In Europe we have a different point of view about those boats ...I know the boats, many frineds have 40.7 and 44.7, and you could very well go around the world with them...granted you have less space for crap, but less crap means you also travel light..
I take my boat on outings for 3 months and am still here...to have fun, you don't need to bring your whole house behiind you..a La American...and most defenately don't need valiants and Cabo Ricos to sail around the World..
Just go for it. good boats, but beware..getting pretty old old as far as design..
I know of a Portuguese guy that is now circunavigating for the second time (this time the other way around), in a damn BAvaria!!!!!
Its a myth..especially here at sailnet..that you need a tank to survive cruising...I mean liook at the cars Americans buy..big SUVs...it's the same...
If I were to cruise around the Caribbean??? I'd take the 40.7 above any boat...and actually sail around (look at Zahnshin he does it happily with a Jeanneau DS)...instead of "real cruisers" and other same sort type of boats that sail backwards...and have motor to get to places...once the wind hits 10 knots
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Last edited by Giulietta : 11-02-2008 at 07:40 PM.
Ohhh and remember...here at Sailnet...DARE YOU..say the words "I" "GO" and "CRUISE", (It's considered bad seamanship, bad taste, and not trully being salty, and shows you know nothing about boats), if you cruise with anyhthing but the one and only, built in 1521 for Captain Cristovao Mendonca discoverer of Australia - aka Terra Java: THE HIGHLY WOOD ORNAMENTED SAINLET RIDICULUS BLUE WATER CRUISER, I RATHER MOTOR THAN SAIL
Note...not visible is the 4 foot thick hull
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Last edited by Giulietta : 11-02-2008 at 07:53 PM.
I own a Union Polaris 36 ft cutter, and it weighs in at about 10 ton, with a modified full keel.
It has crossed the North Atlantic, including one gale when we had to stream a warp to slow the ship.
I was glad of every ounce of that 10 ton, and for the long keel.
By then, the faster deep fin boys probably would be about 300 miles in front of me, but I hope they didn't get caught in that gale.
To each their own.
It's long keel for me, with the weight, and the stability, and the keel cast into the glass fibre, and the lack of keel bolts, and the keel-hung rudder.
In the lighter airs, I have no hope of catching the lighter ships, but you wait for the big seas, it's tends to be different then.
I have spent a lot of time racing aboard the Farr designed 40.7 and I really think that these are great all around boats. The one that I have been aboard probably has something approaching 15,000 offshore miles, years of hard racing and has been pounded in a storm off Cape Hatteras. Though all of that the boat has held up pretty well. That said there was some remedial work done on the forward transverse frames and the rudder bearings needed to be replaced.
In a general sense the first series are typically better engineered and more robust than Beneteau's 'number' or Oceanis series. This seems especially true of the 40.7, but compared to Farr's other cruising designs the 40.7 is not especially robust.
At the heart of it the 40.7 was designed as a racer cruiser, and in that vein these have been outrageously great boats, with class, if not overall fleet wins in most of the big race series and under most of the popular rating rules used world wide. The boats are a lot of fun to sail and are moderately easy to sail for thier capability to win. While they are becoming obsolete under the current IRC rule, they continue to do well under less grand prix oriented rules. They offer a comfortable interior for coastal cruising, and have sufficient amenities and adequate carry capacity to support a racing crew for a weeks offshore.
All of that said, I would never consider these to be an ideal 'long range cruisers' but that is not what they were designed to be. As noted it would take a lot to adapt them for that purpose and frankly there are better suited and built designs (by Farr and others) for that purpose.
Jim, I like this post, and I like those boats, a few of my favorites. I have to pass on a bit of info from a friend that just sailed across the Pacific to Australia. He commented that despite all the good intentioned advice on here about being safe, and what kind of boat is suitable for Ocean passages, there were way more pieces of junk floating around making passages out there than there was "suitable" boats.
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Great men always have too much sail up. - Christopher Buckley
Isn't the Bene 40.7 the boat that lost it's rudder off Long Island in June on the way to the start of the Nwpt-Bermuda Race? I have a friend who owned one and he said he ended up modifying the bolts holding the rudder housing on -- basically he drilled the bolt holes to a larger diameter and replaced the orignal bolts with heavier ones. "Light" boats can have problems because everything is designed to save weight, and in the case of Beneteau, cost. Light designs are probably OK for weekend coastal cruises and round-the-bouy races, but long distance / offshore cruising is a different matter.
Jim, I like this post, and I like those boats, a few of my favorites. I have to pass on a bit of info from a friend that just sailed across the Pacific to Australia. He commented that despite all the good intentioned advice on here about being safe, and what kind of boat is suitable for Ocean passages, there were way more pieces of junk floating around making passages out there than there was "suitable" boats.
BF,
There may well be. But I offer as counterpoint a first-hand account from someone who is sailing the same waters.
A few questions to ponder: Do you want to set-sail to cross oceans with confidence in your vessel, or with doubts? How do you want to spend your time when you arrive? Making structural repairs?
JimH, what about that lovely Rival you've bought? It seems like an excellent choice for cruising. It's well-made, sturdy and best of, already yours. If I may ask, what set you to thinking the Rival isn't right for your plans?
Regards,
Mark
A few questions to ponder: Do you want to set-sail to cross oceans with confidence in your vessel, or with doubts? How do you want to spend your time when you arrive? Making structural repairs?
Hi, John
Thanks for the post. I don't think anyone wants to make structural repairs when cruising, and I'm not saying that I'm sold on the idea of Beneteau as a cruising boat (the 40.7, the 44.7 or the 47.7, etc.). However, I was intrigued by how many do the ARC (which could be just one-way trips) and how some have done long-range cruising. If they were made to a higher spec than typically discussed, I could see them as an interesting option (as described by Beth Leonard and done by Lisa Copeland and family).
I might also note that structural repairs aren't only reserved for racer/cruisers. We did look at a pristine 38 foot Swedish-made cruiser, less than 10 years old, and it had structural repairs to the hull after falling off a wave in the English Channel.
So, no big racer/cruiser argument from me, but I am intrigued by what others have to say.
(Yet we reserve the right to fly back to the states and impulse-buy a Kelly Peterson 44 footer at any given moment...)
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Jim H
London, UK Aurora, a mighty Cal 20 (Portland, OR) Southern Rival, a seasoned Rival 34 (Gosport, UK)
