Which beneteau first for long term cruising ?

[juliechadwickarns]

We are looking to buy a boat to sail in Ireland then down to Greece next year. Would be mostly short handed sailing and with a view to equiping boat for an Atlantic crossing in the future . What would you recommend? We are looking at first 41s and first 375 both of which fall in the 40000 to 60000 euro range

 

[JohnShannon]

I bet the 41s5 is the better choice if money is no object. Can hold more stuff and is faster, also likely to be a bit less bouncy. On the other hand, everything will be a more expensive.

Bigger sails, more bottom paint, needs a bigger anchor and on and on.

Probably more relevant is the exact condition of the boats available to you. I single hand the 375 all the time (with autopilot). I am surprised the two are at about the same price.

 

[jgurley]

There's a family that has logged 160K miles on their First 38. I recently bought one specifically because it was so highly rated. There's a review that says (via Google books):

http://books.google.com/books?id=jU...a=X&ei=ef2XT7OhCqaniAKvm_jdDw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA

John Kretschmer - 2002 - 232 pages - Preview
I chose the Beneteau First 38 with a length overall of 40 feet, 2 inches as part of the 10 Best for the simple reason that it's a proven world cruiser, something of a modern classic from a design standpoint and it may be the very ...