Beneteau 36cc on Open Waters

[Connemara]

Piece in the current Sailing talks about the affiordable50s now being built, by among others, Beneteau. They quote an executive of one company, perhaps Beneteau, as saying people are buying them as condos.

And that's fine.

But the ones I saw at the boat show last winter are nothing I would take out in more than about 10 knots of wind.

No hand-holds in the companionway, nothing to grab on to in the cockpit, no hand-holds in the saloon. Be bloody dangerous INMHO to go below in any any kind
of a seaway.

YMMV, of course.

Connemara

But it IS an awfully old thread.

[kordula]

Hi

Me and my family sailed along equator in a 36cc for nearly 4 years.

The yacht is very good for crusing, but not for a regatta.

We encountered a storm in the Pasific. we towed a small drough fixed to the cleats at the stern, a 22mm Y shaped rope.
No problems with such a setup for such a wide sterned yacht. Zero rolling during that storm, but it was as riding a rollercoaster.....

When the circumnavigation ended did we sell the yacht as we did not need it anymore.

13 years later were we ready for new voyages, and we wanted a 36cc,
for it is safe to cruise with.

Then our old yacht appeared on the marked, and we bougth it back.

New rudder bearings, keelbolts and through hull fittings. Plus new acrylic and gaskets, and new windlass, and its ready to go.
The head on the keelbolts was rusty, but further down they were as new by the way.
The through hull fittings was very bad and need urgent replacement.

The 36cc is a centre cockpit. It dont give you good view forward when the genoa is out.
Worse even when we sailed with 2 genoas on the headstay.
But that was like sailing with a furling spinnaker. Perfect.

I hope we will avoid storms in the future. but i am not conserned abouth the strenght the yacht, in spite that ours is 19 years.

They are very cheap and you can replace the engine without damaging the cockpit.
We have a 27hp yanmar. big enough and requires only a faint smell of disel to push you forward.

We replace the furling main with another furling main, but laminated and with vertical battens in the top. We also add a sidepower 60kg thruster in the bow, and a radar, for peace of mind.

dont bother all the "besserwisser" who say no!

I had budget for a more expensive yacht, but this little jewel is strong, and amazing

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Cardo

(...) does the boat really matter? (...)

It does.

If you want a liveaboard boat, get one that is best at it.

If you want an open water boat, get one that is best at it.

Narrowboats are pretty nice liveaboards, I think.

Cheers,
b.