Beneteau 25.7 vs Jeanneau 2500

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rontaylor

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Has any one any direct experience of these two 25 foot lifting keel boats? I curious to know how well they are suited to coastal sailing for 2-3 people and in particular how they compare on general build quality, handling under sail and "practicallity" for overnighting.

Rgds RT
 
Have a Beneteau 323 ( 2007 ) .. Great .. Lift keel .. Loads of fun .. Build quality is good .. Had a couple of hickups with the keel not wanting to go down but its sorted .. Also had a 21.7 .. Just as good but a bit to small for a weekend and no facilities on board .. All in all very happy .. Good dealer response to queries and snagging list .. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I have a Beneteau 260 Spirit which, I believe, is the forerunner to the 25.7 It is supposed to sleep four but I would say that two/three is the max - one in the fore cabin and one in the main cabin. The second bunk space in the main cabin will only sleep someone quite small.
I regularly stop overnight with just one crew. The boat is a bit tender and needs to be reefed early. My sailing area is the Irish Sea.
No complaints with the build quality. In the early days I had problems with the winding keel and the foresail reefing which I put down to poor commissioning.
 
"I curious to know how well they are suited to coastal sailing for 2-3 people"

I've looked at both, and staying aboard would be more akin to camping than caravanning. Very little fit out below decks but Benny a bit more civilised than Jenny.

Haven't sailed them, but my feeling would be fast but tender.

Jenny, RCD class C, Benny class B if you go for that sort of thing.

Did once sail the predecessor to the 25.7, the Spirit 260, and it didn't much like a wind over tide chop in the western Solent.
 
I belive you can dry out on the Jeanneau 2500 upright balanced on the keel and the rudders, you cant do that in the 25.7 without adding legs. Why do you want the lifting keel! If you have the money you may want to look at the Parkers which IMHO have a more comprensive lift keel system and good build quality as well.
 
I only have experience of the 257 and would say its very good.

It sails really well especially close hauled. It is lively in a sea but it is an exiting boat if you push it.

The only difficulty is manouvering in a marina as twin rudders dont work till the boat is moving through the water.

The 257 layout is a bit better than the 260 as the bunk on the starboard side pulls out to a double bed. So sleeps 2 adults and 3 children. Good cockpit lockers .
 
25.7 considerably better build than Jeanneau. More space below, against larger cockpit on 25. Lifting rudders on 25.7 need attention to prevent humming/vibrating when sailing at speed. Both keels clonk when boat rolls at anchor.
 
With the Spirit 260, the keel can bounce if sailing close hauled into a chop. I've found it better to ease off a bit. Also wind the keel up if motoring into a chop. I haven't found any problems with the twin rudders when manoeuvring in a marina. Changing the prop for an Autoprop worked wonders.
 
I have a 25.7 looked at the Jeanneau but liked the benny better. Great fun to sail very fast and easy to handle, I sail single handed most of the time. I find first reef at around 18kn to be best. I'm in Woolverstone ( River marina so lots of tide) and find no issues manouvering with the twin rudders, you need very little way on to get steering. I fitted a Varifold prob which works great.

Salon has a double pull out berth to stbd and a single to port, forward cabin is a tad small but its ok after all its only a 25ft boat.

Only gripe I have is the location of the log and the fact that water gets between inner liner and hull when removing it. I made a ring out of rubber and sikaflexed it in to stop the problem but it was a messy job.
 
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