Being in the market for a new (previously owned)
boat, and with
Beneteau,
Jeanneau and a few other models filling the checklist, I've looked over many
Beneteau in the 40'-50' range.
The newer boats (> ~1992) are not made to the same standards as the older boats. The most obvious is the
interior.
The floor
panels of the ~1988 Beneteau 430 are laminate
wood, not laminate plastic over particle board. And the B430 are edged while the newer boats are raw. What that means is if the edge of a
lift panel on a newer
boat gets wet it will suck
water like a straw and delaminate.
The 2003ish Beneteau
interior wood looks worse than IKEA. Some of it isn't even wood. I've seen a lot of damage that wouldn't have happened if the item were at least laminated wood, and certainly not if solid wood.
Hunter makes better interiors.
I'm not impressed with how beefy mechanical fastenings and supporting structures are. They appear to be done as inexpensively as possible.
Rudder areas seem to be a big complaint.
I can't argue structural comparison of the ~1998 vs ~2005 though I prefer the thick solid
hull of the older models. I don't have much experience at all aboard anything after 2012, so I'll have to leave that to those with such experience.
One thing I will give the newer boats is the
gelcoat is far superior. A friend has a 2003 43'
Hunter and the
gelcoat looks like it came off the factory floor. I've observed the same with the newer Beneteaus- the gel hasn't gone to powder even when neglected.
The question is: will it last? I think a 1988 B430 will last a lot longer than the equivalent 2010 model.