French and US built Beneteau's

[negrini]

What ? Everyone knows the best red in W is chilean !! Although I must admit, and would knee on corns to punish the contrary, french Champagne is done by gods. Nothing else compares.

Anyway, for me there are only two kind of wine in the world, those I've taken and those I will. And thanks Hello for cooling here.

[Zanshin]

A couple of years ago I arrived at the construction site of my flat just as the backhoe operator came out of what was going to be the basement. He was an older, experienced guy with years of experience but he was visibly shocked. He said "I've seen a lot in my life, I've dug up power lines, sewer lines, water, gas, and even bones. But this beats everything!". I looked into the pit and the tracks of the backhoe were already submerged and a peculiar smell came from the pit... It turns out that my place was being built over an undocumented pipeline leading from the commercial winery next door to the docks (this was on the Rhine river in Rheinland-Pfalz) which transported white wine! We joked that I would actually run a line up to my kitchen and have white-wine on tap. Unfortunately, the wine is mass produced plonk so I never acted on it, but I did mark the exact location where they moved the pipeline to just in case my tastes change over time. We ended up calling the winery to tell them to shutoff the pipeline, they had already lost at least 10cubic meters and hadn't even noticed.

[TejasSailer]

Back to the original question, Nigel Calder in response to a question about electrical systems in the July 2008 Yachting Monthly of a US versus European boat replies "The big worry is buying a European boat in the USA rather than an American boat in Europe. European AC voltages are higher, resulting in smaller cables which are too small to carry the lower voltages and higher amperages found in the USA - they may well overheat. ...."

More directly to the original question, we have a US built Beneteau First and are satisfied with the quality. We sailed the same French-built model for a week in the Med and noticed no quality differences I can recall.

[negrini]

Zan, I would go back to winery and convince them to switch pipe to red. Amazing story.

Tejas, down here everything is 120V 60Hz, like in north America. When you order a boat from Beneteau France, they always ask the region power requeriments, so microwave, shorepower, chargers, ac, etc comes matching final use. Beneteau build electrical plant on that info too. Nigel meant boats built for european market ending up sold in Americas.

I red in this forum, several complaints about european design taking a futuristic path, and loosing the old traditional woodwork. In my oppinion, taste can never be argued, but I loved Nautos design for the new Oceanis line. Of course there are boats in the market that surplus Benes on whatever aspect, rig, performance, finish, design, etc. For me, Benes are the best boat in the world ... that fits in my budget !

[peatsea]

My First 38 (1984) was French Built... It was of conventional construction. That is to say, there was a hull, a deck, a support grid, bonded to the hull, and the interior was tabbed in place... meaning that every interior fixture had a mechanical attachment to the hull... The US boats that I have seen are Hull and Liner boats. That is the hull, deck and interior are each molded and then glued together... Hull and liner boats, though very common, have lots of areas hidden from inspection and therefore not my favorite... Others will say different. that's just my two cents..

[MJBrown]

Our 2nd Beneteau (we're on #4) was a 91 F310 built in France. Other than some of the translation in the manual being a bit odd we didn't see a difference. We now have a US built 2008 43 which we love. I have seen on a different forum pictures and notes regarding poor workmanship on a brand new French built 40. The craftmanship on the woodwork was terrible. I suspect it's the exception and not the rule.

[negrini]

Certainly an exception as all wood pieces are built from same plant in France, and shipped to US. Today, I can say a bit more about the diferences: US comes with spring matress vs FR solid sponge, overall canvas work is much beter in US. Finally, US version comes with a single cockpit side locker, on starboard, regardless it's a 2 or 3 cabin. French models comes with 1 if 2 cabin, and 2 if 3 cabin. I suspect US use a single cockpit mold for anything, and France does a much beter work here.

[MJBrown]

Yes the France factory built all the woodwork until recently. Now the US factory has the machinery to make all the woodwork. My US built 43, hull #001, has a huge cockpit locker on the port side as well as the stbd corner locker. I understand the US 3 cabins lose this although I haven't been on one to verify that. Most 43s in the US are 2 cabin. I only know of one with a 3 cabin. Overall just a great boat that sails like a charm. We constantly get compliments on her lines from both sail and power boaters.

[negrini]

My OC43 hull #64 is a 3 cabin, but cockpit mold is from 2 cabin, so I don't have the shallow locker in both sides (just on port). Yes, the stbd corner locker is the same and huge. Recently installed Kiwi-Prop and I'm very happy with results. The more I use the boat, I like it more and more ....