Beneteau Flyer 650, How to Tell Five Versions Apart

One Beneteau 650 Flyer hull, five deck plans

Anyone looking up a beneteau 650 flyer quickly discovers that the name covers a small family. All of them sit on the same 6.03 m (19 ft 9 in) hull with a 2.44 m molded beam, take a single outboard of up to 200 hp and carry 137 liters (36 gallons) of fuel, but the decks were drawn by three different designers over roughly a decade. Beneteau's archive places them in the fourth Flyer generation, which it dates from 2004 to 2016, and the earliest boats we found for sale are 2004 builds.

Beneteau's 2007 range brochure shows the first wave: the Flyer 650 WA and 650 Open by Antoine Volanis and a 650 Cabin by Boxer Design. A second wave styled by Pierangelo Andreani followed, comprising the 650 Sun Deck, the 650 Cabrio and a restyled 650 Open offered in a pearl grey hull, all three with equipment lists dated June 2012.

A field guide to the versions

Listings often just say Flyer 650, so it pays to know the visual cues. The WA (walkaround) has raised side decks around a small cabin and the heaviest first-wave hull at 1,435 kg light. The original Open has a center console and lots of seating at 1,390 kg, and the Boxer-designed Cabin is the sportiest looking of the three with a sunpad forward that converts into a picnic area, at 1,335 kg and 6.27 m overall.

The Andreani boats look more modern. The Sun Deck has a 2.20 by 2.00 m forward sunpad over a cuddy with 1.33 m of headroom and a U-shaped cockpit bench for six whose middle section lifts out for fishing. The Cabrio has a deep, steep-sided cockpit that Beneteau called Scandinavian in style, sheltered from spray, and is the heaviest at 1,510 kg. The 2012 Open keeps a center console with a wider port side deck, bolster seats and a sliding door to a small cabin, and is the lightest at 1,230 kg.

• 650 WA, Volanis: 6.11 m, 1,435 kg, CE C6, 40 liters of water
• 650 Open (first wave), Volanis: 6.11 m, 1,390 kg, CE C8
• 650 Cabin, Boxer Design: 6.27 m, 1,335 kg, CE C6
• 650 Sun Deck, Andreani: 6.15 m, 1,350 kg, CE C8 / D8
• 650 Cabrio, Andreani: 6.15 m, 1,510 kg, CE C7 / D7
• 650 Open (2012), Andreani styling: 6.15 m, 1,230 kg, CE C8 / D8

What fits below

None of the 650s is a cruiser, but most have somewhere to get out of the weather. The 2012 equipment lists give 1.36 m of headroom under the Open's console, 1.33 m in the Sun Deck's cuddy and 1.32 m in the Cabrio's. Each has a chemical toilet position, and the Cabrio could be ordered with interior cushions and an additional double berth. The later boats also have a 50 liter fresh water tank, up from 40 liters on the first wave, which in practice runs a cockpit shower.

In short, two adults can nap or spend a warm night aboard a Sun Deck, Cabrio or WA, and the Open's console locker is better treated as dry storage with a toilet.

Choosing and judging the outboard

Beneteau sold the 650 without an engine and supplied pre-rigging for the dealer to fit one. The 2012 lists show Suzuki rigging for 150 to 200 hp, Yamaha for 115 to 150 hp and Honda for 115 to 200 hp, all single engines. Most boats on the market today have a 115 or 150 hp four-stroke; the 200 hp limit applies across all versions according to Beneteau's specifications.

We could not find an independent speed and fuel test for the Flyer 650, so we do not quote figures. A 150 hp four-stroke on a hull weighing 1.2 to 1.5 tonnes ready to go is a sensible, economical pairing for family use; buyers who tow skiers or run with a full load of eight may want the 200.

What 15 to 20 years does to a small Flyer

Every 650 is now at least a decade old, and many of the first-wave boats are past 20. The hull itself is simple and robust, so most problems are in the details: transom and engine bracket stress from years of outboard loads, tired wiring and switch panels, failed seals on the sliding cabin doors, crazed acrylic windscreens on the Cabrio and Sun Deck, and degraded foam in seats and sunpads. Rotomolded or aluminum fuel tanks and their fittings deserve a look, and so does any trailer that comes with the boat.

A boat that has been repowered in the last few years with a modern four-stroke and has documented service is usually the best buy, even if the hull is older.

Buying one as an American

The 650 was overwhelmingly a European boat, and nearly every example for sale is in France, Spain or Italy. Importing one makes sense only for buyers who already keep a boat in Europe or who plan to use it there. In the US, a similar budget buys a used domestic center console with broader dealer support, so the Flyer 650's appeal is its European style, its cabin options and its light, easily towed hull rather than its price.

Annual running costs are modest, about $3,500 to $8,000 excluding depreciation for storage, insurance and outboard service on a trailer or dry stack.

Successors and neighbors

In Beneteau's archive, the next boats of this size were the Air Step Flyer 6.6 in SPORTdeck, SPACEdeck and SUNdeck versions, rated for 200 hp with a 170 liter tank, followed in 2019 by today's Flyer 7. Above the 650 sat the 7.2 m Flyer 750 family, which introduced Beneteau's Air Step hull, and below it the 5 m class Flyer 550. None of these share the 650's hull, so specs and prices should be kept separate.