beneteau sailboats cost

How Much Does A Beneteau Yacht Cost? (10 Examples)

Beneteau Yachts offers a range of sailing and motorized yachts available through a network of over 400 dealers worldwide.

Table of Contents

Beneteau offers over 40 different models, which is way too many boats to list in one article. So we have put together a pricing guide for the more popular Beneteau models across the brand from 2022.

Beneteau Sailing Yachts

Beneteau offers their ever-popular First and Oceanis lines, the modern, innovative, fun First SE line, and the more luxurious 54 and 60-foot Oceanis Yachts. Sizes range from as small as the First 14 to the Oceanis Yacht 60, so there is a sailing yacht to suit almost everyone.

1. Beneteau First 14 SE

The Beneteau First 14 is a fun, fast, entry-level sailboat that is easy to handle, either solo or double-handed.

With a sail plan area that can vary between 8.5 m² and 21.5 m², the First 14 SE is a highly adaptable boat.

It is suited to all ability levels and can be used for One-design racing.

Technical Specifications:

• Length: 14.11 feet Beam: 5.58 feet Displacement: 163.14 pounds

Suggested list price 2022 (excl. VAT): $12,080

How much is a small yacht?

2. Beneteau First 27

The sporty but comfortable Beneteau First 27 has won the Cruising World 2022 Boat of the Year Award for the best pocket cruiser/daysailer.

As a racer/cruiser, this boat offers all the comforts necessary for weekend and coastal sailing, which includes a serviceable head, a small galley, and up to 6 berths. So a couple could easily live aboard, rather than camp, for weekends or a few days.

Plus, they could easily be joined by friends to take part in racing or a regatta and be serious contenders for a podium finish!

• Hull Length: 7.99 m
• Hull Beam: 2.54 m
• Light displacement: 1700 kg
• Engine Power (Hp): 15 HP

Suggested list price 2022 (excl. VAT): $95,530

3. Beneteau Oceanis 34.1

The Beneteau Oceanis 34.1 has been voted one of the best family small cruisers in the 2022 annual Yachting World magazine awards.

The 34.1 is the updated version of the Oceanis 35.1 and is a much sleeker, lighter, and faster boat than the old version.

Down below, the modern, light accommodation comes with 2 or 3 double cabins plus 1 head, which provides ample accommodation for family or friends.

• Length overall: 10.77 m
• Hull Beam: 3.57 m
• Light displacement: 5 470 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 130 L
• Fresh water capacity: 231 – 361 L
• Engine Power (Hp): 21 – 30CV

Suggested list price 2022 (excluding VAT): $110,500

4. Beneteau Oceanis 40.1

The Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 won the Sail Magazine 2021 award for Best Monohull Cruising Yacht Under 50′.

A new boat is available in various layout options, keel configurations, and rigs.

This means the Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 can be adapted to the most discerning sailor’s cruising requirements without sacrificing the boat’s good looks, comfort, fast performance, and versatility.

• Length overall: 12.87 m
• Hull Length: 11.99 m
• Hull Beam: 4.18 m
• Light displacement: 7 985 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 195 L
• Fresh water capacity: 235 L
• Engine Power (Hp): 45CV

Suggested list price 2022 (excluding VAT): $291,000

5. Benteau Oceanis Yacht 54

One of the newer offerings in the Beneteau stable is the Oceanis Yacht 54.

This design paves the way for Beneteau’s new line of luxury, high-end cruisers, which, in these times, seem to be very much in demand.

While the boat’s design keeps with the Oceanis tradition, it has been developed to offer more semi-custom options for interior layouts, sail plans, deck hardware, and even engine and propulsion options without sacrificing speed, maneuverability, and performance.

How Reliable Are Beneteau Boats? Check out our article here!

• Length overall: 17.12 m
• Hull Length: 15.98 m
• Hull Beam: 5 m
• Light displacement: 16 600 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 400 L
• Fresh water capacity: 720 L
• Engine Power (Hp): 80 CV/110 CV

Suggested list price 2022 (excluding VAT): $698,200

Beneteau Motor Yachts

The Beneteau motor yacht range includes the Flyer, Antares, Gran Turismo, Swift Trawler, and Grand Trawler lines.

