Older, better Beneteaus and Jeanneaus. Which ones?

[Skylark]

To Cmedsailor and your OP. It's quite evident that you are fortunate enough to owner the epitomy of Beneteau's finest work.

Mine goes back in to the water in less than a month from now. Can't wait.

Cheers,

David

 

[Norman_E]

I consider my 1998 Jeanneau 45.2 to be a reasonable compromise on age versus cost. Firstly it is new enough to have the "modern" resin in the hull, and old enough to have decent quality woodwork with very nice veneers. Secondly it was designed before the modern craze for plumb bows and maximum static waterline length, and before interior accommodation became the over-riding priority. Thus it has a good forward lazaret and plenty of other storage, and is actually a bigger boat than the current 45 which gained saloon space at expense of the lazaret. Abandoning the lazaret in the later boats actually resulted in the forward cabins having narrower bunks at the forward end.

 

[BAtoo]

Well I have a First 38s5 from 1991. The only corners I see are the wardrobes in the 2 aft cabins. The rest, including deck, saloon, forepeak, and heads are quite curvacious (probably too expensive to put into more recent models). It is with the dark mahogany woodwork but that is contrasted with silver anodised aluminium, polished stainless steel trimmings, white upholstery, and white marble work surfaces.
Looks stylishly stunning to me and has had similar comments from others coming aboard.
It would probably sail quite well in the hands of someone proficient.

Had one of these too.....wasnt on my spec when looking for the boat but once seen had to buy it !! Well built (for the price). Decent lay-up of the hull as I found out wen I fitted a depth sounder (despite the somewhat snooty comments of a "flexing hull as may be expected with this type of boat" from the surveyor).

Fast & good sailer - Oh yes!! Once we learned to sail her well there wasn't much faster around us - left may bigger boats standing.

Now have a smaller sister (First 310), equally happy with her. Still fast for her size and no problems with the build quality.

 

[GeorgeP]

I had a 1989 Jeaneau Sunshine 38 for six years. I was really impressed by how well she sailed. And the build quality was good.