Beneteau 361 Questions?

[mcrow33]

Hi, we are going to start our 2nd season with "Brizo" our 2000 Beneteau 361. We love the boat. It's set up well and handles like a dream. I have a couple of questions and would like to hear from other 361 owners. The first one is the shower, love the big head and separate shower, but one of the things I've found is when using the shower the water runs all the way to in front of the toilet, and you need to push it back into the stall, so the can be pumped down the drain. Anybody made any modification to keep the water in the stall? The other is port side storage locker. Which I refer to as the Mother In-law apartment. It's so large and with that big shelve I can get there and lay down. Any modification to that to make it more useful? I find that anything on the shelve is hard to get at. I would like to hear about other modifications folks have made.
The boat wasn't taken care of the last few years, so I'm working to restore the gel coat, both deck and hull. I've started up grading electronics. I'm installing a electric windlass. I'm also dealing with the teak panels in the cockpit seats and swim platform which have all come unglued. I tried Boatlife chalking which failed, I'm thinking trying West System this year.

Thanks,

 

[BigEasy]

Call Ward or Debbie at Beneteau In Marion, SC to determine what adhesive was used to adhere the seat panels----some of these adhesives require a primer to work well. If you are considering using west system epoxy you will regret it if you ever have to remove them in the future.

 

[DougM]

For reattaching the seat surfaces,I would suggest this:
Remove the teak panel completely from the fiberglass surface. Remove all of the perimeter caulking. Use a piece of heavy fishing line to "saw" through the adhesive attaching the seat to the fiberglass. Clean the fiberglass completely and scuff the surface with 80 grit sandpaper. Likewise clean all of the old adhesive from the bottom of the teak panel. To reattach the panel, use a top grade construction adhesive, putting a perimeter bead about an inch in from the edge andsveral additional beads within that perimeter. Attach the seat panel to the fiberglass and weight it down at least overnight. The peimeter bead is important to hold down the edges of the panel and prevents water penetration. Finally, put a bead of BoatLife or similar caulking around the edge.
One problem you may have been having is that the perimeter caulking isn't strong enough to keep the seat panel from lifting by itself. It flexes, and eventually parts company with the edges letting water seep under the seat panel and it cannot get out.
I've done this on my boat and it has held for 4 years so far. Others may have better ideas, bit this worked for me.

 

[BigEasy]

Couple years ago, Beneteau sold me an adhesive & primer to re-
Adhere my deck skylight. After the adhesive cured, then I caulked around the perimeter to seal it with a different caulk /sealant. Kind of the same thing that Doug described----after cleaning the mating surfaces you are going to need a strong adhesive along with a primer to achieve good bond strength to glue the panels together and then boat life caulk to reseal the edges. Looks the caulking is starting to deteriorate at the edges of the teak strips on my boat; however, no delamination of the panel yet after 10 years.

 

[mcrow33]

I found an older post about the same subject and one of the posters mentioned Teakdecking Systems. It looks like the way to go. Someone at my marina mentioned the same product. I have some ordered from Defenders. It should be on Monday. Hopefully it works as designed.

 

[onlinelee]

Great choice of yacht, all my friends say the same " This boat is so well balanced, it sails itself " I think the European version ( mine is a 361 Clipper ) is different to yours, I have a drain in the shower stall and one in the front of the head. Also, my port side locker is huge but no shelf, similar to the stb side locker.

Ive had two problems in the year and a half Ive had my boat, the first was a broken cast aluminium mast step that looked like it may have been faulty when installed, regardless, all the drainage holes at its base where filled in so water just sat inside helping the problem. It failed when a halyard was used to bend the mast forward a little to make a new forestay fit!!
I also fried the engine coolant coil inside the water heater, I had inadvertently drained the water tank and heater of fresh water and then ran the engine, without surrounding cooling fresh water in the heater the coil ruptured.

Enjoy your 2nd season, its mine too

 

[mcrow33]

It is a well balanced boat, that sails it's self. The only time I use the autopilot is when motoring and raising sails. Otherwise I set the sails and the boat hold that tack forever. A friend asked how I like the new boat and I told him that is was the most boring boat I ever sailed. I use to sail a gaff rig Friend Ship Sloop. So mine only has one drain in the shower. I'm thinking of making a small lip with starboard or something like that to keep the water in the shower stall. I'm also thinking of mounting a board in the storage locker with hooks or ties to be able to hang lines and stuff like that.

Thanks,

 

[Philip_Oceanis 361]

I also have a French built Oceanis 361 Clipper and yes it has two drains. It's now the 10th year i have the boat and it's a great boat. My only complain is that it tends to slam easily if you 'drive it wrong' (motoring into waves) but i guess all relatively modern design boats do so.

 

[onlinelee]

Hey, I sail a friends Beneteau First for fun and my 361 with my wife, she likes " boring "

 

[Syversens]

Congrats on 361, we love ours and had her for 10 years now. All the things you mention are or has been on my list and here is what I've done:
- shower drain: I wouldn't say it pools by toilet but it certainly doesn't flow very efficiently to the drain. If I'm in a hurry I use my foot to scoot it over but give it a minute and it does make its way to the drain, at least on our boat. Finish with a towel.
- storage: yes indeed it is giant and we haven't touched it as far as making compartments but its definitely been on my list. We have some small stuff and big stuff though and seasonal so I don't know how much hardware I really want to install. I'm using milk crates of plastic to organize, they stack nicely and most importantly when you need something (always at the bottom) you can move things around to get to it. we have 6 crates in there now, fairly organized.
- teak: Yup, been there done that. I tried regluing in place, removing and finish and glue back but I ended up replacing and gluing it myself. The latter is by far the best in my view. Scroll down this post and look for the part on teak which is how I did it. I bought full teak replacement when I ordered it and still have starboard seats in garage, they will be installed this summer probably.

I've done lots of modifications, too many to list but a few I'm the most happy with are (no particular order): upgraded alternator, installed outboard hoist, removed microwave, full enclosed cockpit, 50 amp charger and second house bank by forward cabin. Windlass was already installed but is certainly a welcomed addition. I'm also upgrading electronics since all is original from 99. I just got a new autopilot installed a week ago but I'm replacing all navigation with PC based systems, that's the plan anyways. Ask questions here, lots of owners and great resources. Enjoy your 361 we love ours!