These motor yachts range in size from the Flyer 6 up to the Grand Trawler 62. With a choice of more than 20 models, you can be sure of finding your dream boat.

So let’s take a look at some of the price tags on some of the more popular models:

1. Beneteau Flyer 6 Sundeck

This entry-level small power boat is perfect for quick getaway trips on the water for up to 6 people.

This smallest motor boat in the Beneteau collection is modern and sporty and offers as much, if not more, fun than the bigger models!

• Length overall: 5.96 m
• Hull Length: 5.3 m
• Hull Beam: 2.23 m
• Light displacement: 1251 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 100 L
• Fresh water capacity: 50 L
• Engine Power (Hp): 140 CV (different engine options available)

Suggested list price 2022 (excluding VAT): $49,700 (base price without engine)

2. Beneteau Antares 11 Fly

The Antares 11 Fly is the flagship of the Beneteau Antares range, which Beneteau introduced in 1977.

This stylish and contemporary powerboat focuses on space, comfort, and safety for the whole family. With a luxury double cabin in the bow, a stern cabin that sleeps 3, and a saloon that converts to 2 more berths, this powerboat can sleep up to 7 guests.

Plus, it has plenty of outside space for family and friends to enjoy.

• Length overall: 11.16 m
• Hull Length: 9.9 m
• Hull Beam: 3.40 m
• Light displacement: 6148 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 2 x 400 L
• Fresh water capacity: 200 L
• Engine Power (Hp): 2 x 300 CV (different engine options available)

Suggested list price 2022 (excluding VAT): $240,400 (base price without engines)

3. Gran Turismo 41

The Beneteau Gran Turismo 41 has made it to Yachtworld’s ‘Best New Cabin Cruiser Boats for 2022’ list.

This is the latest model in Beneteau’s express cruiser line, and while it is an upgrade to the popular Gran Turismo 40, it has been well received. The boat has been designed around style, speed, comfort, safety, and relaxation.

• Length overall: 12.55 m
• Hull Length: 11.50 m
• Hull Beam: 3.85 m
• Light displacement: 7 959 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 2 x 325 L
• Engine Power (Hp): 2 x 380 CV/HP

Suggested list price 2022 (excluding VAT): $526,300

4. Beneteau Swift Trawler 35

The Beneteau Swift Trawler 35 won the 2018 BOB (Boat & Fun Berlin) award in the “Best for Travel” category.

The boat has had several upgrades to its 34-foot predecessor, including improved stability and enhanced livability. This boat is perfect for a couple to liveaboard, and due to its seaworthiness, you may even be tempted to go on a long cruise.

• Length overall: 11.29 m
• Hull Length: 10.81 m
• Hull Beam: 3.96 m
• Light displacement: 8 252 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 800 L
• Fresh water capacity: 2 x 150 L
• Engine Power (Hp) : 1 x Cummings 425hp (comes as standard)

Standard base price 2022 (excluding VAT): $279,300 ex VAT.

5. Grand Trawler 62

The Beneteau Grand Trawler 62 hits the spot all around for the design of this magnificent motor yacht.

It is a comfortable, spacious, and stable yacht to live aboard or for long-distance cruising. It is designed to comfortably sleep 6 to 8 adults on board. Plus, this motor yacht is designed to turn heads and boasts one of the largest flybridges on the market for its hull length.

The crisp, clean lines and the stunning interior design reflect the superior quality and dedicated workmanship that sets the Beneteau brand apart from the rest.

No wonder it took the 2022 prize for European Power Boat of the Year!

• Length overall: 18.95 m
• Hull Length: 16.47 m
• Hull Beam: 5.41 m
• Light displacement: 28 500 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 2 x 2000 L
• Fresh water capacity: 840 L
• Engine Power (Hp): 2 x 730 CV
• Standard base price 2022 (excluding VAT): $1.43 million

Please note that all prices quoted are for the base models only and that any optional extras or customized options are not included.

Final Thoughts

Over the years, Beneteau has offered many different models, and more than 40 available today.

So if you are in the market for a new Beneteau, you can be sure that you will find the right model for your boating needs. However, if you find the price of new boats a bit daunting, you can always check out the second-hand boat market for a Beneteau boat that fits your needs and your pocket.

