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New Owner 473

16K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  boatpoker 
#1 ·
Greetings to Forum Members,

I am a new 2001 473 owner and forum member doing my sailing on the Great Lakes. I would appreciate any information regarding this particular yacht whether they be pleasures or peeves. I have researched the forum and found some tips and observations already. My first impression of this forum is that it seems a bit sleepy considering the number of Beneteau's out there. I am trying to decide why.

My yacht was well cared for by the previous owner, however I will spend the winter bringing it to my standards. I will be replacing the batteries with gel cells, repairing a few chips in the cast iron keel, overhualing the heads, and straightening out some of the wiring for starters. There is a small amount of crazing in some of the hatch covers and windows. The boat has a westerbeke 63C for docking power. I will be going through this as well. I have brought the North 3DL cruising sails (in mast furling) to the sailmaker and awaiting word on their condition althought initial inspection revealed no real problems. I have taken the rig down and am in the process of inspecting it with the only obvious problem so far is that some of the plastic anti-chafe guides on the mast are cracking.

As I work on the yacht I will try to post what I have found and what solutions were employed. Thanks in advance for your tips or observations.

Marc
 
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#2 ·
Marc

look from this perspective: boat design forum = 5 viewers; buying a boat = 20 viewers; gear and maintenance = 60 viewers. Finaly Beneteau forum = 2 viewers. That's say something about Benes owners. They are all out there sailing rather fixing complex systems ;) . As per your mention, you're enjoying bringing it to yor specs, not big fixture. What I can say is I have 2 good friends owning 473 (2004 and 2006), and they take all trophies on family races organized here. Even with a single genoa (looks a code zero the damm big) I have a hard time to catch them with my previous Frers 40 !! They are very fast boats. And don't remember these friends at a yard, or docked for repair, other that antifouling paint, and minor cosmetics to their specs, you know ? Enjoy your boat, and remember it is as outdated as you want, the more you care, the more it demand. These are Benies, and that's exactly what I expect from mine ...
 
#22 ·
Hi Marc,
I really liked your words above. I am about to close deal on an oceanis 473 year 2002 sailboat, and would like a few hints from an experienced owner like you. The boat in general is in good condition, but will need new sails (the actual ones can last for 5 more years), electronics needs to be changed (sail station), 100% of sail cables needs to be replaced, and a new propeller. The boat price is about $ 168.000,00. Can you give me an idea of pricing for the items mentioned above, so I can find out if it is a good deal to buy this boat. I really like the Oceanis 473.
 
#3 ·
I lived on and sailed a Beneteau in the Caribbean for 2 years. Good sturdy boat.

You didn't say whether or not you had a dedicated generator. I don't recommend gel cell batteries. They require a dedicated charging management system and are very sensitive to charging schedules. AGM batteries are a very good compromise between conventional lead acid and gel cells and they are much more tolerant with respect to charging and can accept higher charging rates than gel cells.

The electrical power supply cable for the anchor windlass comes up thru the anchor chain locker inside a standpipe. Unless the design has changed, the top half of the standpipe is flexible hose. This hose takes a beating from anchor chain and rode banging around in the locker. It must be double clamped top and bottom and inspected regularly. Also, ensure the locker drain holes are kept free and clear of mud and other debris. If the hose comes loose from the standpipe you stand a good chance of getting water down the standpipe into the forward stateroom when water comes over the bow.

Changing the oil on your Westerbeke is much easier and less messy if you install a flex hose from the sump drain plug fitting forward to an easily accessible point in the engine compartment.

Keep a close eye on your in-mast furling system and take good care of all the components. You cannot reef the main if the system fouls.
 
#4 ·
Thank both of you for your observations and tips. I am starting to feel very good about this purchase and I will go to the storage facility today to check on the mentioned issues. I do not have a generator and I will research the battery issue a little better.

Thanks,

Marc
 
#5 ·
Members,

Replaced a frozen Y-valve and overhualed one of the Jabsco electric heads today. Started inspecting the mast and running rigging. Decided to grease all fittings and replace all lamps withs LED's. Mast seems to have very large fittings and well sized shrouds and stays. Tommorow I will grind out a few chips in the keel and fill with west system before an overall Alcohol prep. VC-17 later in the spring before launch. I will grease the variable pitch feathering MAX prop via the small grease fittings provided ( no fittings but removable allen plugs) Anode seems OK.

