Beneteau 400 Forward Shroud Attachment

drdanj

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Jun 15, 2009
44
Hunter 290 Channel Islands
I'm ready to make an offer on a '94 Beneteau 400. It seems a very good boat, but I see a problem - see the photos.

These are in the forward berth, where the forward lower shrouds bolt through the cabintop. Upward stress has deformed the cabintop, not just the cosmetic interior liner. The structure right there is solid, the cabintop itself is deformed.

Anyone else have this problem? I have ideas for a fix but first I want to know of others' experience. How concerned should I be based on experience? Is that forward shroud connection a known problem?
 

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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
What a mess. The original drawing of the boat doesn't show forwards.... Not surprising as the boat has aft-swept spreaders. But I do see them on some pictures of the boats. I'm assuming the factory added them later to function like baby-stays to stop the mast from pumping. As such they should not have been set up highly loaded. Looks like someone really cranked them on. In any case bad move by the factory, the air-gap between the hull and the line got crushed and the liner cracked.

 
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drdanj

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Jun 15, 2009
44
Hunter 290 Channel Islands
Excellent! Thanks for that drawing, it perfectly clarifies the problem. I found a manual with a drawing but it's different and so rough, you can't tell what it's showing. You're right, these stays must have been added at some later point -- and whoever did it -- did a bad job. Unbolting the stay and putting a long plate in there to spread the load would likely solve the problem, but I'd want a marine architect to take a look at it.
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
I would not rule out that work being done at the factory, and in fact I'd lean in that direction. Lots of masthead Oceanis models suffered from mast pumping in big waves. It probably was added as a retro-fit (ECO) during the build. In any case whoever did it should have calculated worse-case loads on the rigging and saw that the the hull liner was not up for that.

Its also possible that they did not know (or expect) that there was an air gap between the the deck and liner that would get crushed. On Benis there always is and someone should have known that.
 
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Oct 29, 2016
1,915
Hunter 41 DS Port Huron
That would be definitely a cause for concern looks to me like the shroud was over tightened or over stressed to deform the cabin top to that degree. Don't about the add on, I looked at several ads on YW for your boat model and year and found they all had the forward stay. I also looked at all the pictures on the interior cabins and none showed that kind of malformation.
Also attached is a oceanis 400 CC from 1995 which shows the forward stay.
http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=7467
 

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drdanj

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Jun 15, 2009
44
Hunter 290 Channel Islands
Yes, I've been going through ads and photos, seems all these boats from that era have that forward stay, no matter the original design spec. It might be just the liner deformed, but it seems pretty solid. I will be sure to have the deck inspected though, extra caution never hurts!
 

msade

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Feb 3, 2011
21
beneteau oceanis 440 haifa
That's very surprising. My Oceanis 440 (1993 model) have the forward baby shrouds attached (via a rod) to the HULL, not to the cabin top.
 

drdanj

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Jun 15, 2009
44
Hunter 290 Channel Islands
Interesting that the 1995 drawing shows the forward shroud, the one Jackdaw shared shows no forward shroud. Clearly something changed. My broker said he would have a rigger take a look at this, no charge. At the very least, I think it can be mitigated by adding a long steel plate. The deformation may just be in the cosmetics of the headliner (although the one side looks like it is pulling up into the fiberglass) but it should be checked out. Thanks for the insights.