Beneteau First 405

[Johansail]

With wife and two children (7 and 5 years), I’m looking forward to introduce my family to the wonderful world of sailing. I’ve been extensively racing dinghies internationally. I only sailed with my wife a little bit for fun, and she really enjoyed being on the trapeze trimming the spinnaker on a 505 though. Great promise.

I’m looking to buy a boat that is big enough to cruise us in comfort, but still be responsive enough to satisfy my demand for performance sailing. I don’t think I will race it, as it will probably be too expensive to be competitive let alone all the work to get a crew. I will still race dinghy’s for that. In addition I will have the opportunity to take 10 weeks off this summer, and I plan to take the opportunity to do a cruise down from California where I live to Mexico and back. Don’t know how far we can get, time allowing.

I’m trying to keep the purchase price not above $100K. I’m OK with working on my boat, but like to minimize it due to time. I even built a 14 foot dinghy when I was 15 years, and its still racing 25 years later in Sweden, so I’m literate in (small) boat building.

I don’t know much about different keelboats, but I found a 15 years old Beneteau First 405 that perhaps could be the boat I’m looking for. It looks like a real nice performance sailboat in good shape, still comfortable and roomy for family cruising.

I would appreciate if I can get opinions on the Beneteau First 405 on how it might fit what I’m looking for. Also if you can comment on the build quality and the like. I’ve been reading good thing about the “First” type boats from Beneteau on this forum. Being a Swede (living in California), we had a perception that French boats has crappy quality, but a Scandivian built boat is clearly more expensive for the same age and size. There is never a free lunch, and perhaps this French boat is good compromise. I also be very interested in any other boat I should be looking at.

Looking forward for your advice and comments.

Cheers, Johan

[Johansail]

No one has any experience or opinions on the Beneteau First 405.
What other around 40 feet cruiser/racers around 15 years old (to fit my budget) should I be looking at.

Thanks, Johan