More later,

Marc
 
#6 · (Edited)
Some mast attention required. Wrapstop was found to be loose and spinning on the forestay. Ordered new one from Profurl. Have decided to overhaul furling drum on main furler just so I know what I have. Brought both spinnakers (reacher and runner) to sail maker and decided to have a snuffer made for short handedness. A little pricey though at $13 per foot. Finished keel work and am installing a backup garmin GPS with XM radio and sat WX capabilty. This complements the somewhat antiquated RC520+ and RL70C radar sys already on boat. George is an ST6000+ and I have yet to check him although he's on the list. Cutlass bearing seems tight and wondering if anyone knows the procedure for bleeding the propshaft seal once back in the water. More later

Cheers and happy new Year

Marc

P.S. The Vendee globe has helped me get through this terrible MI WX
 
#7 · (Edited)
I have surveyed two 2002 473's both had leaking hot water tanks that had to be cut in half to get them out. Both tanks were mounted directly on a deck without airspace underneath and neither had a hose on the pressure relief valve leading to the bilge. Inside the stainless steel cover and wrapped around the aluminum tank is fiberglass insulation which acts like a big wick, hence the need for 1/2" airspace under the heater so it does not soak up condensation. Pressure relief valves often drip and without a hose the drips will find their way to the insulation resulting in more corrosion of the aluminum tank.

Both of these boats required major re-plumbing as replacement water heaters had to be located elsewhere. Other than that I found very little wrong with them.

Dirt People Scare Me
 
#10 · (Edited)
Spring onsluaght on 473

Ground down a few rust spots on the keel and painted bare iron with por15. Refaired with west system and redid barrier coat in those areas. New anode and grease job for the max prop 3 blade classic. New cutlass bearing. Resealed Mast partner and did an IRAN on the mast and foils. Still decideing on whether to remove the poli-glow the PO had on it or just freshen it up. Just ordered 4 new lifeline AGM's (ouch). New Wrap stop head piece on forestay as old one was spinning. New shroud roller end pieces to prevent rattling ordered. Starting to understand Syselios a little better now. Paying close attention to the systems used for furling as the boat came with some rather expensive North 3dl cruising sales. Found a runner and a reacher below and they look almost unused. My sail maker convinced me to add a sock and a snuffer. As always, appreciate any advice or observations.

Marc
 
#11 ·
If your propshaft seal is a Volvo, it's a triple lip oil seal design with no moving parts - very smart and simple, with a water pick up and discharge below the WL. To burble you squeeze/deform the lips.

Volvo also recommends annual lubrication with lubriplate AA-130 white lithium grease and replacement every 5 years. I bought a spare seal from Syselios, it came with a bit of grease. Later bought some "OEM" grease separately for $10+, it was also only a bit. So next time I will be looking for a large cartridge from a generic source.

You shove the grease under the lips while deforming/squeezing hopefully on the hard. Presume this would be more of a challenge in the water.

2005 B473 Lake Ontario
 
#12 ·
Hello

I am a new member, that recently bought a 2002 Beneteau 473.

I live in the Middle East and the boat is a great boat for sailing in the local waters. Lot's of room and sails very well.

One small question, that may seem dumb. The boat came without a power cable for shorepower. When I look on the web or in local stores, they question whether I need 15 amp, or 25 amp?

Also, are the male and female plugs the same on all boats, or do I need to worry about the power cable fitting the female shorepower plug that is in the boat?

What is the difference? The boat did not come with an owners manual, but I was able to print one from the internet, although a 2004 version.

I want to be sure that I have the proper cable to match the boat.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Regards

Jbad
 
#13 ·
Look inside your boat outlet, there should be marked 30Amps or something different. As a general rule, if you have those computer plug, it's most likely to be a 15Amps plug, but certainly will not fit your boat requeriment. If you have a round 3 plug, it's a 30Amps. The 50Amps arrangement usualy uses a 4 pin. Pay attention if you have heavy loads installed (i.e. aircon). Look at WestMarine catalog (Marinco products) for pics and find one matching yours.

