49 Beneteau Review: The Marion-Built Flagship and What It Costs Now

What the 49 Beneteau actually is

Search for a 49 Beneteau and you will mostly land on one boat: the Beneteau 49 that the company's American arm introduced for 2007, drawn by Berret-Racoupeau with an interior by the Milan studio Nauta Design. Sailboatdata catalogs it as first built in 2007 and notes it was also known as the Oceanis 49. It measures 49 ft 6 in overall on a 43 ft 8 in waterline, with a 14 ft 9 in beam and a fractional rig carrying about 1,173 sq ft of sail.

It arrived as Beneteau's statement boat for the US market, and it delivered: Cruising World named it Best Full-Size Production Cruiser in its 2007 Boat of the Year awards. The 49 sits between two better-known names. Below it was the near-identical Beneteau 46, and after it came the Beneteau 50 of 2010, which sailboatdata lists as using the same hull. Knowing which of the three a listing really describes is the first job of any buyer.

Built in Marion, not Saint-Gilles

Most Beneteaus in American marinas were built in France, but the 49 was a Beneteau USA boat. The US brochure described the 49 as the newest model being crafted in Marion, South Carolina, and the builder's own reference material records US production. That matters for two reasons. First, the boat was specified for American owners from the start: 110 volt systems, US gallon tankage figures and a standard equipment list aimed at couples cruising the East Coast and the Caribbean. Second, parts and warranty history tend to run through Beneteau America, which simplifies tracing a boat's past.

Construction follows Beneteau's big-boat recipe of the period. The hull is hand-laid solid fiberglass with a vinylester barrier coat against osmosis, bonded to a structural grid and hull liner, while the deck is a cored sandwich for stiffness and insulation. Main bulkheads are bonded all round to hull and deck, and the stainless chainplates are carried to the inner molding with tie rods. It is a production boat, not a semi-custom yacht, but the engineering is honest and well documented.

Telling the 49 from the Beneteau 46 and the Beneteau 50

Cruising World's 2007 review spelled out how closely the 46 and 49 were related: almost identical Berret-Racoupeau hull lines, the same Nauta interior styling, the same tank sizes and even the forward head and cockpit pulled from the same molds. The 46 was about $50,000 cheaper new. On the used market the quickest tell is length on the papers and the cockpit: the 49's swim platform, transom life raft locker and generous aft seating are noticeably bigger.

The later Beneteau 50, introduced in 2010 and later badged Oceanis 50, shares the 49's hull according to sailboatdata but adds a fixed arch over the cockpit to carry the mainsheet. If the photos show a stainless or composite arch spanning the cockpit, you are looking at the newer boat, which generally asks more. The 49 keeps its mainsheet on the coachroof at the forward end of the cockpit.

• Beneteau 46: same family look, shorter hull, about $240,000 new in 2007
• Beneteau 49: 49 ft 6 in, mainsheet on the coachroof, 2007 Boat of the Year
• Beneteau 50 (2010 on): same hull per sailboatdata, mainsheet arch over the cockpit

Two cabins or three: the decision that sets resale

Beneteau offered the 49 in two-cabin and three-cabin versions. The two-cabin boat is the one Cruising World sailed, and it is the better liveaboard: the owner gets a large aft cabin with a double berth set at an angle of about 45 degrees, hanging lockers on both sides, a vanity and six opening ports and hatches. The forward cabin has an island double of about 6 ft 7 in by 5 ft 3 in and its own head with a separate shower behind a curved door. A second head with shower sits aft of the nav station by the companionway.

The three-cabin version divides the aft space into two smaller doubles, which suits families with teenagers or couples who cruise with guests. Expect a smaller pool of buyers when you sell, because the two-cabin layout is what most private owners want at this size. Headroom is about 6 ft 4 in in the forward cabin and around 6 ft 7 in aft according to the US equipment list.

A saloon designed by megayacht people

Nauta's interior uses light-toned Moabi joinery, off-white surfaces and stainless trim, and it still looks more contemporary than many boats built a decade later. The saloon settees are straight rather than curved, which makes them usable as sea berths, and the table swivels and folds for sailing then opens to seat eight. Cruising World also liked a small bilge sump amidships, a rarity on a shallow-bilged modern hull, which keeps stray water in one place where the pump can reach it.

The L-shaped galley runs to port with a gimballed three-burner stove and oven, a front-opening 34 gallon refrigerator that opens from aft so contents stay put on either tack, a 26 gallon top-loading freezer and a double sink set near the centerline. Opposite is a forward-facing chart table big enough for paper charts, with space for radar and plotter displays. For a family that actually cooks aboard, it is a well thought out arrangement.

Rig, numbers and how the 49 sails

The 9/10 fractional rig sits on a deck-stepped mast with twin swept spreaders, a rigid vang and a furling genoa of roughly 135 to 140 percent overlap. Beneteau offered two masts: a classic version with a 51 ft 8 in P dimension for a conventional main, and an in-mast furling version with a slightly shorter luff. Most US boats have the furling main with vertical battens, which costs some performance but makes the boat easy to handle for a couple.

Sailboatdata's figures describe a moderately light, powerful cruiser: a sail area to displacement ratio of about 20.5 on reported sail area, a displacement to length ratio near 150, a ballast ratio of 34 percent and a capsize screening value of 1.95. Its comfort ratio of about 26 marks it as a coastal and island-hopping cruiser rather than a heavy offshore boat. Boat of the Year judge Ed Sherman found it stable and free of quirks in the 10 knots the judges had for their trial, and Cruising World called it a sprightly performer.

The cockpit is set up for short-handed sailing, with Lewmar 65 primaries forward of the twin 36 inch wheels, halyards and control lines led aft to coachroof winches (one electric as standard), and a centerline table with a swiveling chart plotter pod. The one ergonomic catch is the mainsheet on the coachroof: someone has to leave the helm to trim it.

Engine, tanks and systems to check

Power is a 76 hp Yanmar 4JH4-TE turbo diesel on a conventional shaft, fed from a single 63 gallon rotomolded fuel tank. That is modest tankage for a 49 footer, so plan on motoring range in the low hundreds of miles rather than long calms. Fresh water is a healthier 150 gallons split between a 63 gallon tank under the port aft berth and an 87 gallon tank under the forward berth, with an 11 gallon water heater.

Electrically the boat came with two 200 amp hour house batteries, a 105 amp hour start battery, an 80 amp alternator and a 40 amp shore charger. That is a weekend specification by modern standards. Many owners have since added lithium or larger AGM banks, solar on a stern frame, a higher-output alternator and a generator in the transom bay that Beneteau designed to take either a life raft or a genset. Ask exactly what was changed and who did the wiring.

What a 2007 or 2008 Beneteau 49 sells for

Because production was short, the Beneteau 49 for sale pool is small at any given moment and concentrated on the US East Coast, the Gulf and the Caribbean. Typical asking prices for 2007 and 2008 boats run from about $205,000 for a tired example to a little over $300,000 for a well-equipped, updated one. That is roughly what the boat cost new, which tells you how well the model has held up and how much inflation has pushed up the price of newer 50 footers.

Price the boat on its inventory rather than its year. New sails, standing rigging replaced in the last ten years, a recent engine service history, modern electronics and an upgraded house bank are each worth real money, and their absence should come off the asking price. A three-cabin boat or one with a charter history deserves a discount of its own.