Hunter, Catalina, Benneteau Debate

[JPA Cate]

FYI, lead is not soluble in sea water. There may be acids or bases in which it is: I'm not enough of a chemist to know. But we have had 3 boats with lead ballast, two of them with external lead ballast, and there has never been a problem with them. Whereas, we have seen boats with iron or steel ballast that have had severe problems from rust expansion when they got wet. Watching what had to be done to repair one of those, I would NEVER want a ferrous or ferric ballasted boat.

Ann

[Cheechako]

Catalina may be the "best" of those four as a generality. I would put near 0 value on "being able to contact the builder" personally.

In my former Charter Boat Manager life I have had to deal with a Cat 42 hitting a rock at 5 knots. It made it home but had $25000 damage ....in 2004 dollars:
Engine bed loose from hull
Some Galley cabinetry loose from hull
The Catalina "smile" fore and aft of the keel.

OTOH, I hit hard coming to full immediate stop two times in my Passport 47 with nothing but a gouge on the keel bottom.

My feeling about arguing about 'best of 4 cheaply made boats' is best reserved to a particular boat.

[MicHughV]

Where shall I start.

My Beneteau will sail circles around both Hunter and Catalina of equal size.

It sails extremely well under auto-pilot.

To be sure, they are mass produced and prefabricated, but hence you can get them at a good price. Keel draft can vary according to your needs.

The interior is bright and airy and has oodles of space.

The walk-thru' transom is a dream.

Cockpit is massive.

I will grant you that the shallow bilge is a pita, but that is the price you pay for speed.
My only other beef is that the lifelines are too low.

The Bennie is quite low to the water, hence at anchor it stays put and doesn't try to dance the tango.

Appearance-wise, the Bennie wins hands down.

I can go and on, but gave both Hunter and Catalina a looksee, before settling on the Bennie.

For the money, imo, there is none better.

[Rod Headlee]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Where shall I start.

My Beneteau will sail circles around both Hunter and Catalina of equal size.

It sails extremely well under auto-pilot.

To be sure, they are mass produced and prefabricated, but hence you can get them at a good price. Keel draft can vary according to your needs.

The interior is bright and airy and has oodles of space.

The walk-thru' transom is a dream.

Cockpit is massive.

I will grant you that the shallow bilge is a pita, but that is the price you pay for speed.
My only other beef is that the lifelines are too low.

The Bennie is quite low to the water, hence at anchor it stays put and doesn't try to dance the tango.

Appearance-wise, the Bennie wins hands down.

I can go and on, but gave both Hunter and Catalina a looksee, before settling on the Bennie.

For the money, imo, there is none better.

I'm pretty sure you're not including the S&S designed C-38 in that statement .

[Rumrace]

I don’t know how poor ol Corvette got involved. They use ZF transmissions same folks who make the SeaDrive. Unfortunately it’s a GM and GM are scumbags in Canada. Borrowed 650 mil didn’t pay back 450m while handing out bonuses in Detroit. So some brands loose market share cause they have no ethical sense.
For a Hunter owner to smack talk even rage about the industry and sport leader is kinda funny. Sensitive much.
You must be popular at club events.
Avoid conversations chopper gun builds from the past, Beneteau race wins, Years in business , years in chapter 11, resin quality and resale value and you’ll do fine.

I’m kinda surprised a moderator didn’t slip a close pin on the manners.

[MicHughV]

There should really be price point to this debate, ie, you could likely lump Honda, Toyota, Nissan in the same group, but BMW, Porsche and Mercedes belong in another. Ferrari and other exotics in yet another group. Then you get the outliers, Oyster, Halberg Rassy, etc..

Hunter, Catalina and Beneteau do belong in one comparison group, but price should be a factor as well.

Finally, there is no telling what attracts a person to a particular boat, any more than why some people like blondes and others brunettes. Some people buy a boat because they like the color of the cushions, others like a boat because it might have twin helms, etc.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

There should really be price point to this debate, ie, you could likely lump Honda, Toyota, Nissan in the same group, but BMW, Porsche and Mercedes belong in another. Ferrari and other exotics in yet another group. Then you get the outliers, Oyster, Halberg Rassy, etc..

Hunter, Catalina and Beneteau do belong in one comparison group, but price should be a factor as well.

