Beneteau Oceanis 40, 43, 46

As featured in the 2008 edition of trade-a-boat's 'Big Boat Collection'

It's customary for European boatbuilders to release their new products at the autumn shows in Paris, London, and Dusseldorf, Germany. That way, the sales guys can pick up a load of orders in time for the factories to produce new boats for delivery ahead of the northern summer. The new Oceanis 40, 43 and 46 were shown in autumn, but the first sailing opportunity was at Valencia, Spain, in February. The latest Oceanis models have hull and deck designs by Berret-Racopeau, and the interiors are the creation of Nauta Design, the Italian superyacht studio. The result is an exterior and interior completely new to the Oceanis line up, with a more luxurious feel and more space devoted to cabins and heads.

The exterior styling for all the new Oceanis boats centres on a 'targa' style cabin roof line, with pilot-house-style large cabin side glasses and sunroofs.

The hulls are single-skinned GRP and the deck moulding is GRP-balsa sandwich. The hull is strengthened by a bonded and laminated inner moulding that absorbs stresses at key points: chain plates and keel and rudder attachment points.

All three new boats have twin steering stations, with engine controls and instruments at the starboard station and sailing instruments to port. There is a column-mounted compass at each steering station. All boats have a dropside cockpit table, with lift-up icebox lids, a 12V power socket and a table lamp. There's an integrated chart reader, mounted in a swivelling housing that can be turned towards either steering station. Very clever.

The sterns offer walkthrough access to the bathing platforms. Coldwater transom showers and boarding ladders are fitted.

The coach house features a recess that provides a haven for crew adjusting the mainsail controls. The mainsheet is tensioned by a cabin-top winch. All sail control lines, including one-line reefing, lead to this station.

The headsail sheets are led aft to winches that can be easily handled by the helmsman if necessary. Uncomplicated two-up sailing has obviously been a priority in the design process.

Below decks, the new Oceanis yachts are as we've come to expect from Beneteau, but with more flair than was evident in the previous Oceanis models. However, the plain-plank cabin soles look a bit too bare for our liking – it's hard to shake the expectation of strip-planked soles in contrasting timbers or with simulated caulking.

Head room varies from an average 1.9m in the Oceanis 40, through 1.95m in the 43, to two metres in the 46.

Light and ventilation have been given high priority. For example, in the 43 there are 24 sources of daylight: the sunroof, two large side cabin windows, six fixed hull ports, six opening hatches, eight opening ports and the companionway hatch. There are also 14 deck head lights, six reading lights, a red/white strip light over the chart table, and a white strip light in the galley.

Quick access to the engine is via an insulated lift-up front panel. The companionway stair lifts with this panel on self-supporting gas struts. There are additional engine room side covers in the aft cabins.

Engine noise on deck and in the cabins is commendably low at cruising revs, with little vibration.

All the new Oceanis yachts come with a fixed, three-blade propeller.

OCEANIS 40
Like the previous Oceanis Clipper 393, the new Oceanis 40 is a relatively light displacement 40-footer with a beam of 3.96m. At 7680kg, it's marginally lighter than its predecessor, which weighed 7780kg.

The 40's total white-sail area is 76sqm, compared to the standard 393's 75sqm and the performance-mast 393 version's 78.7sqm.

The 393 was available in two and three-cabin versions, with a head right in the bow, forward of a portside double bunk. The aft head was located to starboard, with doorways into the main saloon and into the starboard aft cabin. The saloon featured a walkthrough dinette and there was a choice of a linear or U-shaped galley.

The Oceanis 40 is also available with a two-cabin or three-cabin layout, but the forward berth is 'veed' right into the bow. The two-cabin version has only one head, but it's huge and has a separate shower section.

The three-cabin version retains the aft head and there's an ensuite for the forward cabin. The two-cabin boat has a U-shaped galley and a walkthrough dinette. The three-cabin version has a linear galley, opposite the dinette, with a moveable seat in the walkway.

The three-cabin 40 looks like a charter proposition, while the two-cabin is a family cruising boat.

OCEANIS 43
The Oceanis 43 replaces the Clipper 423 and is slightly heavier: 9140kg, compared to the previous boat's 8800kg, but the new boat is wider, at 4.12m, compared to the previous 3.9m. Water capacity is similar to the 423 at 360 lt.

The 43's white-sail area is 88.6sqm, compared to the standard 423's 84sqm and the performance-mast version's 94sqm.

The Clipper 423 was the most flexible model in the Oceanis range, with four different layouts, from a spacious two-cabin, two-head arrangement to a cramped four-cabin, three-head model.

