Beneteau First 305 Used Buyer's Guide, Jean Berret's Mid-1980s 30-Footer

A Berret 30-footer that sold 644 times

The Beneteau 305 First, as US listings often call it, belongs to the mid-1980s generation that turned Beneteau from a French success into an American one. Jean Berret drew it as a cruiser-racer, and Wikipedia records 644 boats built between 1984, as a 1985 model, and 1989. Sailboatdata notes it was first promoted in the US simply as the F305. If you are pricing a 1986 Beneteau First 305 today, you are looking at a boat that was designed to win club races on Saturday and take a family of four away on Sunday.

Berret had already given Beneteau the First 30 E, a detuned version of the half tonner that won the 1981 Half Ton Cup. The 305 took over its place in the range with a similar 30 ft 6 in to 30 ft 8 in hull length, a masthead rig, a fixed chart table and the head moved aft. Beneteau's archive places it in the second generation of Firsts, alongside the 235, 265, 345 and 375.

Built in the Vendée and in Marion, South Carolina

Production ran in France and at Beneteau's plant in Marion, South Carolina. That matters for American buyers, because many boats here were built and commissioned locally, while a French-built hull that crossed the Atlantic later may differ in details such as fittings and electrics. Ask which factory built the boat before ordering parts.

The hull is solid fiberglass and the deck is balsa-cored, according to Wikipedia. The rudder is an internal spade on a tiller, and the mast is deck-stepped. The 1986 Beneteau brochure gives the overall length as 9.80 m and the hull length as 9.35 m (30 ft 8 in), with an 8.20 m waterline, 3.25 m beam and a displacement of about 3,600 kg (7,937 lb). Sailboatdata lists a slightly heavier 8,242 lb, so treat weight as approximate.

Masthead power on a moderate hull

Beneteau quoted 49 square meters of working sail, an 18.5 m2 mainsail and a 30.5 m2 genoa, so the 305 is a genoa-driven boat in the 1980s style. Sailboatdata, working from the 100 percent foretriangle, puts SA/D near 16 and D/L near 192. Ballast is 1,350 kg (2,976 lb) of cast iron, roughly 36 percent of displacement by sailboatdata's figures, which makes the boat stiffer than many lighter fractional designs of the period.

Hull speed works out at just under 7 knots. Wikipedia gives a PHRF handicap of 159, and a symmetrical spinnaker of about 759 square feet. In practice, that makes the 305 a solid mid-fleet PHRF boat that rewards a well cut genoa and good crew work, rather than a boat that will surf away from the fleet. As on any masthead boat with a big overlapping genoa, the key to sailing it well in a building breeze is changing down or furling the headsail early.

Deep fin, shoal fin or the twin-rudder lifting keel

Sailboatdata notes that the 305 was offered with several keel and rig combinations, and the original brochure confirms the main ones. The deep cast iron fin draws 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in); the shoal fin draws 1.35 m (4 ft 5 in). A third version, which the French paperwork calls the version dériveur, has a cast iron lifting keel and twin rudders, draws 0.76 m (2 ft 6 in) with the keel up and 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) with it down, and is designed to sit upright on a drying mooring without legs.

On the rig side, the brochure describes the masthead version, while sailboatdata lists an alternative short rig with I and P about 1.7 ft and 1.6 ft shorter. Listings rarely state which keel or rig a boat has, so ask, and compare the photos with the drawings. For Chesapeake or Florida cruising the shoal fin is a sensible compromise; the twin-rudder lifting keel is rare in the US and is aimed at drying harbors in Europe.

Reading the July 1986 equipment list today

Beneteau's July 1986 list shows how well specified these boats were. On deck: Lewmar 40 two-speed genoa winches, a Lewmar 8C halyard winch, halyards led aft to the cockpit with a double stopper, teak cockpit seats and foot holds, a main traveler, a tiller with telescopic extension and a Barbarossa backstay adjuster. Sails were a two-reef Dacron main of about 18 m2 with a flattening reef and a 19.6 m2 working jib.

Below, the layout is classic Beneteau of the era. A double V-berth cabin is forward, the saloon has an L-shaped settee and a straight settee around a table, the L-shaped galley to port has a gimbaled two-burner stove, a double sink and an icebox, and the chart table faces it to starboard. Aft, a double cabin sits to port and the head with shower to starboard, with a sail locker and hanging locker beside it. Headroom is about 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in), and the boat sleeps six.

Beneteau's French brochure sells the interior on its varnished joinery and a feeling of space that, it claimed, belonged on a boat of more than 10 meters. Today the wood is the part that ages best; upholstery, headliners and hatches are usually what need money.

The Volvo 2002 question

Sailboatdata and Wikipedia both list a Volvo Penta 2002 diesel as the original engine, and European listings show it at 18 hp. The 1986 brochure simply refers to the price list for engine type, and gives a fuel tank of about 27 liters (7 gallons) and fresh water of about 100 liters (26 gallons); other sources quote slightly different tank sizes.

The 2002 is a simple two-cylinder engine, but a 40-year-old example will need attention to its raw water cooling, exhaust elbow and drive. Many US boats have been repowered with modern Yanmar or Beta units, and a documented repower is one of the best things a used 305 can have. With only about 7 gallons of fuel, plan on carrying a jerry can for longer motoring passages.

Where a surveyor should spend time

Start with the balsa-cored deck. Moisture readings around stanchions, the genoa tracks, the mast step and the deck hardware will show whether core repairs are coming. Then look at the keel. Cast iron rusts where the fairing has failed, the keel bolts deserve inspection, and any history of hard groundings means the floors and the hull around the keel root need a close look.

Rig age is the next question. If there is no record of new standing rigging, budget for it, and check the chainplates and the deck-stepped mast's base for corrosion and compression. Finally, the spade rudder: bearing play, water in the blade and cracks at the stock are common on boats of this age, and a tired rudder on a tiller boat is easy to feel during a sea trial.

What a Beneteau 305 for sale costs in 2026

Expect US asking prices in 2026 to run from about $14,000 for a project boat to around $36,000 for a well maintained, repowered example with recent sails. Model year makes little difference within such a short run. A boat with a newer engine, documented rigging and a dry deck is worth paying more for, because those three items can easily cost more than the price gap.

Annual running costs of roughly $3,500 to $9,000 cover a slip or mooring, insurance, a haul-out with bottom paint and routine maintenance. Racing adds sails; a new genoa for a masthead boat of this size is the single largest regular expense.

First 30 E, First 305 or First 310?

Three Beneteau 30-footers from the 1980s and early 1990s are often confused. The First 30 E (1981 to 1984) is the Berret detuned half tonner with a fold-down chart table and an amidships head. The First 305 (1984 to 1989) is its Berret successor with a masthead rig, a proper chart table and the head aft. The First 310 (1990 to 1995) is a lighter Groupe Finot design with a fractional rig and a large aft double.

If a listing just says Beneteau 30 or Beneteau First, read the hull identification number and look at the rig: a masthead forestay and an aft head on the starboard side point to the 305.