forum. Tankage is a little on the small size, but there's plenty of free space under the stbd settee and aft lazarettes for additional tanks. Quality and construction seem solid and first rate. At 35', the boat feels like the right size for the two of us and shouldn't break the bank for slip fees and maintenance. I believe she'll allow us to venture further offshore..... After that, we'll see the wind takes us. Thanks again for all your help - this has been a very informative process.
Don

[SaltyMonkey]

Capt Don. Nice choice. Congrats!

[EllanVannin]

Well chosen, good luck and have fun!

[danielgoldberg]

I know I'm a couple of weeks late to this discussion, and the OP appears to have selected his boat, but I can't resist noting that if a B331 and a First 40.5 both are on your list of contemplated boats, you haven't yet decided what you want to do with the boat, and you have some more fundamental thinking to do before you start picking boats. Same goes for a B523 and First 35, two other boats that appeared on the same list of contemplated boats from earlier posts.

I have some views on this stuff, but I'll spare you all, save for my comment above.

[WKW]

Wow, people really got defensive with this one. Looking around for a 32 footer, my choices are the Catalina 320 and the Beneteau 321. I really love the interior of the Beneteau 321 and the awsome bulb shoal keel compared to the "plow anchor" wing on the Catalina 320. I also love the 27 hp Yanmar on the lighter Beneteau...it must be great motoring in 3 knot currents/tides. With that said, I found all deck hardwear on the Beneteau to be inferior by far! The stanchions are a wiggling joke, the pulpit and stern rails feel cheap and you can feel some flex while pulling on them. The deck and cockpit fiberglass layup is inferior too, you can see lots of crazing on the deck and feel flex underfoot in the cockpit floor by the helm. I still love the above mentioned about the Beneteau and may consider it as I will be coastal cruising the Hudson River and Long Island sound...I may look at the new and improved, bigger and heavier Beneteau 321, that's the Beneteau 331. I'm hopeing the deck hardware, glass layup and overall build is more robust...unfortunately that's getting into 33-34 footers and a lot of them come with the " Westerbeast" Diesel, looking like it's taking a dump inside the engine compartment.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Amen...

For some while we remained in contact with the former owner of our boat who traded up to a Bene 473 when we bought his boat in 2001. When asked how he liked the 473 his response was that it had much more room and his wife loved it. "But how do you like it?" was the question. "Well, it sure isn't a First 42...but it has more room." he responded.

In fact, during the course of negotiating for our boat we also looked at the First 456 and the First 435. After inspecting them closely, however, my much better half liked the 42 much better. And, most importantly, she feels very safe on the boat and has no qualms about standing a watch on deck alone, even in crappy weather (I rest in the port quarter cabin with the port open so I can hear her if she calls out and a string with a loop around my wrist that she can haul on in the event I'm sleeping soundly and don't respond to her call quickly enough). The only issue with the 42 (sorry Randy) is that the machine spaces are tight so repair work can be a real trial if not a flat PITA. More modern boats have more "room" but at sea that can prove a disadvantage. (Friends of ours with a Hylas 53 that we also looked at closely tell us they rig a grab-line between the base of their mast and the ladder at their companionway in crappy weather as the boat is very wide and hand-holds are insufficient otherwise.).

N'any case. I think it's a shame that Randy has chosen to give up R3 but there is a season for everything and so long as R3 passes into good hands she will be preserved and, in any case, a little bit of Randy and his family will remain with her 'till her last day. One never really owns a boat--'tho' for awhile it may own you. We are all just custodians for awhile, some better than others.

FWIW...

WHATABOUTA a Bennie 1991 First 41s5??????????

[Knotical]

I hope you saw the date of this thread and the OP’s final post about buying a Tartan 3500

[Prinz Eugen]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

That's an amazing speed -- 200 miles a day for days at a time with only 15 knots of wind.

But anyway, I just wanted to say that this is a good example of how crucial performance is even to cruisers.

Even more than the example Randy gave, is when you need to make progress up wind. Our last Channel crossing was dead upwind over nearly 100 miles. Every degree closer to the wind you can sail, every tenth of a knot faster you can sail, makes a noticeable difference, in a situation like that, and can even influence your actual safety.

And performance, by the way, is all about performance upwind. Any boat can sail on a run -- the sails don't need to do anything but provide drag and the keel doesn't do anything at all.

I don't race, I cruise. But the number one criteria for me in a cruising boat is good sailing performance, that is, speed, and weatherliness. Yes, we are cruising. But we are sailing, for goodness sakes.

So what's your opinion about a shoal (shallow) draft Bene 41.1 - surely compromised for up-wind cruising ?

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by Capt.Don

Mark,
First of all, welcome back and thank you for your comments. What I find particularly helpful is the actual boat and sailing accomplishments of the folks that are commenting on this discussion. I've looked at a lot of boats in the 38'-40' range and I keep coming back to Beneteau as a capable manufacturer and having boat model/years that meets my sense of design, quality and overall sailing requirements. My original delimena is how to sort through the different models and years to find the perfect boat.

I started my evaluation with mid 80's primarily based on budget considerations. For $50-70K, 38'-40' mid 80's Firsts can be found (not many, though). I may have casually dismissed the Beneteau or Oceanis models based on my racing background and not being able to make sense the numerous models. What I'm finding is that my family would prefer a newer and more cruising oriented boat, with aft cabin, larger tankage, more storage..... I'm trying to balance my wants with the more practical reality! This is now moving our search into the mid/late 90's and early 00's, and expands our choices. For overall design, quality and family comfort, this might be where we find the right boat. Mid/late 00's are out of our budget.

Short of looking at every model/year Beneteau manufactured, are there any known bad Beneteau's (model/year) out there that I can cross off the list? Otherwise, I'm off to look at every Beneteau I can find in the 38'-40' range!

I appreciate everyone's comments,
Don

my 10 th sailboat in 50 years is a 1990 Beneteau 41S5. It sails upwind very good with its wing keel and 5-6 draft. Great water tankage but only 35 gal fuel tankage. Beautiful comfy interior too. 2 years part time work has put it in top condition.