As a last tip, open a separated thread, this way more people would be reponding ... I'd recommend to open it at Gear&Maintenance section of Sailnet.
 
#14 ·
4th battery switch

Does anyone know the function and purpose of the fourth battery switch all of the way to the right viewing aft. On my install I have a (left to right) master negative, starting battery, house battery and one final red switch with no marking. It busses a very large cable through a heavy duty fuse but I cant trace it out. I do know that when it is selected on on shore power it cuases the battery charger to overcharge the ships batteries. I have an email into Ward Richardson but no answer yet.

Cheers,

Marc
 
#18 ·
473 electrical drawing

I have a 2006 Beneteau 473 here in the Chesapeake Bay. I like to understand how the systems on the boat lay out so I will often use simplified schematics to help me remember how this all ties together. My 473 is a stock electrical system and I have a Westerbeke 7.6 genset with it.

I spent a fair amout of time this summer reading all the component manuals, talking to owners and mfg reps, and tracing my electrical system. I was able to construct this diagram for my boat.

I have 5 switches. Negative (just isolates the systems when turned to off), Diesel start, House, Inverter, Genset start battery. These are tied together with a Freedom Marine 20 charger / inverter, Xantrex Link 1000.

The genset system is completely seperate and the genset start battery is charged by the alternator on the genset. Then the genset puts power onto the AC buses (through a manual transfer so I cannot put shore and genset on AC bus at the same time) and the genset can supply the batter charger to charge the other batteries.

My anchor windless and electric winch have circuit breakers right next to the battery switch. I'm still looking for the breaker for the bowthruster (project for when I put the boat in storage and all the beding is out of the forward cabin). The bowthruster and windless are linked in with a relay to the diesel so I cannot operate either of them unless the diesel is on line.

That inverter switch really just isolates the charger / inverter for when you work on them. No battery connected to it. And you can see from the diagram that the charger / inverter ties in on the battery side of the house switch.

My house and diesel batteries can be online in parrallel if I need to.

My normal set up is genset switch ON, inverter switch ON, house switch ON, diesel battery OFF, Negative ON. The freedom marine 20 has an echo charger that is hooked to the diesel start battery. So I typically leave that battery isolated. The echo charger keeps a trickle charge on it so I don't over charge. I start the diesel with my house batteries. Benefit is I rarely ever change my switch line up and the diesel battery is there fully charged all the time in case of an emergency and my house batteries are dead.

See the attached chart. Hope this helps. Love my 473. It was a great investment for my family
 

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#20 ·
473 Elecrical system

Yes it was from 09 and I too have sice created a schematic much like yours (not as polished), but thanks any way. We also love our 473 and have cruised on it extensively on the great lakes every summer. Your boat has some things we'd like to have (Thruster and Genset) but we have found that we really don't miss them much since getting used to handling her in tight quarters. Time spent on the hook is dealt with with three lifeline 4d's and a Honda inverter for back up. I built a leece neville 150 amp alt along with a balmar 3 stage VR which works wonderfully along with the AGM's. We have a westerbeke 63c with PYI feathering three blade. Wind is handled with North 3dl cruisng sails and a 155 genoa, an asymmetrical with a sock and snuffer for DW. Thought about buying a sense 50 this fall but after looking at what we have versus what we'd get for over a half MIL, we decided to stick with "ozymandias".

Cheers,

Marc
 
#21 ·
Would enjoy taking a look at your schematic (polish on mine was too much time on a saturday on the hook).

I've switched out the orginal 4D's for 6V Deka for house. About 740 amp hours. We really use the genset mostly in late july and august for AC at anchor. We get 100 plus temps here in the Chesapeake and the genset was an accomatation to my wife and kids. Run it for about 4 or 5 hours after we finish swimming to cool the cabins off and secure it. End up using it 3 or 4 weekends. When we do an extended trip ( a week or more in the summer) will also use it to top up batteries.

We also have an asymetrical that came with the boat for downwind. For our light summer breezes here on the Bay it is a life saver downwind
 
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