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New Boat Review: Beneteau Oceanis 41

Beneteau’s newest cruiser blends innovative design, stylish form, and impressive performance..

Photos courtesy of Beneteau and by Ralph Naranjo

Beneteau has been building sailboats for 120 years, but it’s unlikely that patriarch Benjamin Beneteau ever envisioned his boatyard becoming a vertically integrated company with more than 4,500 employees. Nor could he have imagined that three-dimensional, computer-aided design would drive a five-axis robotic shaper that could turn design ideas into tangible hull shapes sans shipwrights. However, he did see the staying power of sailing and knew it would stand the test of time.

Beneteau’s sheer size affords an opportunity for significant research and development, and designers get to interface directly with the production team throughout the boatbuilding process. There’s also a scale of economy factor that’s best demonstrated by the 300-person crew working at Beneteau’s expansive woodshop in Vendee, France. The facility fabricates and finishes interiors for Beneteaus built all over the world.

Today, the multinational company relies on an in-house design team, plus a stable of top yacht designers who remain on call. The result is that Beneteau has become a trendsetter even in tough economic times, and part of this success lies in its differentiated two-tier (race and cruise) approach to boatbuilding. By offering different boats to racers and cruisers, the world’s largest production boatbuilder more effectively caters to the needs of each market. This has served the company well for decades. For example, the Oceanis line of cruisers was birthed in the 1980s, and the current series offers a whole new array of design attributes.

The Oceanis 41 features a new hull shape and a new cruising perspective—a design that focuses on style, comfort, and ease of operation. It’s clearly an effort to make mid-size cruising boats more user-friendly than ever before, and to achieve that end in distinctly European styling.

Beneteau’s marketing literature for the Oceanis 41 boasts eye-catching, flat-water, point-to-point sailing and a luxury cruising lifestyle. Missing are photos of the guys with wornout sweatshirts and week-old beards slogging into a cold gray sea. Cabin photos brim with countertop knick-knacks and long-stem wine glasses that would scatter like pins in a bowling alley when the first gust hit. However, after sailing the boat ourselves and getting a feel for this brand new, wide-body sloop, Practical Sailor testers walked away far more impressed by the boat than by its marketers’ depiction.

Designer Finot-Conq skillfully distributed the new boat’s volume, placed the rig and foils exactly where they hydro-dynamically belonged, and revised the deck layout. Looking at the waterline footprint, topside flair, and profile of the Oceanis 41 reveals some of the not-so-subtle changes in canoe-body design. For instance, a chine-like edge interrupts the smooth curve of the topsides. Affectionately known as the “kink,” it appears throughout the Oceanis line, and its fore and aft run acts as a water release when the boat is heeled and beating to weather. It’s certainly an aesthetic change to the smooth compound curves and flares seen in the topsides of earlier Beneteaus, and its performance-enhancing potential will be a topic of conversation for some time.

Another notable design change is the sailboat’s wedge-like shape and the distinct trend in carrying near max beam all the way aft to the transom. This feature almost begs for a twin rudder approach to steering. Interestingly, rather than adding a second rudder, Beneteau used a deep, semi-balanced spade rudder. It effectively resists cavitation and the inevitable broach, until you are so overpowered that you deserve the big surprise that comes with a spin out. Even then, the Oceanis is well behaved as it politely rotates into the wind without a neck snapping auto tack.

The Oceanis’ kink and wide beam carried aft are traits that first arose in modern race boats, and it’s a trend that adds form stability, increasing the amount of sail-carrying capacity. It also adds space both below and above deck. The new 41 comes in deep (6 feet, 9 inches) and shallow (5 feet, 1 inch) draft versions, and those planning on longer-range offshore sailing, or those who simply prefer better windward ability in a cruising boat, are much better off with the deep-draft alternative.

