I'd welcome opinions from any Bene 34 owners. The boat's relatively light ballast concerns me a bit...whether it results in a boat that is tender or prone to rounding up or has a less than average motion comfort in lumpy conditions.
Considering purchasing a 2009 Beneteau 34 (not a 343) - seeking owner opinions
- Thread starter paulducham
- Start date
Paging @SoSound who has a 34 and might be able to give some insight.
I have the 37 (same design just a little stretched out) and don’t find it particularly tender. Because of the hull shape it heels pretty easily to a certain point, but then seems to stick there even as the wind continues to build. I did have round up problems originally, generally with winds in the high teens, but then we switched to a folding prop and that got much better. The fixed prop turbulence in front of the rudder seemed to reduce its grab and stall it more easily. Now it only rounds up if I’m lazy and over-canvassed or out of trim.
Keep in mind that the 34 keel is not a uniform fin. It has a tapered bulb shape that concentrates the ballast toward the bottom. So the same weight will give you more righting moment than a pure fin.
I have the 37 (same design just a little stretched out) and don’t find it particularly tender. Because of the hull shape it heels pretty easily to a certain point, but then seems to stick there even as the wind continues to build. I did have round up problems originally, generally with winds in the high teens, but then we switched to a folding prop and that got much better. The fixed prop turbulence in front of the rudder seemed to reduce its grab and stall it more easily. Now it only rounds up if I’m lazy and over-canvassed or out of trim.
Keep in mind that the 34 keel is not a uniform fin. It has a tapered bulb shape that concentrates the ballast toward the bottom. So the same weight will give you more righting moment than a pure fin.
I've enjoyed sailing Beneteaus even in heavy weather. I avoid Hunters for the exact reasons you outlined although they perform reasonable well in light air. Each to their own preference as I'm sure you'll find someone that will say the opposite.
I purchased a 2010 B34 this spring and have been sailing in Lake Michigan with it this summer. I would say the boat is surprisingly comfortable to sail, but not boring. Our boat is the shallow draft version and I'm sure this has a negative effect on upwind performance. I replaced the roller furling main with slab reefing main from Quantum and that was a major difference. The boat sails faster and easier to control. Happy to answer any questions. It's a fun boat and motor sails exceptionally well in light air.
I'm sorry that I didn't see this when it was posted. On the other hand, we have recently had a sail which left me reasonably impressed with our Oceanis 34. If you are still considering it, I absolutely would recommend it (or @Davidasailor26 's Oceanis 37). When we ordered our 34, it was two steps up in size for us, and we have never regretted a jump of six feet over our previous boat.
My wife and I didn't learn to sail until we were in our 50s, and learned in the South Puget Sound where winds can be a bit light in the summer. I don't mind telling people that we tend to be fair weather sailors. Over the last several years we have moved farther north on the sound, and now have quite a stretch of decent water and wind to sail. Last week, we sailed from Kingston to Port Ludlow for the weekend. We had expected NNW winds at about 8 kts, what we got was straight out of the north at a steady 14 - 15 kts against an ebb current which gave us some interesting seas in a couple of spots. Once we got over the shock of having double the wind speed that we had expected... we reefed both the main and the jib, and eased the traveller all the way out. What we had was an absolutely great sail for about four hours. With the traveler eased, the boat was not overly healed, and I thought it was absolutely rock solid and very comfortable. I was trying to sail to my destination and was able to sail for decent periods of time both close hauled and on a bit of a reach. I hesitate to brag about our sailing performance, because I think of myself as no more than an intermediate sailor (I've been a ski instructor in Montana for 15 years so I think I can recognize "expert", and I'm not it in sailing), but after a bit of time to get make adjustments and think through many of the sail trim pointers and concepts that I've read on this forum we found ourselves hitting as much as 6.5 kts speed through the water.
Here is a Cruising World review that I found, written by people with more sailing experience credibility than I have.
My wife and I didn't learn to sail until we were in our 50s, and learned in the South Puget Sound where winds can be a bit light in the summer. I don't mind telling people that we tend to be fair weather sailors. Over the last several years we have moved farther north on the sound, and now have quite a stretch of decent water and wind to sail. Last week, we sailed from Kingston to Port Ludlow for the weekend. We had expected NNW winds at about 8 kts, what we got was straight out of the north at a steady 14 - 15 kts against an ebb current which gave us some interesting seas in a couple of spots. Once we got over the shock of having double the wind speed that we had expected... we reefed both the main and the jib, and eased the traveller all the way out. What we had was an absolutely great sail for about four hours. With the traveler eased, the boat was not overly healed, and I thought it was absolutely rock solid and very comfortable. I was trying to sail to my destination and was able to sail for decent periods of time both close hauled and on a bit of a reach. I hesitate to brag about our sailing performance, because I think of myself as no more than an intermediate sailor (I've been a ski instructor in Montana for 15 years so I think I can recognize "expert", and I'm not it in sailing), but after a bit of time to get make adjustments and think through many of the sail trim pointers and concepts that I've read on this forum we found ourselves hitting as much as 6.5 kts speed through the water.
Here is a Cruising World review that I found, written by people with more sailing experience credibility than I have.