The new 43 doesn't attempt to cover such a wide spectrum, coming as a two-head boat, with one or two aft cabins. Unlike the 423's dual-purpose heads, the 43 comes with aft heads that have separate, screened shower sections. The forward vee berths are set into the bow, with roomy heads that have integral showers.

Both versions have walkthrough dinettes and the three-cabin boat has an additional bench that can be stowed under the table when not in use. This version has a linear galley opposite the dinette, while the two-cabin boat has a U-shaped galley aft.

As with the 40, the 43's two-cabin layout will suit family cruising, while the three-cabin has a charter bias.

OCEANIS 46
The birth of the all-new Oceanis 46 would seem like a good reason for reducing the cabin layout options in the 43, but surprisingly there's no four-cabin option for the 46.

The 46 displaces 10 tonnes and has a white-sail area of 101sqm.

Despite having a length of 14m and a beam of 4.3m, the 46 comes with only a three-cabin or two-cabin layout. Both layouts feature large heads, both with screened showers. The two-cabin version has luxury cabin space at both ends.

Both layouts feature a U-shaped galley and ample dinette space, with seats in the walkway.

The Oceanis 46 differs from the 40 and the 43 by having a single backstay instead of twins. The wider transom of the 46 allows for an offset staircase to the swimming platform, while the other boats have central access. The 46 has cavernous transom storage bins. It also has a double-block mainsheet car, while the others have a single twin-block.

ON THE WATER
Beneteau had the use of the Alinghi America's Cup yacht base in Valencia for the boat testing period.

The new Oceanis 'family' look was obvious across the three new yachts: so much so that we needed to look at the hull decals to be sure of what particular boat we were checking out. The same applied to the interiors, where the quality was similar across the range.

Common features included open-drum furlers - a larger one on the 46 - and swept-back, twin-spreader rigs. Each boat had four cruising-sized, self-tailing winches; two on the cabin top and two on the cockpit coamings. The deck hatches were shared items as well, but there were more of them on the 43 and the 46 than on the 40. All three had pulpit navigation lights that were repeated at half-mast height.

The test boats were equipped with standard sails, plus optional asymmetric spinnakers. The asymmetric didn't require mini-sprits and had tack blocks attached to the bowroller brackets. The tack lines were adjustable and led to the bow mooring cleats.

Our first mount was the Oceanis 40. It backed out of the pen smoothly under power without too much prop walk, and motored in the light air without exhaust fuming and noise. Once warmed up the 40hp Yanmar pushed the boat along at a respectable 5.7kts. We hoisted the main and unfurled the genoa without effort in 5kts of wind that soon built to eight to 10kts. The Oceanis 40 managed 4.5 to 5kts upwind, but felt happier eased off to 50 degrees than when pinched.

The asymmetric was easy to hoist and handle, and saw us reaching at six to 8kts in the light breeze.

We moved across to the 43 in the afternoon and the breeze kicked in to a steady 15 to 20kts, with gusts up to 25kts. That was more like it!

Although these are essentially cruising yachts, we soon had an impromptu race going. The 43 ate the 40 upwind and was gaining on the 46 when the latter bore away and hoisted the spinnaker. We followed suit in the 43 and soon had him on toast again. The 43 seems to be the best performance boat of the new trio.

We deliberately allowed a couple of broaches with the spinnaker up to see what would happen. With the main sheeted in harder than it should be, a big gust sent the Oceanis heeling hard upwind without dipping the rail far into the briny. The spinnaker and the main flapped and de-powered. The boat sat up once more, back came rudder control, and away we went. Very forgiving and very safe.

In a breeze averaging around 18kts, the 43 reached happily at 11 to 12kts, without any vicious behaviour and with excellent helm feel. The twin wheels are much more convenient than a single large one, allowing the helmsman to sit to leeward for optimum view of the waves and the sails. There's also good support for the helmsman when the boat heels.

The 46 was similar in feel to the 43, but with noticeably more deck and cockpit space. It's the pick of the three if you're looking for a party boat. However, the 43 has similar performance so you'd need to take advantage of the extra deck, cabin and stowage space to make the 46 worthwhile.

The new Oceanis hulls have finer entry than the previous, more rounded-bow designs and this change showed up with a more sea-kindly motion and no sign of bow-slapping as we carved through the chop. The hull radius on the new designs is also more constant so there's no discernible 'chine' effect as the boats heel.

The Oceanis 43 and 46 are available for delivery in Australia from August this year and the 40 will be available from December.