Advice on Used Beneteau 47.3 Purchase

[vamuscat]

Hi,

I am considering purchasing a used (2002 / 2003) Beneteau 47.3 in the Mediterranean, and i am in the process of looking at all the different ads.
Maybe someone who has had this experience can guide me through the various pitfall of the buying process and also give me some advice on this Beneteau model.

first of all - is going through the web's famous used boat portals the right way to find the boat i want? are there any better ways or publications i should be looking at?

Buying a used boat - obviously before purchasing i would have a surveyor look at the boat, on the hard. Are there any known flaws on the 47.3 which i should look out for?

Blue Hulls - I would prefer a blue hull, but i understand that they fade, require therefore much more maintenance, and attract significantly more heat than white hulls. Is this the case?

Any advice on the Beneteau 47.3 as a Mediterranean cruiser?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated....

[Coolruns]

Vamuscat-

We really like the Beneteau 473 as a live aboard cruiser. Our family wants to purchase one when we finally sell our real estate.

I like the 3 cabin owners version, as we have a family of four and want separate bunks.

It is a moderately fast boat for a cruiser.

I cannot help you much with purchasing overseas, we have been focused on boats that are stateside.

Best of Luck.

-DJ

[nigel1]

I purchased a 473 about 14 months ago, in the UK and for UK/North West Europe sailing. Not an ex charter boat, two previous owners, (one for a short period). Has made 4 x Atlantic crossings.
Mine is Blue hulled, good for the UK, dont know about the Med, but I believe it would be hotter. The first owner had her in the Med for a couple of years so it must have been livable.
It may also have teak decks, all the blue hulled boats I looked at did, so thats a bit more maintenance, but its juist cleaning, in the Med it may stay cleaner than in a wet cold climate.
OK, it needs a bit more maintenance, but it takes me a day to polish the hull, and thats standing on the dock with boat afloat, so not too much of a hardship, and twice a year should be enough
Dont know of any inherent problems, my boat is a 2001 year build. The surveyor told me that the two main problems could be osmossis on the rudder (none found) and water ingress at the point where the mast passes through the deck, again, none found.
A boat around 10 years old, you may be looking at getting the standing rigging replaced.
Anyway, best of luck. I like my Bene 473

[goboatingnow]

Theres comparitively few blue hull Benes in the Med, They all tend to fade quite badly over time and can fade differentially depending on where the sun hits most. Id reccomend a white hull ( I owned a blue bene).

Dave

[Houssie]

we've had ours since March, and we love her.
Ours is a Blue Hull with teak decking.

Our intention is to fit her out and bugger off to the Med in 2-3 years.

Once we have all the toys fitted and save up a nice little nest egg.

I don't know whether you've bought yours yet, but i would be interested to find out if you did?

Steve