Beneteau has a penchant for detailed engineering, and the new Oceanis line has gone through quite a bit of R&D. The company also shows an inclination for retaining what works and evolving good ideas. Like its siblings, the Oceanis 41 shows a lot of this tried and proven lineage, especially in construction scan’tlings, but it also has taken some bold new strides. For example, the recent advent of the pod-type, rotating sail drive links up with the bow thruster to create what Beneteau calls the “Dock and Go” system. This optional, joystick-actuated feature makes maneuvering in tight confines a piece of cake, but it also adds more system complexity and cost to the boat. And although the system makes docking a dream, we’re not sure what future maintenance issues and costs would add up to. A 41-footer with a conventional sail-drive and no bow thruster might save a buyer a few thousand dollars, but it would also put more of the close-quarters handling challenge back in the hands of the crew.

Deck Details

From stem to stern, there’s a lot of innovation, and many of the new trends are found aft of the companionway. The first is a twin-wheel helm, a sensible response to the wide beam carried so far aft. It offers the helmsperson a comfortable windward or leeward perch. The resulting wide centerline alleyway would have been an awkward traverse underway if it weren’t for the convenient cockpit table that doubles as a good handhold, a bracket for a chartplotter multifunction display, and even a convenient fiddled catch-all, complete with drink holders. At anchor, the narrow, well-secured centerline table spreads its gull-wing leaves and turns the cockpit into a great place for dinner or a handy gathering spot for impromptu gams.

Another interesting feature is the transom: A pushbutton transforms the aft deck/helm seat into an open transom with a swim platform. The electric open/close servo causes the hinged transom to rotate from the vertical to a horizontal position, morphing what was a stern enclosure into a swim deck replete with a stainless-steel boarding ladder. The result is a wide spacious aft portion of the cockpit that’s convenient for swimmers, snorkelers, and families who love to play in the water. The transformation is fast, so if a building breeze causes the anchorage to become less bucolic, the stern appendage can be quickly reeled in, turning the transom back into a safe enclosure.

Another feature in the cockpit makeover is the elevated mainsheet traveler that sits on a well-reinforced fiberglass (FRP) arch. With the traveler and sheet out of the way, there’s room for a dodger/bimini and less risk of someone being whacked by the mainsheet tackle during a jibe. The setup does mean that the boom is higher off the deck, and the heeling moment increases a little for the same amount of sail area, but on a cruising boat, these seem to be fair tradeoffs. Sail shaping, trim, and outhaul-inhaul lines, along with reefing lines, are clustered around rope clutches on either side of the companionway.

On deck, there’s a practical form-meets-function theme to many of the styling changes. A lot of attention has been given to providing a very usable set of anchor rollers. The nicely executed custom stainless-steel assembly projects far enough forward to keep anchors from chewing up the gelcoat during deployment and retrieval. The solidly fastened anchor roller projection can also double as the tack point for a light-air, removable furling jib or asymmetric spinnaker. The structure includes a tension/compression strut that spreads loads to a secondary point further down the plumb stem. The roller assembly is another good example of practical and aesthetic utilitarian engineering.

This theme is carried aft with a teak-like PVC toerail that affords a hint of woodwork, hides the hull-to-deck seam, and provides an effective foot stop when the boat heels before a gust. At the stem and stern, as well as amidships, lie breaks in the toerail where well-fastened cleats are mounted. By giving primary billing to cleats that are ready to fair-lead lines in a wide arc, Beneteau shows its roots as a seafaring company. It doesn’t try to hide essential hardware, instead recognizing its importance and blending it into a functional design approach.

Testers also were pleased to see a well thought-out anchor well and a usable—albeit small—windlass. A snubber line can be fair-led from a bow cleat to an all-chain anchor rode and the load transferred from the windlass gypsy. There’s even enough room for a second anchor’s rope rode. Whether it’s a well-placed spring-line cleat or a functional set of anchor rollers, cruisers will come to appreciate their value in tough anchoring conditions or challenging docking situations. The same goes for the value of the rugged forestay chainplate on the Oceanis 41 foredeck. Those heading offshore need more than a roller-furling genoa and a mainsail to cope with the wide range of conditions they will face. An optional removable forestay and hank-on, heavy-weather jib or storm jib are available to add the needed sailplan versatility.

