Seaward 32 rk vs Beneteau 31

[oakleaf]

Hello All,
I'm a brand new member looking for advice and comments on these two boats: pros, cons, etc., for daysailing and weekending along coastal Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, including (shallow!) Mobile Bay, with emphasis on gunkholing on our barrier islands. To further complicate things, I will be moving to the Charleston, SC area in a year or two. I love the Beneteau 31 but that 6'1'' (5'10"?) draft concerns me.


Thanks, Jep

PS any help in posting a thread more properly would be appreciated as well.

 

[Rick I]

You sure about the Beneteau draft.

 

[sailaway78]

6' Draft

I'm afraid you will be very dissapointed with anything carrying a 6' draft in these sailing areas. Gonna keep you out of a lot of places you would want to go.

 

[oakleaf]

I just rececked the Beneteau web page. The draft is 5' 10". I'll go with that, though I've seen some magazine lit. that puts it at 6' 1". Either way I'm afraid Nice N Easy is probably right, and I'm not interested in a fixed length shoal keel. Hence the interest in the Seaward 32rk.

 

[Chuckbear]

Jep, We sailed all of those waters extensively with a 6 foot draft and it was no big deal. There were very few places we could not go. You just need to be sharp on your navigation. Chuck

 

[seadaddler]

Ditto

I also agree with less draft for where you want to go sailing could be trouble,I am in Charlotte Harbor and have 4'10'' draft and do OK but wish I draft 4' for Florida west coast would be so much better.
I came from NY with way deeper waters and now in Florida since 2008 and this year traveling up and along west coast from Key West to Tarpon Spring did run aground a few times trying to get into some inlets and some other local spot's.
I would never get a 6' ft boat in Florida and did not even want 6' ft up in NY,you will be very limited to where you can go and so unhappy not being able to go to some real nice places.
I have found most sailboats really like 4' draft here in Florida but my 4'10'' has not been too bad sailing with other club members here in Punta Gorda but 5 ' would be OK,6' would be good if you plan doing lots of offshore sailing but than entering inlets would be limited.
I see many of the seawards here in Florida but don't know much about how well they sail and I also see lots of boats with lifting keel boards.
Nick
Nick

 

[seadaddler]

Beneteau

Beneteau makes a 31 or 32 with a keel board that drops down and up for shallow waters.
Nick

 

[rpwillia]

Read this online

Have no real experience owning a Seaward or Beneteau (except a friend has a B49 which is sweet). http://okbayou.com/bulkheadfix.html

 

[Caboteur]

Bénéteau 31 with 4'3" draft!

Are you talking about an older Beneteau model or the one made since 2008? I ordered my 2009 Beneteau 31 with the shoal keel and have clocked about 7,000NM (11,800Km) in very shallow waters since then.
Going from Canada to the Bahamas and back... the ICW, Chesapeake etc.
Of course a 5'10" keel would point a bit better but that is the trade-off... on the other hand I have a classic main; Caboteur points as well as a deep keel and a furling main.
Pierre

 

[JVB]

I explored the Charleston (SC) Harbor in April and May on my 3.5 foot draft Catalina 25 WK. IMHO any fixed keel will be pretty much limited to sailing the dredged channels unless you want to be a Sea Tow frequent flyer. Study the harbor chart shown here: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11524.shtml to assess what areas are keel friendly. I would choose the retractable keel for Charleston if I intended to do much sailing inside. It only took 3 day-sails for me to tire of sailing the limited areas of deep water inside the harbor. I am really happy to have my boat back on a lake which is several times the size of Charleston Harbor. Offshore is the "A" ticket there. For that you need at least 30 feet LOA.

 

[oakleaf]

Thanks so much to all of you who responded to my post-- your hellp has been invaluable! I guess I'll be looking hard at a Seaward 32rk. The only thing that concerns me is the retractable keel (the very thing I like abut it). I'm not a totally inexperienced sailor, but it's been about three decades since I've been on the water with any consistency: an rk appears to be one more thing on a boat that can fail mechanically or electically. If anyone out there knows anything at all about these things, I'd love to hear about it!

