Beneteau Antares 9 Review: Two Cabins and Twin Outboards in 30 Feet

Antares 9 Beneteau: which one are you looking at?

Searches for the Antares 9 Beneteau turn up two different boats. The first Antares 9 was introduced in 2017 as part of the fifth Antares generation, a 29-foot 11-inch, 9,387-pound pilothouse boat on twin outboards of up to 200 hp each. In January 2025 Beneteau gave the name to an all-new boat that premiered at Boot Düsseldorf: 30 feet 6 inches long, about 10,182 pounds, and rated for twin 250s.

Both are two-cabin weekenders with an enclosed wheelhouse, an offset cabin and a wide starboard walkway, and both carry 158 gallons of fuel in two tanks. The new one borrows its styling and finish from the 42-foot Antares 12 flagship, with a longer hardtop that covers the whole cockpit, bigger hull windows and lacquered joinery. Soundings and Power and Motoryacht call it a clear step up, and Boating went further, calling it vastly improved.

The Airstep hull and a 23-degree transom

Beneteau builds the new 9's planing hull with an injection process that it says gives a quieter, smoother ride. Boating describes the bottom as a new Airstep hull with twin strakes and 23 degrees of transom deadrise, and more than 40 degrees amidships. The bow is sharp, the strakes throw spray aside, and in a lumpy Gulf Stream the tester found the motion a pleasant, predictable lope rather than a pound.

One handling note: the boat likes to run slightly bow high in a chop, so Boating suggests trimming the engines up a little to move the point of entry aft. At wide-open throttle the helm measured 85 dB(A), dropping to a conversational 78 dB(A) at 23 mph, quiet enough to impress owners stepping up from open boats.

• LOA 30 feet 6 inches, beam 9 feet 10 inches, draft 3 feet 2 inches
• Displacement about 10,182 pounds
• 158 gallons of fuel in two tanks, 42 gallons of water
• Bridge clearance 10 feet 9 inches, cabin headroom 6 feet 5 inches

Twin 200s or twin 250s: speed and fuel

Standard power is a pair of Mercury 200 hp V6s. Boating recorded 40 mph (about 35 knots) at 5,800 rpm and a fast cruise of 32 mph (about 28 knots) on 19.4 gph, roughly 1.4 nautical miles per gallon. Power and Motoryacht's sea trial out of North Palm Beach cruised between 22 and 25 knots and hit 35 knots at 5,500 rpm.

Twin 250 hp V8s are optional. Beneteau's company trials showed 40 knots at 6,000 rpm with the bigger engines, and Beneteau's North American sales director prefers them for their torque and higher alternator output, which helps run electronics and house loads. Boating's view was that the 200s are enough for towing toys and outrunning weather, and that the extra power might add about 6 mph at the top.

For the first-generation boat, BoatTEST measured 42.2 mph (about 36.7 knots) with twin 200 Mercurys and a best cruise of 25.4 mph at 3,500 rpm, where the boat returned 1.8 miles per gallon and a range of about 262 statute miles.

A queen berth forward and a real second cabin

Beneteau offsets the cabin to port, which leaves a narrow port deck but a safe, faux-teak walkway to starboard and more interior volume. Below, the owner's cabin forward has what Beneteau calls the largest berth in a boat of this class, a queen reachable from both sides, with a TV, stowage and a hatch. The guest cabin, closed by its own door, has an athwartship full-size berth, 6 feet 1 inch of headroom and a hanging locker. The single head is a wet head with a vessel sink and electric toilet.

In the wheelhouse a dinette to port converts to a berth about 35 inches wide, and the galley opposite has a two-burner Kenyon cooktop, an 80-liter Dometic refrigerator and an optional microwave. The skipper's seat swivels to join the dinette, the companion seat faces either way, a manual sunroof and sliding side windows bring in air, and a sliding door beside the helm puts a cleat within reach for single-handed docking.

A cockpit that slides to make room

Beneteau gave more of the boat's length to the cockpit and less to the engine well. The result is a 6-foot-wide U-shaped bench that slides aft when the engines are down and locks 16 inches forward when they are tilted up. With the table as a filler it becomes a large sun pad, and the hardtop covers the whole area. Boarding is through a stern door or a 24-inch starboard gate.

A big hatch in the cockpit sole opens to a stowage compartment that holds cushions, table bases and shore cords, and it is also where the optional generator lives. The foredeck carries a lounge with adjustable backrests and a windlass with remote control, and the hardtop has rails for kayaks and paddleboards.

Options to order, and a few quibbles

Check the boxes for the generator, about $30,000, if you want air conditioning at $7,900; without it, the boat relies on the sunroof and windows. Other worthwhile options are a bow thruster, Lenco trim tabs, a 12-inch Garmin display, the Mercury joystick and, for the 9's sleepers, the second-cabin upgrades.

Testers found a few places where the price shows. Soundings noted an imperfectly fitted fabric sunroof cover and a flimsy strap for the stowed cockpit table, and Boating found the overhead VHF awkward to use. None are deal breakers, and Boating's conclusion was that the boat is priced right for what it does.

Twin-outboard costs and how the 9 holds value

Twin 200s at a 28-knot cruise burn about 19 gph, so a 100-hour season mostly at speed uses around 1,500 to 1,900 gallons. Budget roughly $12,000 to $24,000 a year for slip, insurance, twin outboard service, bottom paint and generator service if fitted.

Antares models hold value reasonably well thanks to Beneteau's global dealer network. First-generation 9s are now affordable entry points into a two-cabin boat, while early examples of the redesigned model are scarce and priced close to new.