Finally, there is no telling what attracts a person to a particular boat, any more than why some people like blondes and others brunettes. Some people buy a boat because they like the color of the cushions, others like a boat because it might have twin helms, etc.

So boats are the BMWs, and Mercedes in this conversation? Which boat is the Porsche?

[sailtheworld79]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

So boats are the BMWs, and Mercedes in this conversation? Which boat is the Porsche?

Just like cars you can speak objectively as to which is the “Porsche” among sailing yachts. The Porsche would be the Swans, Hylas, Passport, Outbound, HR class of boats. I’d love to include Oyster in that group but a keel came off of one of those in the not to distant past so I can’t.

[Greatest Lakes]

The way Bavaria has been priced, they are around this bracket too. Some of the older ones had some issues, but the newer ones are pretty well thought out.

[Tetepare]

MichughV you can’t use a 432 for fair comparison. The stars aligned with that one. How about the 370? Or worse the 350? Same style, didn’t come close to hitting the same mark.

[MicHughV]

Yes, the 432 is a sweet boat. Mine originally came with a Volvo diesel, but the previous owner replaced it with a Yanmar, otherwise I would have walked away. I don't have in-mast main either, but do have the stack pack.

I have friend that had ( doesn't have it anymore) the 350. I sailed with him out in the ocean one time, but didn't like it.
For one, it had the in-mast furler, which I hate, and hated even more, when we had a lot of problems with the one on that 350 that day.
As for the rest, it seemed like Beneteau was trying to fit too many things inside that boat and it had a cluttered feel to me. I only sailed on it that one day.
At one time, I did consider the 473, the big brother of the 432, but the boat simply did not appeal to me. The 432 is in that sweet spot, not to big, not to small. Most 473's were dragging their transom in the water, due to weight placement, which was not good, considering it is a planing hull per se.

For the same reason, I didn't like the Catalina 470. The interior seemed out of proportion to my eye, but the smaller Catalina's are nice. I've sailed on quite a few of them.

As for Hunter, the B&R rig is not for me, swept back spreaders, in-mast furling, tiny headsail, etc. is not my thing. I think Hunter squeeze an amazing amount of stuff inside their hulls, but their hulls also seem very high out of the water. Any hunter I ever saw, was a wild bronco at anchor. Some friends of mine have one, a 430 and they have learned to live with these things.

All things considered, I thought the Bennie was the best pick for me. It certainly is a pleasure to sail. The Bennie is my 3rd boat, so I had a pretty good idea of what I liked and didn't like.

[MicHughV]

I believe Hanse and Dehler are German boats....I read where Hanse is the second largest sailboat builder in the world. I don't know too much about Hanse or Dehler, but they appear to be in line with Beneteau, but that is my observation only...ie, mass produced.

I have friends that drive Porche's. As far as they are concerned, there is no other automobile that compares. I've always been a big fan of Halberg Rassy, but like Porche's, they require a very healthy and fat checkbook, so I can admire either only from afar..

[sailtheworld79]

So gents, beyond pointing out all of the inherent bad points of any boat built by Group B in the last 25 years I had also hoped this might be somewhat educational. Educational in the sense that if you own a Group B boat (I know there are more than one here) you might come to understand the flaws in the build quality of your own boat and not push the boundaries. The margin for error in said boats is pretty near zero. One misstep, one rough passage, one hard grounding and that could very well be the end for you. And again, this is why I think Cat’s and Hunters are pretty good boats for a working man. They may have skimped in some places, they may not be as pretty, but when it counts you aren’t going to break it.

[sandy stone]

Originally Posted by sailtheworld79

So gents, beyond pointing out all of the inherent bad points of any boat built by Group B in the last 25 years I had also hoped this might be somewhat educational. Educational in the sense that if you own a Group B boat (I know there are more than one here) you might come to understand the flaws in the build quality of your own boat and not push the boundaries. The margin for error in said boats is pretty near zero. One misstep, one rough passage, one hard grounding and that could very well be the end for you.

So the whole point of this thread was to warn us about the dangers of Beneteau boats? You do realize that there are Beneteaus at just about every sailing destination in the world, right? (Hunters and Catalinas too, to be sure) And they didn't just magically appear there. Are they all just incredibly lucky?

Oh, BTW, the keels aren't attached with lag bolts, they're hex-head machine screws inserted into threaded holes in the keel. Just in case there was any confusion.

[AKA-None]

Well I like my little c&c :-)