Beneteau oceanis 55

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by four winds

It was not my intention to encourage restraint on your picture postings. Very much enjoy the pictures.

I know you prefer to embed the pic link in the text so it shows in context of what you write. Doing this it must load the full image.

If the pics are posted as attachments then only a thumbnail loads, and is faster on less bandwidth. But of course shows up at the bottom of the post, out of context. Doesn't work well for many images being referenced throughout a text.

Your methods work well for your needs, and is fine by me.

It absolutely kills my bandwidth and cost to surf Cruisersforum. Depending on the connection in the anchorage, it's the difference between being able to see the page or not.

I appreciate the lower resolution photos.

Matt

[grossifs]

Never seen a grand soleil or a solaris?

[Raven Odyssey]

Originally Posted by grossifs

Never seen a grand soleil or a solaris?

As performance yachts, they are beautiful. As a liveaboard cruiser, I think they would probably leave a bit to be desired.

[four winds]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

It absolutely kills my bandwidth and cost to surf Cruisersforum. Depending on the connection in the anchorage, it's the difference between being able to see the page or not.

I appreciate the lower resolution photos.

Matt

Understood. Sometimes, on wifi depending on how my boat is lying to anchor or after cell data is throttled, I can't load a thread with Polux's input. Sometimes I wait, sometimes I try again later or the next day. Costs are fixed for me.

[Russo]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Polux- People ask in every thread for you to resize your images. It takes way too long to open a page because of the huge amount of data necessary to view the photos.

Matt

Hi I don't know a lot about sailboats yet but I do know that image resizing should be the function of the forms code. You might want to check with your webmaster on that.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Raven Odyssey

As performance yachts, they are beautiful. As a liveaboard cruiser, I think they would probably leave a bit to be desired.

Have good sailing friends currently in Pacific that sail a later 80's or early 90's GS and it's made a great liveaboard boat, they have really put the miles on it and they love it. Given them rudder problems and they have rebuilt the rudder/structure a couple of times, otherwise a solid boat and good performer.

[Raven Odyssey]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Have good sailing friends currently in Pacific that sail a later 80's or early 90's GS and it's made a great liveaboard boat, they have really put the miles on it and they love it. Given them rudder problems and they have rebuilt the rudder/structure a couple of times, otherwise a solid boat and good performer.

Yeah, the older Grand Soleils look a lot more livable/cruise-able than the new ones.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Raven Odyssey

Yeah, the older Grand Soleils look a lot more livable/cruise-able than the new ones.

Yes, even if the new ones are as well built, faster, with more interior space and easier to sail solo, the old ones are always better to cruise and live aboard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8BQRQuD-VA

[AJPT]

I got to say that grand soleils 46 looks lovely, great review too.

Obviously it won't be as good as a boat from the 80's with a dark cramped interior that smells of damp old men who smoke pipes and spin yarns of when they sailed by the stars and had a different flat cap for each day of the week, how could it be!

I did notice sharp corners in that GS, I hope they address that otherwise someone might loose a leg.

So..... 18 pages on of arguing and belittling one another I'm still non the wiser if anyone has sailed a 55 or similar sized vessel with a 6ft keel. Any takers? Or shall we just continue the rampage of slating everything that isn't a Amel or blue water with 100 hand holds.

Entertaining though it is gents.

I'm impressed by the conflicting knowledge, just can't decide who to believe.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Polux

Yes, even if the new ones are as well built, faster, with more interior space and easier to sail solo, the old ones are always better to cruise and live aboard

To be fair, the GS 46lc is the very first cruising sailboat this company has produced, all the others have been racers and racer/cruisers which are usually not the greatest cruising boats out there but that aside...this GS 46 LC looks like a decent cruising boat, all in all. It's got a real bilge and fuel and water is centrally located in the bilge which puts the weight where it should be and allows tons of additional storage under seating areas. Water capacity is about right and fuel is ok considering this boat can still sail in the lighter stuff even if it needs that big code O. Layout below is decent and no cheap sharp corners as are the norm now in the high production boats. Good protected galley and decent storage. Good dodger and Bimini setup which is very important. You can always pick fly **** out of the pepper but it's a pretty nice boat for its purpose and I like it. Sure way ahead of the typical product the high production companies are building but of course you have to pay for it but it's pretty good value. They might sell a few of these. R

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by AJPT

I got to say that grand soleils 46 looks lovely, great review too.

Obviously it won't be as good as a boat from the 80's with a dark cramped interior that smells of damp old men who smoke pipes and spin yarns of when they sailed by the stars and had a different flat cap for each day of the week, how could it be!

I did notice sharp corners in that GS, I hope they address that otherwise someone might loose a leg.

So..... 18 pages on of arguing and belittling one another I'm still non the wiser if anyone has sailed a 55 or similar sized vessel with a 6ft keel. Any takers? Or shall we just continue the rampage of slating everything that isn't a Amel or blue water with 100 hand holds.

Entertaining though it is gents.

I'm impressed by the conflicting knowledge, just can't decide who to believe.

Your wordsmithing has a nice humor to it. I did not see sharp corners in the joinery work but I may have missed one or two.

