Contact Beneteau and a Beneteau owner
Nov.4,2000 Dear Bill, You can start by contacting Beneteau at : < www.Beneteauusa.com/> (note theare two letters "u" in the address) and they will send you a brochure and the basic spec and equipment list for the boat. Your going to find though that this is just the tip of the iceberg and for real familiarity your going to have to do the hard work of tracing things out yourself, because there is no telling how things may have been altered from the original. Of course you would want to lift the floor boards and look into all of the lockers anyway just to locate what was where. Unfortunately the detailed type of plans that we owners would like to have fall into the category of blueprints and I don't know of a builder that provides those except in the case of a custom built one off where the designer provides them and the owner pays for them. Needless to say Beneteau would regard its plans as a proprietary property and I would be surprised if they would give them out - it would save an unscroupulous builder alot of work to get that kind of detailed drawing. On our boat a new wiring job came with a schematic, but I still had to trace the lines to figure out where they were run. With respect to the engine the best bet is to go to an engine supplier and buy the shop manual for the model engine and transmission you have. As for the plumbing well, ahem, it's a tough dirty job but somebody's got to do it. On our F456 the main salt water plumbing through hull is located near the centerline of the boat abaft the mast about 4 feet and to starboard. A series of fitting act as a manifold to the various heads for raw water supply. Our holding tanks had been removed so we replaced and replumbed these ourselves, so I can't help you with respect to that issue on your boat. Lastly you can try telephoning Beneteau USA customer service in Charleston S.C. at 843-423-6459 or fax: 834-423-5516 Personally I think your best bet is to get another Beneteau owner to walk through the boat with you. I have always found them to be pleased with their own boats and happy to help a fellow owner, so look around your dock and see who you can find. I hope this helps you find what you need on the climb up the learning curve on your new boat. Brian Pickton@BeneteauOwners.net, Aboard The Legend, Rodney Bay, St.Lucia
