Beneteau Antares advise requested

dkm

dkm

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I'm helping to advise a friend who is switching from sail to power,. He's looking for something about 30ft. Like most raggies making a switch his first port of call was Nimbus but he doesn't have the budget for a recent model. He's currently considering Antares series 9 (single VP 230) and 9.8 (twin Nanni 200's).
Any advice, thoughts, experiences to share, (particularly on the Nanni's which I know nothing about), would be much appreciated.
 
Twins, regardless of the make are a really tight fit in the A980 engine bay and may not have had the attention they deserve over even a few years and will be more hassle and expense to service for the future. Add to that you loose the protected prop of the single version in the A9 and the option of fitting beaching legs.

All that said I think Nanni are as good as anything and parts and service are not an issue.
 
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David2452 said:
Twins, regardless of the make are a really tight fit in the A980 engine bay and may not have had the attention they deserve over even a few years and will be more hassle and expense to service for the future. Add to that you loose the protected prop of the single version in the A9 and the option of fitting beaching legs.

All that said I think Nanni are as good as anything and parts and service are not an issue.
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Sorry but cannot agree with you on the space in the A980 engine room. We have a 980 with twin VP D4's. I am not built for crawling round engine rooms but even I can get ALL round both engines easily. It may be a very different story for the older boats with twin KAD43's.

Prior to this A980 we had an Antares Series 9 with single KAD43. That was a fantastic boat although we did have a head gasket go which I found is not uncommon. We had that for five years from new.

The 980 has been a different experience. Its a bit bigger than the 9 and can certainly handle more sea, more easily but its just we have had some bad luck with this particular boat during the summer. New cutlass bearings at 110 hrs, diesel bug, 3 engine stops before the intermittent fault was found then to top it all rope round a prop three weeks ago.

Originally I was very much in favour of single engine boats with the idea of good quality regular maintenance but after having one engine stop three times due to a chafed wire (after 110 hrs from new) then rope on the prop and I would be reluctant to go back to one engine.
 
dkm said:
Thanks
David J - how old is your 980? when did they start fitting D4s?
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Ours is early 2006 and I think one of the first into UK with D4's (225)
At the time Im sure there was the option for Nanni or VP D4's but the latter was a substantial extra cost. Dont know how much!
The 980 is a great boat but has been lost to the latest round of Beneteau rebranding of the Antares range so despite there being lots of them out there in UK it may help to hold used prices. The EUR exchange hit Beneateau new prices hard last year with a new 980 going from around £130,000 to something closer to £150,000 so I guess the new 32/33 ft boat is single engine to hold costs down to something more saleable. Or am I just being cynical and the boating public really wants a 33ft single engine boat. Maybe!!
 
I have serviced a 9.80 with kad 43s in and its an absolute delight to get around, just remove all the panels around the floor then the seats and seat backs, I can get all around the engines to change all filters etc, there is plenty of room in front to change belts and impellers.

Overall a nice boat for its size and money, you wont get many 30ft shaft drive flybridges for that kind of money these days.
 
volvopaul said:
I have serviced a 9.80 with kad 43s in and its an absolute delight to get around, just remove all the panels around the floor then the seats and seat backs, I can get all around the engines to change all filters etc, there is plenty of room in front to change belts and impellers.

Overall a nice boat for its size and money, you wont get many 30ft shaft drive flybridges for that kind of money these days.
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As you can imagine its even easier with D4's. No need to remove anything other than the main floor panels unless you need a bit more light then there are the removable panels in the bottom of the under seat lockers and cupboards. With the shorter D4 there is masses of space in front of the engines.
One screw allows removal of the floor panel carrying the table base which also helps.
At 32.6 ft LOA I guess its one of the smallest useable flybridge boats.
 
Yes i remember you were going to have me service the engines?? in Brighton, how did you get on with the bad work done to your boat, whats the latest with the dirty diesel tank.
 
volvopaul said:
Yes i remember you were going to have me service the engines?? in Brighton, how did you get on with the bad work done to your boat, whats the latest with the dirty diesel tank.
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Yes you are right, events snowballed from a quick liftout and anodes, through cutlass bearings, then on re-launch the diesel bug - which then by necessity led into filter changes which sort of led right into overhaul - which then fed straight into holiday heading west initially to the solent - which then led into a problem with the port engine stopping three times. Then followed much investigation to find an intermittent fault which eventually, eventually was traced to a chafing of the original Volvo installation of on engine wiring harness. A pair of wires to a relay was installed pulling hard on the edge of a metal bracket which after a 110 hrs chafed and sometimes shorted out stopping the engine and cutting all DC onto that engine. But then sometimes it did not short and all appeared fine. It was only found when an engineer managed to get smoke pouring out of the harness on one occassion, which sort of led him to the problem!!!
What with the lingering concern about diesle bug, then one engine showing an intermittent fault we never got West of the Solent!
Back to your oringinal question though, about the diesel bug. We used Express Lube from Burgess Hill to come round and centrifuge both tanks. They did a great job. They turned up when they said they would, did the job, left the boat totally clean, no spills, no smells and clean tanks. I inspected the primary filters a few times over the next 10/15 hrs running and no sign of the bug coming back. Now I am using their Fuel Doctor additive and so far so good.
 
Antares

Hi there,

Just to add my two bob's worth. I've had a 9.80 with the Nanni's for about 5 years now. Just opposite David in Brighton.

As has been pointed out, there is oodles of space in the engine bay, all around. The Nanni's in particular are a compact block, so no probs whatsoever.

Regarding the Nanni's, we have found them to be excellent. Obviously slightly less pokey than the D4's, but plenty of grunt when needed, and cruise happily at 3100 rpm giving 19 knots or so, depending on conditions. (We are pretty fully laden).

As to the boat, she's been fab for us. We've taken her to France, Guernsey, Holland, Belgium and down west as far as Torbay, all very unruffled and controlled. We've hit some pretty rough stuff over the years and allways felt very confident in the boats abilities. She's small enough to creep into pretty much any marina berth, but big enough to give confidence at sea. The Nanni's give a good range and are very reliable, the boat tops out at around 26knts, but that's been quick enough for us, and they are fairly economical also.

Good boat for a family to crew as the good side decks and excellent foredeck with flat sides means it's very safe and easy to move around. We found this to be a real bonus when working the locks and bridges in Holland (just ask my daughter who was on the foredeck).

If you ask me, it's a boat that does just what it say's on the tin.
 
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