Beneteau Build Quality

Agreed, at the SBS boat show in 2007 the Malo guy said the hand holds on the spray screen should not be used to take my whole weight (13.5st) and I should not expect to be able to stand on or swing on everything in the cockpit, so I kept my Jeanneau. If I am going overboard I want to be able to hold on to ANYTHING and not expect it to break off!

In general modern boats are strong where they need to be and light where they dont need to be.
 
Just to add to everyones contribution.

I have owned 3 boats that I put out to charter - all AWB's.

The 1st was a Dufour 36 in 1998 and it was with Hamble School of Yachting. It did have a hard life going out on Yachtmaster prep weeks where the milage is an important factor. It would go out in all weathers. I sold it after 3 yrs and it is still at work earning its keep with HS of Y after 10years.

The 2nd was a Dufour 38 in 2001 and it was with Hamble Point Yacht Charters. Did have problems with the Volvo bits. Sold it after 3 yrs and is still with HPYC but the new owner replaced Volvo engine with Yanmar saildrive and boat etc still going strong. I sailed this boat to Spain and back (singlehanded on way back). This boat did suffer a knockdown in F9 and had some damage to spreaders and split sail.

The 3rd was a Jeanneau 43DS in 2004 and again with HPYC.

So total of 10yrs experience with boats being heavily used in all weathers and guess what - nothing pulled out of the deck. Effectively these boats have been used in any given year about 10x more than the private owner would but frankly I think age, lack of use, climate and poor maintenance are bigger enemies of boats than amount of use.

A cheaper AWB is a more a volume production item and benifits from bulk purchase of materials, more investment in design and economies of scale in production. For shear value for money they cannot be beaten. Hence while smaller production run manufacturers may be better quality it is only slightly better and not commensurate with the increase price. Say 10% increase in quality but 40% increase in price. Don't think of boats as unit of size but of weight. Cost per kg is a better guide but the quality boats tend to be a heavier layup and bigger ballast ratio so are often slower and need more wind to get going.

WRT fittings there are only so many manufacturers and you will find the same makes on the cheapest and dearest boats. One big difference though is likely to be size of winches and cleats for any given size of boat. Certainly the cheaper boats use smaller fittings but normally have say larger winches available as an option.

Boats rarely suffer any failures these days and the AWB market is driven by demand so we get what we pay for and the Bav/Jen/Ben/Elan/Dufour probably account for 80% of all boat sales in Europe.

When looking at boats I do have difficulty in justifing paying
almost twice the amount for any given size boat. Certainly the dearer boats are a bit nicer but as I have already explained for 2x the cost you only get say 1.3x the boat quality.

The real reason for buying an expensive quality boat is ...................

because you can!!
 
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That in fact is what "value analysis" is all about. Giving the punter what he wants at lowest possible cost.

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I don't think that's quite what morgana was inferring .. erm, well, anyway ... the french put a lot of innovation in their designs - they still train engineers these days unlike us - which either reduces material or construction costs (or both) ...

sometimes it goes awfully wrong but not often!
 
I've owned 5 boats in the best part of 30 years. In order they are Kingfiher 20, Altanta 26, Sadler 29, Jeanneau Sunlight 31, and Maxi 1100. By far the one that gave me the least problems was the Jeanneau Sunlight 31. I owned her for 13 years and couldn't really fault her. I've also looked round the latest models from the large production companies and they look fine to me generally, with some misgivings. Oh and by far the worst boat I owned was the Sadler. Expensive hand built boats are all very well - but surely it depends on the hands that build it ?
 
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