 

[Bad Obsession]

The retractable keep has been around for a while. I remember racing against an S2 named Aria that had one. A friend of mine has a Tripp 26 that has one and he hasn't had any problems with it (it is a job to crank his up by hand though).

It is a good idea and I am sure, like anything else on a boat, requires maintenance periodically. I am sure that you can find information on the maintenance that it will require and how the system works.

 

[higgs]

What I have seen of Seaward is a well built,well thought out boat imho.

 

[soling42]

There is a Beneteau 311 swing keel option that is designed for skinny water but capable of much more. There are a few used ones available on the net but I believe new ones are still being produced. For the money it'd be my choice.

Mike

http://uk.yachtworld.com/boats/2000/Beneteau-311%2C-2%277%26quot%3B-Draft-2204531/United-States

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatMergedDetails.jsp?boat_id=1942738&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=1422&url=

 

[Ken Honeycutt]

Saw a 32 RK at the Chicago Sailboat show this year. Very impressive build quality and just an all around good looking boat.

 

[Ron20324]

The B 323 Can Be Had With A Swing Keel. I Have The Fixed Keel Version.

 

[bkafer]

I've been told the beneteau has stopped making the centerboard boat but I'm not positive of this. The beneteau has a keel that you crank up and down.
The seaward is push button, the keel goes straight up and does not swing like a centerboard. Thus the only parts in the water is the keel, all the wires etc never get near the water . also there is no bolt to rust thru and make life miserable for you like in a centerboard . On the beneteau the pendant and keel bolt are always wet.
I have heard of beneteau cboards getting stuck I've not heard of a seaward getting stuck.
when you hit something with a centerboard, it swings up and out of the way.
when you hit something with a seaward, the boat stops! like it was a real keel, it does NOT swing up it has to be raised by the skipper.
My concern was the boat is not as strong as a centerboard or a full keel when you hit something. The people of seaward assure me that their keel/ and trunk are stronger than a regular keel boat if you hit something.
There seems to me to be more room in a Beneteau,
The seaward seems to be more sturdy, you can trailer a seaward so you can pull the boat yourself. The seaward also has a system so you can raise and lower the mast yourself. The seaward draws much less water than a cboard beneteau
The beneteau, i'm told points better and is a bit faster than a seaward.
You can buy a used Beneteau311 i've seen them for $59,000
a used seaward, theres on on line now $90,000.
so thats what I know or have read , pick what interests you and follow up on iit.

If I had the money I would get the Seaward
but I don't so when I move up its a used beneteau or maybe a used southerly or maybe a jeneau

There are always people looking for boats with boards and shoal draft you would think companies would that a closer look at that.

 

[RAD]

I was at the Annapolis show and the Seaward 32 was there and I was all over that boat.....very impressed, I'm not looking to buy a boat yet but that would be a contender if I were cause where I sail the shallow water is very similar to Mobil Bay and my boat has a swing keel that drops to seven foot draft from three foot six
The other nice feature of the Seaward was the ability to put it on a trailer and take it far away from home like Florida or a nice lake somewhere

 

[Ray Bowles]

We sailed the gulf coast from Mobile Bay to the Florida Key and then the Florida east coast. We visited all the Keys and just about every island during this 2 1/2 year journey. We sailed a 38' Island Packet with a full keel and a draft of 5 feet. Our partners sailed a 39 foot Hallberg Rassey with a fin keel and draft of 6 feet.
We were able to go almost everywhere while our friends were greatly restricted by that 1 foot extra draft. A 5 foot draft also works well in the Bahama's.
I also have extensive experence with swing keels and centerboard keels. The Seaward has a well thought out keel system. The only concern I've ever had with this type of system is the problem marine shell life fouling the movable portion of the keel. This removes the clearence required to raise and lower the keel. I would discuss this at length with a knowledgeable person before purchasing this type of boat.
Good Luck, Ray