Beneteau Flyer 701, the Sterndrive Weekender From Before Air Step

A cruiser in a dayboat family

Search for a Beneteau 701 Flyer today and you land on a boat that sits awkwardly in its own family tree. The Flyer name now means outboard dayboats with SUNdeck and SPACEdeck layouts, but the Flyer 701 that Beneteau launched in 1999 was something else: a compact sterndrive cabin cruiser with a proper galley, an aft cabin and an enclosed head. Beneteau's own heritage page sums up the brief in one line, a boat designed for coastal cruising, with a kitchen and four berths, fast and stable.

It belongs to what Beneteau calls the second and third generations of Flyer, built between 1987 and 2004, yet it outlived that era. A detailed French inventory sheet for the boat is dated July 2006, and the 701 still appears in the Flyer range brochure printed at the end of 2006 for the 2007 season, sharing pages with the new Air Step Flyer 750 and the Flyer 12. That makes it the last inboard-powered small Flyer before the range went almost entirely outboard.

Dimensions and the 2002 versus 2006 spec sheets

The Flyer 701 measures 7.15 m (23 ft 5 in) overall on a 6.98 m hull, with a 2.54 m (8 ft 4 in) beam and just 0.45 m (1 ft 6 in) of draft with the leg raised. Air draft is 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) without a canopy, and the 2006 sheet gives a light displacement of 2,045 kg (about 4,500 lb). Tankage is modest: 200 liters (53 gallons) of fuel and 80 liters (21 gallons) of fresh water. CE certification is category B for six people or category C for eight.

Two sets of official numbers exist, and they differ in ways a buyer should notice. Beneteau's English web page from around 2002 listed a 2.51 m beam, about 2,090 kg light and a 270 hp maximum. The 2006 inventory and the 2007 brochure list 2.54 m, 2,045 kg and a 230 hp maximum. Treat the later figures as the reference for most boats on the market, and check the builder's plate on any early hull fitted with a bigger engine.

• LOA 7.15 m (23 ft 5 in), hull length 6.98 m
• Beam 2.54 m (8 ft 4 in), under the common 8 ft 6 in trailer width limit
• Light displacement 2,045 kg (4,508 lb) in 2006 form
• Fuel 200 L (53 gal), water 80 L (21 gal)
• Maximum power 230 hp in the 2006 and 2007 literature

Volvo V6 power and what 35 knots really means

Beneteau's 2006 inventory describes the 701 as offered with 225 hp, in the form of a Volvo Penta 4.3 GXi gasoline V6 driving a DuoProp sterndrive. The builder quotes a cruising speed close to 25 knots at around 3,800 rpm and a top speed of more than 35 knots, with the usual warning that load, sea state and bottom condition change the result. No independent test figures from a magazine are available for this model, so treat those as factory claims for a light boat.

The hull is a conventional V, deep at the bow and flattening aft so the engine can push it onto the plane easily, with strakes and broad chines for stability at rest. This predates the Air Step hull that Beneteau developed in 2003 and introduced on the Flyer 750, so the 701 rides and handles like a normal sterndrive cruiser rather than a stepped boat. Trim tabs were an option, and on a boat this short with a full fuel load and four adults, they are worth having.

European listings show that most boats kept a single gasoline V6, while a minority carry a diesel sterndrive. Either way, budget for the leg rather than the block.

Cockpit, swim platform and helm

On deck, the 701 is laid out as a classic Mediterranean weekender. The helm sits to starboard behind a tinted acrylic windscreen on an aluminum frame, with a two-person helm bench, a three-spoke sport wheel, a single lever control with trim and analog gauges for fuel, trim, volts, hours, rpm and oil temperature. The co-pilot gets a grab rail and a matching seat to port.

Aft of the helm, a solarium bench runs down the port side over the gas bottle locker, and the dinette table drops on its aluminum leg so a cushion converts the whole area into a sun pad; Beneteau's earlier copy says six people fit on it. The swim platform extends right back over the sterndrive leg, which keeps swimmers clear of the propellers, and a folding ladder with teak steps hides in a locker. A liferaft locker sits under the cockpit near the cabin door, the engine hatch locks and lifts on gas struts, and the anchor well is self-draining.

Galley, aft double and an enclosed head in 23 feet

Below is where the 701 earns the word cruiser. A tinted sliding acrylic door leads down to a galley with 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) of headroom at the companionway, a two-burner gas stove, a stainless sink with pressurized hot and cold water and a trash bin under the counter. Forward, the saloon has a varnished wood table on a removable pedestal and seats that convert into a double, with 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) of headroom under a 327 by 457 mm opening hatch.

Under the cockpit sole there is a separate aft cabin with a 1.90 by 1.30 m double (about 6 ft 3 in by 4 ft 3 in), a pair of reading lights, lockers and an opening port onto the cockpit. Opposite the galley, the head compartment has 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) of headroom, a marine toilet, a molded basin, a shower with an electric drain pump and its own opening port. An optional 88 liter holding tank with deck and overboard discharge was listed, and US owners should confirm one is fitted.

The Yacht Club pack added a 42 liter electric fridge, a stereo, 220 V shore power with a charger and a mooring kit. Options included a cabriolet top, camper canvas, an engine-fed water heater, an electric windlass and trim tabs.

Who the 701 suits in 2026

The ideal owner is a couple or a small family who want to sleep aboard two or three nights at a time in sheltered water and on short coastal hops, without paying for a 30 ft boat. A real enclosed head and a separate aft cabin are what separate the 701 from the cuddy dayboats that make up most of today's 23 ft market.

It is not a fishing platform and not an offshore boat. The 53 gallon tank limits range at speed, and like every short sterndrive cruiser it pounds in a steep chop. Think lakes, bays and the Intracoastal.

Balsa, bellows and other old-boat realities

Beneteau built the 701 with solid laminate in the topsides but a polyester and balsa sandwich below the waterline and in the deck. Cored bottoms are stiff and light when they stay dry, but on a boat now 19 to 27 years old a moisture survey of the bottom, the transom area around the sterndrive cutout and every deck fitting is non-negotiable. Wet balsa is expensive to repair and can make an otherwise cheap boat uneconomic.

The second priority is the drive. Volvo DuoProp legs need regular bellows, gimbal bearing and U-joint service, and a corroded transom shield or seized leg can cost a large share of the boat's value. Ask for service records, pull the outdrive if history is thin, and run the boat to wide open throttle on the survey to confirm it still reaches the rpm range Volvo specifies.

Not to be confused with later Flyers of similar size

Several Beneteau boats carry nearby names, and listings mix them up. The Flyer 750 WA and 750 Open arrived in 2004 as outboard boats on the new Air Step stepped hull, and the 750 Sun Deck and 750 Cabrio followed in 2007 and 2010. The current Flyer 7 SUNdeck and SPACEdeck are also outboard dayboats of around 7 m. None of them shares the 701's sterndrive, aft cabin layout or galley below.

The easy tell on a listing is the propulsion: if the boat has an outboard on the transom, it is not a Flyer 701. A genuine 701 has an engine hatch in the cockpit, a sterndrive leg under an extended swim platform and a sliding cabin door leading to a galley.