One of the more subtle and most beneficial redesign elements aboard the 41 is the rig. The mast has been moved aft to about 47 percent of the distance from the bow to stern. This adds more J to the fore triangle and allows a barely overlapping jib to be set on a 15/16th headstay. It’s a win-win for the owner and the builder as it enables shrouds to be run to an outboard chainplate, maintaining inboard sheeting for the headsail. This also allows for easy passage when walking the sidedecks. The builder avoids both the extra cost and headache of inboard chainplate reinforcement, and the higher loads resulting from narrow athwartship shroud spacing. The big tradeoff however, is not being able to point as high in light air when using a large overlapping genoa. Beneteau believes this isn’t much of a compromise as most are more likely to use a gennaker.

Accomodations

A built-in, five-step companionway ladder leads to the accommodations below. The wide steps with bolstered sides keep feet from sliding off when the boat is heeled. The entire ladder assembly can be pivoted toward the overhead, affording access to the forward part of the engine.

The Oceanis 41 offers a high-volume interior that’s available in three different layouts. We test-sailed the two cabin, one head version, but there is also a three cabin, one head format and a three cabin, two head option. The more cabins and heads, the less space for cockpit or pantry storage. The two cabin, one head layout had a roomy feel, but it did not have functional port and starboard sea berths. A sliding nav station/end table occupies the port portion of the main saloon and allows the settee and nav table to be reconfigured into two seats with a small table in between. Those making offshore passages will regret not having a usable berth in this part of the boat, and the lack of a traditional chart table/nav station will be a notable con for some sailors.

There’s a functional, L-shaped galley with a two-burner stove, small oven, and a top-loading fridge, but counter space is limited.

The accommodations in all three configurations feature private cabin berthing situated at opposite ends of the boat. Though ideal while moored or when anchored in cooler climates, boat motion and the lack of ventilation underway will make such berthing less appropriate for passagemakers. (There are no full-sized Dorade boxes, only a hatch mushroom vent and a small aft-facing scoop.) However, Beneteau certainly knows it market, and the apparent trend seems to be toward fewer hours of sailing, and increased time spent entertaining and weekend cruising—dynamics that have certainly driven the new boat’s interior design.

Construction

Those with a wooden-boat school awareness of joiner work will be a little disappointed by today’s approach to production-boat interiors, and Beneteau is by no means the only builder that features raw-edge plywood locker lids and cutouts along with non cut-to-contour interiors. The fact that it’s not the same level of craftsmanship as seen aboard custom yachts is not a deal breaker. There’s no need to tab in the joinery, because it’s not part of the structural framework of the boat. Many labor hours are saved with this prefab and nicely finished approach to creating interior woodwork.

Beneteau, like many others, has opted to provide value to customers by not building interiors in situ, and investing the labor savings in better-engineered laminates and other crucial aspects of production building. In essence, to keep the price more competitive, the hours spent on detailed joiner work have been cut and the styling approach favors the factory-built interior. In some ways, this is good for Beneteau and the buyer: It allows for a greater percentage of the building budget to be allocated toward laminating materials, rigging, mechanical, and electrical systems—where many feel it really belongs. And it doesn’t mean that the interior finish quality has been abandoned; it simply means that if you are looking for dovetailed drawers, a solid teak-and-holly sole, and other nostalgic tidbits of yachting’s gilded days, you need to look elsewhere and be ready to double or triple your boat-buying budget.

Performance

We tested a deep-draft Oceanis 41 in 17- to 20-knot conditions (with a few higher gusts) and found the boat to be responsive under sail and willing to tolerate the gusts. Intentionally, we drove the boat hard on the wind, assuming that such a wide stern would turn a deep heel into a rudder-releasing roundup. Not only did the boat refuse to round up, but it maintained a comfortable helm despite a 20-plus degree heel. Only when puffs bore down at a sustained 25 knots did the rudder finally lose its grip. The result was a very demure return to an upright trim as the boat came head-to-wind. This was a far cry from the ricochet roundups we’ve experienced on other cruising and racing boats with wide sterns.

The boat we tested was rigged with the optional mainsail furling system. Reefing the batten-less main with the furler was easy, as was reducing headsail area with the roller furler. With less sail area set, boat handling was smooth and decisive; heel lessened to 15 degrees, and the boatspeed still exceeded 7 knots on a close reach. We were riding with the lee side just about level with the kink, and the water seemed to resist wrapping up around the hull. It was also interesting to see that the transom wasn’t immersed and the quarter wave seemed minimal. All of these attributes are indicative of Beneteau’s design success with the new hull form.

