abandoning a beneteau cyclede 50.5

[cottonsail]

Beneteau, AKA Bendytoe.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by cottonsail

Beneteau, AKA Bendytoe.

I always thought it was 'BendyToy'...

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

The coast off Columbia is pretty rough in the winter months, due to a semi-permanent low augmenting the tradewinds. When we pulled into Cartagena there were a number of boats licking their wounds with tales of ripped sails, broken rigging, and knockdowns. Our Beneteau First 456 appeared to be fine, but after I left Panama for the South Pacific I discovered that the Simrad autopilot drive had cracked its plastic gears off Cartagena. Simrad was not helpful, so I had to do surgery on the gears with epoxy and unidirectional glass strands. The repair lasted until I hit Australia, at which point I put in a hydraulic drive.

Unfortunately, I am not surprised that the Beneteau Cyclades had structural issues. I first ran into their Cyclades line in Turkey, when I was in the boatyard responsible for maintaining the Sunsail Charter fleet. They were working on a complete keel structure rebuild of a Cyclades that had hit a rock. They wer doing a proper repair, but it would have been cheaper to buy a new boat. One day the manager showed me the latest notice from Sunsail--the forestay was pulling out of the bow structure in other Cyclades. We checked out the boat in the yard, and discovered that the layup in the bow of the boat was less than 10 mm thick. That particular boat hadn't failed there yet, but it was just a matter of time.

I would agree that Beneteau built the Cyclades line to a price point as a weekend or charter boat. It is criminal for them to represent it as ocean capable, but they do. What you have to remember is that Beneteau has more than one line of boats.

The First line is race oriented and hull and deck hardware are built to take the punishment of going to weather in the open ocean. It is not built to run into rocks, and the steering bulkheads on my boat had been reinforced by the previous owner.

The Oceanis line is built for cruising, and is not as strong as the First. However, if you want to spend a year doing fiberglass work (See Expedition Evans Youtubes), you can end up with a boat which is every bit as good an ocean boat as a Halberg Rassey.

To your last point- I initially watched the Evans video series skeptically but I think you’re right. Many people buy an older yacht (full keeled, etc) and spend much longer on endless refit/rebuilds because all systems, chainplates, etc are worn out.
Evans had a single (major) problem to fix on an otherwise new-ish boat with working systems, engine, etc. And their fix makes their 49 superior to every one that came from the factory

[KWISPEL]

For our Oceanis 40, a free kit from Benneteau is available to solve this issue. We applied for it and they sent it for free.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by jt11791

The northern coast of Columbia is notorious for this. I just sailed that coast in January and we saw the same conditions, big nasty square waves and winds touching 40kts, no storm or anything, just standard weather out there. Something about how the winds come down off the Sierra Mountains. Not a place I'd want to sail without full confidence that my boat can handle it.

This nasty area is well marked on the Atlantic NOAA Sailing directions.

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by KWISPEL

For our Oceanis 40, a free kit from Benneteau is available to solve this issue. We applied for it and they sent it for free.

This is the part you ordered?

If not, please tell us which one, I'm curious, because the only way to fix the problem is with epoxy and fiberglass and a lot of sweat sanding in that tight space.

This part solves another problem but not the rudder bulkhead problem.

[ihe2]

Originally Posted by neilpride

This is the part you ordered?



If not, please tell us which one, I'm curious, because the only way to fix the problem is with epoxy and fiberglass and a lot of sweat sanding in that tight space.



This part solves another problem but not the rudder bulkhead problem.

This is a temporary fix as the part shown is definitively NOT stainless steel and will be converted to rust in 10 years. In finnish lanquage it'd be called "yellow passivated steel", dont know if it is the same in english.

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by ihe2

This is a temporary fix as the part shown is definitively NOT stainless steel and will be converted to rust in 10 years. In finnish lanquage it'd be called "yellow passivated steel", dont know if it is the same in english.

No no, i explain it to you, it has nothing to do if it is common steel or SS, it has to do as you will see in the photo N1, the plate serves to fix the gap that exists between the rudder FG tube and the bulkhead, it is anchored to the bulkhead and has a bushing to fix the gap issue, in the photo N2 is where the problem really lies.