Hunter Legend 40.5 vs Beneteau Oceanis 400

[castelino]

My wife and I are reletively new to sailing and are thinking of getting a Hunter Legend 40.5 (1995). It has fully battened mainsail. We are also considering a Beneteau Oceanis 400 (aft cockpit) with furling mainsail, but 6 ft fin keel. We would like to know the relative merits / de-merits of each boat, to be used for mainly fast cruising, in terms of: Seaworthiness, performance to windward, comfort below, disadvantages of the wing/bulb keel (5 ft draft). The boat will be used mainly for family cruising, but should be a good fast sailer.

 

[Sinbad1]

Where do you plan to use it. If you are going to be East Coast you will find the shallower draft less stressful but if South Coast then draft isn't so much of a consideration.

Both boats big n roomy. In mast furling is much better if you don't have a lot of experience.

Both will fall to bits with use. Both are big caravans really.

Both will go to windward, bene probably better, tho these should not be the main considerations unless you are intending to race around the cans at the weekend.

If you are beginning to sail as a family then you need something that is reasonably easy to handle in respect of sail useage and answering to helm. You also need something that isn't going to throw you about in a sea, tip over on its ear and scare the pants of your missus/kids.

This is essential as you will find yourself crewless and in the doghouse! Scare them and its all over!

The problem with sailing is that its easy with a beam force 3/4 and sunshine. The reality is that this is the weather you get when you leave but when you want/need to go home its raining, the wind is on the nose F6/7 or right up the bum and your fin keeler is screwing its way down wind whilst you struggle with an overcanvassed boat and a bloody huge wheel that takes forever lock to lock.......Its fun for a couple of hours and then you get cold and dehydrated and by now you are the only one strong enough/keen enough to put the reef in.

Ah sailing.....it always feels great when its over.

 

[Twister_Ken]

There's a rule of thumb that says the first boat you buy is not the one you spend the rest of your life with.

Your first boat should be an experiment to see if you like the lifestyle, the challenges, the expense, etc.

Respectfully, I'd suggest that 40 feet is too big for a first boat. Why not look for something in the 28-32 foot bracket (just about big enough for a few creature comforts, but not big enough to get really scary when something goes wrong), live with it for a couple of years, and then trade up if you like being a yottie.

PS - Hunter Legends don't have a great reputation for build quality. Somewhere on a US site there are some pix of one on a beach in OZ, after it broke free from its moorings in a strong gale. What broke was not the mooring, or the warps, but the bow of the boat. The cleat just pulled out. Someone else here might have the URL for that.

 

[escape]

Agree with your comments about size for a first boat.
Also the loads on rigging and sheets are often under-estimated by less experienced crew and where you might get away with a nasty shock when say easing the main sheet on a 28 footer,on a 40 footer your fingers can be in the block before you know it.
handling in close quarters and berthing also need consideration,a small crew may not realise how to stop even a slow 10 ton boat and inexperience often sees arms and legs trying to fend off ''the irrestable force from the imoveable object''.
At this size a bow thruster is worthy of consideration as both boats have shallow fore foot allowing the bow to blow off easily.
Good luck

 

[billmacfarlane]

My God is it the weather or something ? The prophets of doom are certainly working overtime tonight. Welcome to an aspect of sailing I bet you knew never existed. For every foreign built boat mentioned on this site , there will be somebody who's either heard of one that's self destructed in a F0.5 wind in a flat calm sea after a collision with a sardine , and the sardine survived , or will trot out the old adage , " no good in a blow etc ". I suggest you do one and/or 2 things. One is find out the owner web sites of these makes and get some views from owners of these boats. I think you'll find that it's a tad different from a lot of views here. Secondly have you ever tried to manoevuring a 40' boat in a tight space with a 20Kt crosswind blowing with just your family on board ? If not can I suggest you try chartering one , it doesn't necessarily have to be one that you're interested in but that would help , just to get a feel for what it's going to be like if you go ahead with your purchase. A weekend aboard sailing and playing with one would be good. The reason for this being as someone has mentioned , 40' is a lot of boat for an inexperienced person to handle especially in a marina where you've got to think about the other boats round about you as well. You might consider something smaller and see how you enjoy the lifestyle , then you'll have more experience in a couple of years to make a more considered opinion on the boat you might want next. By the way the Beneteau story was about one that flipped over in horrendous seas prompting a debate about stability and no doubt someone will elucidate you gleefully to the whereabouts of the URL re the Hunter. But as I said try getting the views of the people who actually own and sail them.

 

[escape]

Bill i posted the news about the benny that flipped and if you read between the lines you would see that i was actually suggesting that blame should not have been directed at the boat.
At the time of this incident i was cruising the bay/med in a benny 35 which performed superbly.
further i have put my money were my mouth is and last year bought a new jenny so 37 which has exeeded all my expectations.
I didnt go for a bow thruster to ease close quarter manouvers and find she handles very well and predictably.
like you i feel it unwise to go for a 40 ' as a first boat,you can do an awfull lot of damage and more important injury if things go wrong.
both myself and SWMBO are yachmaster (ocean) and after 20 years exp feel that for weekend sailing,often using marinas and man/wife as crew 40' is as big as is comfortable.
but its just my opinion.

 

[ParaHandy]

(Bill in serious grump mode.......only Cantona has more love of sardines!!)

You wouldn't be Trevor (other half Wendy) sail no 5149? Welcome (whether you are or not)! I thought I recognised the name from Rutland days.

Bod near me has a 41' Legend and he happily sails all over the place in it. He's selling it - has in mast furling which he doesn't like. It has bow thruster which makes it that much easier to handle.

 

[salvex]

Try www.hunterowners.com - lots of owner reviews of each model by year plus all sorts of other bits and pieces. Very American (of course) but worthwhile nonetheless.

 

[billmacfarlane]

Yeah , I already knew about the flipped Benny - I was being facetious. Glad your enjoying your new boat. I actually know of someone who bought a 40' boat last year and is new to sailing. The boat is an Island Packet 40 , not the most nimble of boats in a tight space but he's getting along with it just fine , and it's usually just the 2 of the sailing it. Not the way I'd go but it can be done.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

I chartered an Oceanis 400 two years ago for a fortnight in the carribean
Very roomy with 5 people aboard

I found her perfectly seaworthy and we had a couple of windy transits of 60 miles with a f5 gusting all the way. To be fair we absolutely honked along and got 14 knts on the GPS SOG at one point surfing down a wave. They are beamy and IMHO the emphsasis is defintely on living accomodation over sailing ability. My only gripe was the inmast furling. I donot like it personally but this was really stiff. As the wind got up you really had to depower the sail to get it in. After messing with kicking strap/ vang ( cannot remember) WD40 sprayed around moving parts and graphite on the runners we resorted to brute strength. A mate from that trip chartered one a few weeks back and said thatthe inmast on his boat a was dream to use compared to our carribean yacht.
I found them easy to handle in marina but it being the carribean they do tend to choose sheltered positions, but i can imagine they will be v tricky in a cross wind. More to the point i think if you get blown it 'll all gor wrong quite quick and you could start bashing gelcoat.

I think, if there is mainly going to be 2 of you it may be too big unless you want to hold indoor cricket matches down there.

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