Off the wind, we unwound the reefed working sail area and scooted along at about 7.5 knots. A furling gennaker or asymmetric spinnaker could be tacked to the end of the anchor rollers and would have added even more boat speed, but in the 20 knots of true wind, there was no need for the extra drama.

With the sails dropped, the Yanmar 40 horsepower engine had plenty of power to handle the conditions. Returning to the dock and backing into a tight slip would have been a chore without the Dock and Go joystick steering—a benefit of a rotatable saildrive and bow thruster electronically linked to a thumb and forefinger actuator.

We liked the fact that the new Oceanis 41 carries on Beneteau’s tradition of keeping enough FRP structural material in the boat to maintain its reputation for well-built hulls. This boat is no featherweight, and with an 18,000-pound-plus light-trim displacement, it’s a sizable 41-footer. Light air may need to be handled under power, but the crew also has the option to harness a 1,400-square-foot asymmetric spinnaker.

The Oceanis 41 comes standard with a conventional main and a lazy jack sail pack. Those who want peak light-air performance should opt for this setup, but those seeking operational convenience may want mainsail furling—because the arch raises the boom fairly high, the air draft is 64 feet, quite a halyard haul.

Those headed on a lengthy offshore passage will bemoan the lack of functional seaberths, and they may want to think about the six large portlights and the damage control that would be required should one crack or let go.

All in all though, the Oceanis 41 is a modern hull form with a stylish interior that best fits the needs of part-time cruisers looking for a lot of boat that’s a lot of fun under sail.

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How Much is a New Beneteau 36 Sailboat?

• August 22, 2022

Captain Ryan

In recent years, Beneteau has cemented its reputation as a builder of high quality racing and cruising yachts. Today, they bring together some of the world’s finest yacht designers and builders to create the finest mass produced racer/cruisers on the market today. 

One of my long-time favorite boats built by Beneteau is the Beneteau 36 , which has evolved over the years into an incredibly beautiful and functional racing/cruising machine. The most recent iteration, launched in 2022 as the Beneteau First 36, is my favorite Beneteau production design to date. Let’s take a look at this incredible sailing vessel.

Intro to the New Beneteau 36 Sailboat

Beneteau brought together some of the most respected names in the industry to design the First 36 to be the most innovative midsize racer cruiser possible. This team designed this boat to be highly adaptable so that she would be equally at home racing around the buoys as she would be anchored up in a Mediterranean cove. 

The Beneteau First 36 is a true racer/cruiser with a planing hull and a sloop rig with a large sail area. Under the waterline, she has a deep fin keel and twin rudders. The hull is wide compared to previous models, with a lot of surface area above the waterline for maximum stability and interior space. 

Let’s take a look at the specs:

• Hull Length: 36’1”
• Hull Beam : 12’6”
• Light displacement : 10,580 lbs
• Draft standard keel: 7’5”
• Ballast: 3,420 lbs
• Upwind sail area: 860 sq. ft
• Downwind sail area: 1,930 sq. ft

The Beneteau 36 as a Racing Boat

The new Beneteau 36 should excel on any racecourse and is likely to outperform most other cruisers of her size. She was built to be both light and strong, with exceptional planing ability as well as good upwind performance. Sailors used to the older Beneteau 36s, which were built as displacement boats, will be surprised by her turn of speed, especially while surfing off the wind. 

The designer’s innovation really comes to light when you look at this boat’s racing layout. The wide cockpit features dual helms, and she has cockpit benches that can be removed to open up the cockpit for easier access to the winches and lines and quicker sail trim on the race course. This boat was designed with short handed sailing in mind, and her high sail area/displacement ratio should make her a serious contender on any race. When it comes to a boat that is both fast and comfortable, the new Beneteau 36 is hard to beat.

The Beneteau 36 as a Cruising Boat

As you can tell, no detail was left out in the design of the Beneteau 36 as a racing boat. But she is equally as functional as a daysailer or liveaboard cruising home. With the racing gear removed and the cockpit benches in place, this boat is transformed into a comfortable platform for cruising and living aboard. There is space for six adults at the cockpit table, and there is a lightweight swim platform that folds down from the stern for safe and easy access to the water. 

