Beneteau Oceanis 43

Changing L'attitude

We all want to live the dream. To detune, buy a comfortable cruiser, whether it be power or sail, and head off cruising and living the life of the nomadic boater. A few of us get to do it and the rest of us live our lives vicariously through their exploits getting postcards from places we only dream about.

Well, the owners of this sparkling new Beneteau Oceanis 43 are looking at living the life and using this all-new Beneteau for what the designers at Barrett Racoupeau meant it to be used for - serious cruising.

The owners, Tim and Doris, are seasoned sailors having sold their well-campaigned Sigma 35 on which they did extensive bay and ocean racing out of Melbourne to step up to the new 43. In fact, so new is the design that this boat was the first one ordered in Australia and Tim and Doris bought it 'off the plan' having never laid eyes on a finished boat.

"We were actually looking for a second-hand boat," said Tim. "But we saw the 43 in Trade-A-Boat and with the help of David from Sundance Yacht Sales we came to the conclusion that a new boat would have advantages.

"The Oceanis 43 had everything we wanted as a starting point and we could then spec it up with electronics and other items we wanted for cruising," he said.

The 43 is a big boat. As with previous Oceanis designs, it can be ordered in a two or three-cabin layout both of which have two large bathrooms with showers.

The two-cabin layout, as tested, has the galley to port in a U-shape beside the companionway. This allows for a lounge to port in the saloon opposite the dining area. The three-cabin version has its galley along the port side in place of the lounge.

Personally, unless you're going cruising with kids or other couples, I'd opt for the two-cabin as the lounge gives the saloon a greater feeling of space and the galley in this version is bigger with an extra fridge.

The two-cabin version also has a vast cockpit locker to port in which you could stow a rolled-up rubber duckie and/or outboard and still have room for a sail or two.

The two-cabin version also offers a larger aft cabin with the bed, which is bigger than queen size according to Doris who had to buy the linen, fitted athwartships rather than the three-cabin which has the aft cabins with smaller fore-and-aft doubles.

COMFORTABLE FITOUT
Which ever version you look at, the Oceanis 43 is a roomy and comfortable boat for cruising. All cabins offer storage which, though small, gives hanging space as well as flat storage for clothes. Big opening hatches provide light and air in the cabins and the aft cabin(s) have opening ports for cross ventilation.

The aft cabin in the test boat had impressive headroom of 1.95 metres with a seat for changing and even good sitting headroom in the bed.

As mentioned, the boat is big on volume in the saloon. It has a beam of 4.12 metres, most of which is carried aft making for more space than one would expect in a boat of this length. It's a big area with a good use of space that's light and airy and certainly doesn't feel cluttered. One downside is that I'd like to see more hand holds for serious ocean work. It's a common grip on modern yachts but Tim and Doris already have a plan to rig their own hand holds for the ocean.

The comfy dining area features the tricky folding and pivoting table around which six could dine in style. Small features like wine storage and enclosed storage lockers along the hull add to the luxurious appointments. We sat waiting for a change in the weather sipping coffee and enjoying some fine cookies ... we could have been anywhere.

ON DECK
As often happens, the weather gods were not kind to us on our test day but thankfully, it was from a lack of wind rather than an excess so we did get a bit of a sail on the bay.

Once again, the cockpit of the 43 is big. Six can easily be accommodated with eight to 10 not out of the question.

Access is via the swim platform aft through opening lifelines attached to the split pushpit. Or, conversely you can access via either of the two openings in the lifelines amidships.

Getting familiar with the running rigging, I noted that all lines including the two reefing lines lead aft to sturdy Spinlock cam cleats and are handled by a couple of Harken 40 self-tailing winches, one of which is electric to handle the halyards and the main sheet. Primary winches are Harken 46s which can also be specified as electric.

The headsail is on a Profurl furler and main is handled by lazy jacks.

Heading forward, I found the decks wide and clear, and edged by teak toerails - a nice cruisy touch. The boom is high but the rig has a couple of folding steps so you can reach up to attach or detach the halyard. The rig is a 9/10 fractional deck-stepped aluminium section with two sets of swept-back spreaders.

Standing rigging is stainless steel wire with single forestay twin backstays and the shrouds are fixed to chainplates and taken back to the inner moulding by stainless steel ties rods.

As we decamped the marina, I was impressed by the big, functional-looking mooring cleats fore, aft and amidships.

ON THE BAY
The Oceanis 43 is powered by a 54hp Yanmar diesel with shaft drive to a fixed three-blade prop, however Tim has fitted a three-blade folding Gori 'overdrive' prop with which you can change pitch for better cruising ability and longer range. I have one of these on my boat and can attest to their ability as well as their durability.

The 43 is very happy to cruise at around 7kts under motor and will belt along at around 8.5kts if pushed which will certainly get you places.

We hoisted sail in not a lot of wind but the 43 seemed unfazed and cruised along nicely under main and jib. Tim has opted for a new set of sails from Ted Silberisen in Melbourne and they certainly did us no harm on the day. On the GPS we were doing 4.8kts SOG in 6.3kts true wind.

It pointed well too, no doubt helped by the new sails but we had no trouble pointing around 35º in the light conditions.

Since our photo shoot, I have seen the boat out in stiffer breezes and it seems to handle them nicely. It's not a heavy boat weighing in at a light 8875kg but it doesn't appear too tender for serious ocean work.

CUSTOMISED PACKAGES
Unlike the previous Oceanis models, Beneteau is now offering 'packages' with which to optimise your yacht rather than having the separate Clipper range on top of the standard Oceanis.

On offer is Exclusive Package (as seen here) which includes teak cockpit sole and table, a folding and pivoting saloon table, indirect 'mood' lighting in the saloon, bigger two-burner hob with oven and grill, the extra fridge in the two-cabin version, shower screens in the heads and a second battery.

The Yacht Club Pack offers a dodger or bimini, hot and cold shower in the cockpit, linen, crockery with Beneteau logo and a 16kg anchor with chain and wrap plus lines and fenders.

The electronic Pack gives you a Raymarine package including ST60+ Tridata log, speed and depth plus ST60+ wind instruments. Also included is a C80 multi-function screen with GPS and plotter, and a handy pivoting holder for the screen which swivels to face either of the helms.

WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
Tim has fitted the boat with a range of electronics including computer interfaces, Ticktick instruments interfaced with the Raymarine plotter, radar, a Raymarine 6000 autopilot with upgraded ram, and more. He's also upgraded the battery bank to 600 amp/h. Soon a 22in screen will go in and navigation can be viewed either on deck or on the big screen.

He's thinking of a watermaker, an extra fuel tank, possibly a generator, and air-con at a later date to handle the tropics.

As mentioned earlier, the plan is to cruise.

"We plan to do a bit of light racing here in Melbourne, then a couple of shake-down cruises to see if there are any bugs or anything else we may need, then we're off," said the owner.

"We'll be doing the Hamilton Island regatta next year and the Dent to Dunk race, then who knows? If we do any serious long-distance stuff, we'll probably add a staysail and an asymmetric kite for the long reaches and that should do us," he said.

So it's out the heads and turn left for the crew of this fine Beneteau 43, perhaps the designers would be pleased to follow their adventures.

And what better name for a boat that's going to go north and beyond than Changing L'attitude?

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