Getting back to 6 foot draft on a 55 foot boat, it's just a choice. Check out the STIX numbers on this boat and you should get information regarding self righting, if all is well on that end then it's just a case of understanding that you give up lots of performance to windward as the leeway will be substantial with such shallow draft. That said certain sailing areas are much nicer places when your not worried about hitting..My gut would be that the boat may not be quite as stiff as the deep keels but it does have a very wide beam which adds substantially to the resistance to heeling so it will likely be a good reaching boat and good downwind and not great going to windward. It would probably be exaggerated in light airs as you will have more leeway when your boat speed is lower. Also consider resale, if your selling the boat eventually on the East coast it might be an asset but anywhere else it may be a negative. Enjoy your search.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

To be fair, the GS 46lc is the very first cruising sailboat this company has produced, all the others have been racers and racer/cruisers which are usually not the greatest cruising boats out there but that aside..

You are contradicting yourself

You are right regarding all the others having been or performance cruisers (or cruiser racers has some prefer to call them) and also a very small number of IRC racers. Your friends boat too, since the only made performance cruisers, till the LC 46

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Have good sailing friends currently in Pacific that sail a later 80's or early 90's GS and it's made a great liveaboard boat, they have really put the miles on it and they love it. Given them rudder problems and they have rebuilt the rudder/structure a couple of times, otherwise a solid boat and good performer.

The (GS 46)LC bigger difference for the other line of performance cruisers, is that the 46 LC is more beamy (4.41m to 4.25m), with a bigger interior and more adapted to be solo sailed, having less sail shape controls (no traveler) a more simplified rigging and less sail area. The LC has also a bigger tankage even if the one from the 47 is a good one.

The weight of the two boats is not very different being the 47 slightly lighter (11.1T to 12T), both have a similar B/D ratio, a good one with several possible drafts. The Hull design of the 46 is slightly more modern due to the 47 being an older design with already several years. Both have a very good cruising interior even if the one of the 46LC is bigger due to a bigger beam.
The 46LC


The 47


Personally I would take the 47 has a cruising boat without hesitation. I love upwind sailing and to be entertained with sail tuning to get the most from the boat and that is in what regards these two points (as well as more sail area) that the 47 is different from the 46LC, that has as main advantage a bigger interior.

LC line is pointed to the ones that buy main market production boats and that like to have the biggest possible interior space while sailing with the minimum of fuss, preferably in autopilot, while still having a good sail performance and a very good quality interior.

The performance cruiser is for the ones that like as much to cruise as to sail.

As you can see the GS47 interior has a good cruising interior:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnLu...Y&spfreload=10

[Polux]

Originally Posted by AJPT

...

So..... 18 pages on of arguing and belittling one another I'm still non the wiser if anyone has sailed a 55 or similar sized vessel with a 6ft keel. Any takers? ..

You could have said that it was that what you wanted to know

No need to sail the boat to tell you about that: The stability will be about the same since they normally increase the weight of the ballast to compensate the lesser draft. The boat will be heavier and it will sail not as well upwind, that for about 5º to 10º or so, depending on the boat.

Many just prefere to motor upwind anyway. You will have a boat slightly less performant and unless you like to sail fast or like, or need particularly to sail upwind it will not make a big difference. You can be sure that the boat will sail well otherwise they would not offer that option, even if that draft is about the limit in what regards what is offered in 55ft sailboats.

The boat

[robert sailor]

Polux I simply said that racer cruisers did not always make a great cruiser. I said it made a great liveaboard for them but it's not a boat I would have chosen as a cruiser. It is really compromised on fuel as well as a lousy dodger/bimini and limited storage but they love it and that's all that counts. I understand the love of sailing, especially to windward as I raced for 20 years but I have to tell you when crossing oceans I really dislike windward sailing, I do it but there is zero enjoyment in it for me and I can't wait for a wind shift. The new GS cruiser is pretty good though, no sail drive which is a plus and quite a workable layout below for 46 ft. It is beamy as hell but I'm sure it's easy on the helm. Whoever designed it has a pretty good sense of the typical offshore cruiser. I really like the batteries down low as well as fuel and water as it gives you lots of storage choices compared to some boats. One of the better cruisers you have displayed. Nothing wrong with the 47, it's a sailors boat but full of compromises for serious cruisers.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Polux I simply said that racer cruisers did not always make a great cruiser. I said it made a great liveaboard for them but it's not a boat I would have chosen as a cruiser. It is really compromised on fuel as well as a lousy dodger/bimini and limited storage but they love it and that's all that counts. I understand the love of sailing, especially to windward as I raced for 20 years but I have to tell you when crossing oceans I really dislike windward sailing, I do it but there is zero enjoyment in it for me and I can't wait for a wind shift. The new GS cruiser is pretty good though, no sail drive which is a plus and quite a workable layout below for 46 ft. It is beamy as hell but I'm sure it's easy on the helm. Whoever designed it has a pretty good sense of the typical offshore cruiser. I really like the batteries down low as well as fuel and water as it gives you lots of storage choices compared to some boats. One of the better cruisers you have displayed. Nothing wrong with the 47, it's a sailors boat but full of compromises for serious cruisers.

Hi Robert, I think the problem lies in the definition of " great cruiser", its very subjective to ones desires. But as you said " its full of compromises" , that pretty well sums up cruising boats in general, dealing with the compromises.

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