The large hull makes for a roomy cabin and down below, the 36 has more space than many 40 footers. There are three full sized cabins with heads, as well as a large navigation station that can double as a home office. She features a central fridge, along with a large dinette with a folding table and the largest galley in her class. 

Is the Beneteau 36 a Good Choice for Me?

So, how much does a new Beneteau 36 sailboat cost? This boat can be found on the market for between $220,000 and $300,000, making her competitively priced with other new vessels her size. 

Is she a good choice for you? If you are seeking a solid vessel that is both a competitive racer and a comfortable cruising platform, there are few better options being built today. While she might not be my first choice for a high latitude voyage through the Northwest Passage or around Cape Horn, she should have no problem cruising the Med or completing a westabout circumnavigation through the trade winds. If you want a beautiful new vessel that is seriously competitive on the racing circuit, it would be hard to find a more suitable choice than the Beneteau 36.

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Beneteau First 36, Sailing World 2023 Boat of the Year

• By Dave Reed
• December 16, 2022

Sailing World Magazine’s  annual Boat of the Year tests are conducted in Annapolis, Maryland, following the US Sailboat Show. With independent judges exhaustively inspecting the boats on land and putting them through their paces on the water, this year’s fleet of new performance-sailing boats spanned from small dinghies to high-tech bluewater catamarans. Here’s the best of the best from our  2023 Boat of the Year nominees »

The Total Package

• Beneteau First 36 2023 Boat of the Year
• Stated purpose: Shorthanded racing, club racing, coastal cruising
• Crew: Solo to six
• Praise for: Build quality, deck layout, versatility
• Est. price as sailed: $345,000

Like a runaway, the Beneteau First 36 careens across a westerly-whipped Chesapeake Bay. The boat’s big-shouldered spinnaker and mainsail are silhouetted in the early October morning light. It’s making trees on the Eastern Shore as we peg the throttle down to keep chase in a 19-foot RIB. The four crewmembers on board are having a casual conversation—like no big deal—when a cold and meaty gust fills the spinnaker. The leech flickers, and the boat surges forward onto plane. Twin rudders zipper the slick streaming out from the transom as the helmsman, hands at 10 and 2 on the carbon steering wheel, effortlessly weaves the boat across waves tops. The boat is, as the saying goes, on rails.

“Wicked,” is how senior Boat of the Year judge Chuck Allen summarizes his experience when he steps off. “That boat is going to be hard to beat.”

Three days and 10 boats later, nothing comes close to usurping the Beneteau First 36 as the obvious and unanimous Boat of the Year, a boat that has been a long time coming and overdue. It’s a boat that will serve many masters.

Beneteau initiated its First 36 project in 2019 by surveying a broad focus group of First “Point 7” owners and dealers about what they wanted in the marketplace, and the takeaways were: 1) Not another ­displacement boat—it had to plane. 2) They wanted a lounge, not a dining room. 3) They wanted their nav station back, and 4) for that, they were OK with having a smaller head.

Given the boat was to meet all three of its club racing, shorthanded and cruising demands, the brain trust assembled inside and outside of Beneteau focused on No. 1—keeping it light and fast. Naval architect Samuel Manuard, the new hot talent of the IMOCA 60 and Class 40 scenes, did the hull, keel and rig. Pure Structural Engineering took care of the structure, and the weight-obsessed glass slingers at Seascape’s factory in Slovenia ensured the boat came in at not a pound more than 10,580. At that weight, of course it’s going to plane.

The entire boat is ­vacuum-infused with CoreCell (hull) and PVC (bulkheads) from the deck down, inside and out, and everything, except the fridge, is somehow a piece of the structure puzzle.

“We are saving big weight there, as furniture is also part of the structure, and all of it glued together makes the boat extremely stiff and very light,” says Beneteau’s Tit Plevnik. “What is special is how calculated it is. In mass-production building, you can’t rely on precision, but we do. The boat is built to the same standard as a pure ­racing boat.”

