Beneteau 373 problems:
Panamagirl:
I own 373 #226 which was delivered in April 2007.
I can sympathize with your situation, but my experience is somewhat different. I thought I'd pass on my experiences re the items you mention, and a few other points.
I have found the overall quality of the hull glass work to be as anticipated. I did experience a bit of gel coat cracking at the primarily near the aft corners of the deck and a few gel voids, which were fixed by the dealer. (PS my dealer Sailing specialties in Mystic, Ct has since gone out of business.) In fact Beneteau had a factory rep check out the issues and assured the repairs were correct.
I pull my boat seasonally, and carefully inspect the hull and keel and have not noted the deterioration you document. I have owned boats with cast iron keels before and know the interlux speced system they use at the factory is good. None the less, I have had a few rust spots appear, primarily due to some minor scrapes, sandy bottoms etc. and have properly repaired same with Interlux 2000, including additional coats over the entire keel, and had no rust spots over the past year. No keel bedding issues have been evident at all.
To me it appears your initial prep and bottom finish may not have been up to par. In our environment yearly bottom refinishing is required.
I had warranty issues with the life line turnbuckles and the flanges on the drop down cockpit seats, which were replaced. After repeated problem with the force 10 stove, Beneteau had the entire stove replaced.
I also have the furling mainsail, but have not experienced unusual deterioration or batten problems.
I have not had any significant problems with the factory electrical installations or components. I did have to replace the Autohelm control module and display which were done under warranty be Raymarine.
I found the factory fuel gauge had not been correctly calibrated per VDO's installation instructions, and corrected myself.
My only engine problem has been with the ignition switch, and the problem turned out to be to much lubrication of the internal switch contacts.
I do not have HVAC, but have had to follow up and understand the refrigeration, which works well but which appeared to run excessively. In fact it works well.
As I enter my 4th season, I have had to deal with some Bimini and dodger deterioration, which are non Beneteau issues, and replace my main batteries.
I am also adding a feeder to the pro furl furling as feeding the Genoa is impossible to do alone (Beneteau used the least expensive pro furl unit.) I have also had to add a new car and track as recommended by Charleston Spars to correct a jamming problem with the main sail out-haul. which appears to be a common problem.
I had my prior boat, a Yamaha 33 MKIII, an old IOR racer, for 22 years and did all my work, so maybe my builder expectations were more moderate than yours, but have been generally satisfied with Beneteau. I had found David Markham (david.markham@beneteauusa.com) to be a good support resource. I'd hope they would be more accommodating than they appear to have been.
I am approaching my 60's but am quite comfortable with the capabilities of the boat we have used it in weather up to 50kts and have found it safe and accommodating. It does have substantial weather helm and requires reefing a bit earlier that I'd like, but we've learned to live with that.
I hope you can sort things out.
We bought the boat new, made for us. The cracks are in the anchor locker and we have a electric windless so it comes in slow and smooth. The boat has never been aground and we have never hit anything to do that kind of damage we would have known we hit something I would think.
The first time we pulled the boat after two years you could see the while squares where the jackstands were, no paint at all. The boat was on the hill for 43 days in 2009 the second time drying out the keel that had taken on water. Per Beneteau's instructions we dried it out and they resealed it, tightened the bolts to Beneteau's specs. Here we are again 2010 the boat is on the hill drying out the keel.
I wish I had your dealers.
So far a brand new boat 2006 delivered March 8, 2006 a number of electrical problems, cracked water caps, windows that leak, keel that is rusted and pitted and chipped, engine problems, HVAC, gas guage does not work, a number of problems with the sails that were recalled finally due to no sun protection on the leading edge and battons that kept popping out and still pop out. Sails that are showing such wear that we will have to replace them in the next six months.
We were told we were getting boat 165 and ended up with 160 for some strange reason. All this was right after Katrina and I am now wondering if our boat really did come from Marion South Carolina?
I am heart broken over what I thought would be a great investment and fun for the children and grandchildren. I am scared to put children on the boat now.
Thank you for your response I'll keep all posted on the out come.