“The moment I saw it, I knew it would be good. It’s a great-looking boat at the dock and even better with the sails up.” —Greg Stewart

Built like a race boat, the judges all agree it sure sails like one. “It’s a big 36-footer,” says veteran BOTY judge and naval architect Greg Stewart. “It’s a full-ended boat that has a hint of a scow-type bow with a lot of buoyancy forward. Looking at the numbers, what they achieved with the weight and its placement is impressive—10,000 pounds for a 36-foot waterline length is a very good number. I could tell the minute we put the spinnaker up it was a slippery boat.”

Stewart set the day’s top speed at a tick over 18 knots and says: “I remember feeling the puff hit and load the rig, and the boat just scooted off with really nice steering. It felt like a Laser when you get it in that groove and it just levitates. With the dual rudders, which are pretty long, the boat has more of a power-steering feel upwind, so it lets you do a lot of things. There’s so much control, which is a good thing because you can drive out of situations, but at the same time, it’s easy to oversteer.”

Multiple cockpit mock-ups done at ­different heel angles produced a workspace that the judges could find no flaw with. “It’s all legit, easy and clean in the pit,” Allen says. “With the four of us in the ­cockpit, we had plenty of space to move around and were never into each other.

“I was doing a lot of trimming downwind,” Allen adds. “You can feel the boat take off. It was really stable and easy to handle. The thing is light and fast, and we did push it to try and wipe it out, but it was hard to do.”

All the judges praised the clever location of the primary winches on sloped coamings, which were easier to trim from than a traditional winch-on-the-coaming setup. “They’re at the perfect height,” says judge Dave Powlison, “and with them angled like that, you don’t have to crane your neck to see the sail, and the lead is virtually override-proof.”

Also noteworthy is the generous space between the high carbon wheels and the cockpit walls that allow the helmsman to slide forward without having to step up and around the wheel. The jib trimmer has easy access to the three-dimensional clue adjustment systems, and for the pit, there’s plenty of clutches, redirects and cleats to keep everything sorted and tidy.

The standard spar, and that on the demo boat, is a deck-stepped Z Spars aluminum section with Dyform wire rigging that carries 860 square feet of upwind sail area, which Stewart says is considerable for the displacement of the boat. The mast is well aft, which really stretches out the J dimension and opens the foredeck for a quiver of headsails—for this, you’ll find two tack points on the foredeck. There are four halyards total: one for a masthead gennaker, a 2-to-1 for a code sail, a fractional gennaker, and a 2-to-1 staysail. Allen, a semi-retired sailmaker, put an estimate for a complete race inventory at $60,000, which would put the boat on the racecourse for roughly $400,000. (Base boat is priced at $345,000.)

When the race is done, however, how about that interior?

Step down the wide companionway steps into a space of design simplicity and efficiency, some of which makes you say, “Duh, of course.”

For example, there’s no ­traditional L-shaped galley to port or starboard. There is, however, a tall and slender fridge smack in the middle of the boat (that you connect to the galley with a removable cutting board to complete the L). Walk on either side of it to get forward, past the proper nav station, the fold-down dinette table in the middle with roomy 6-foot berths on both sides, a jetliner-size head with a stowaway sink to starboard, and then a gigantic V-berth that benefits from all that volume in the bow. Back aft, under the cockpit, are large quarter berths as well that easily cruise-convert into storage space for water toys, like kites, wings and foils, all of which takes us back to survey result No. 2. This is where the post-race party begins and ends.

With the usual supply-chain delays, compounded with the build and design team’s obsessive and calculated approach to getting the Beneteau First 36 perfect at Hull No. 1, its debut got off to a later start than hoped. But with early boats landing at eager dealers worldwide, Plevnik says the goal is 32 boats per year for the next two years. The BOTY judges assure us it’ll be worth the wait and give you plenty of time to start planning what you can and will do with it.

• More: 2023 Boat of the Year , Beneteau , Boat of the Year , Print Winter 2023 , Sailboats
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BENETEAU: A LONG STORY THAT BEGAN IN VENDÉE 

The story of BENETEAU began in 1884 in the shipyards of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie in Vendée, inspired by Benjamin Bénéteau.  At the time, BENETEAU had close ties with the fishing industry and, at the start of the 20th century, the brand launched its first sailing trawlers and motor tuna fishing boats. 

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