Beneteau Grand Trawler 62 Review, the 1,000-Mile Beneteau and What It Costs Used

Why the Beneteau Grand Trawler 62 is not just a bigger Swift Trawler

Beneteau sold its first Swift Trawler 42 in 2003, and by the time the Beneteau Grand Trawler 62 arrived the family had passed 1,300 hulls. Those are semi-displacement boats that run happily in the mid teens. When Beneteau asked owners how they really used them, most said they cruised at single-figure speeds. The Grand Trawler 62 is the answer: Swift Trawler habits (side decks on both sides, a practical galley, lots of stowage) on a full-displacement MICAD hull aimed at about 1,000 nautical miles at 9 knots.

It was also a statement about scale. The GT62 was the largest boat the Beneteau brand had ever built, and rather than build it in the Vendée the group assigned it to its Monfalcone yard in Italy, the plant that builds Monte Carlo Yachts. Massimo Gino's Nauta Design handled interior and deck styling. The boat was announced in summer 2021, debuted at the Cannes Yachting Festival that September, and according to Motor Boat and Yachting about 29 were sold in four years before the Grand Trawler 63 took over at Cannes in 2025.

MICAD's round-bilge hull and the 9-knot sweet spot

Look underneath and the departure from the Swift Trawlers is obvious. Alan Harper, testing for Power and Motoryacht, described a round-bilge form with a fine entry, a pronounced knuckle running back from the stem, a pair of spray rails forward and deep propeller tunnels. On a waterline of roughly 54 feet the theoretical hull speed is a little under 10 knots, and that is where the boat is happiest. Beam is 17 ft 10 in and draft only 4 ft 7 in, which matters for Bahamas and Intracoastal cruising.

The numbers back up the brochure. Motor Boat and Yachting ran the boat at 8.5 knots with a crowd aboard and recorded a combined 24 liters an hour (about 6.3 gallons) for a range of 1,084 nm with a 20 percent reserve. Yachting magazine's later test quoted 1,045 nm at 9 knots burning 7.9 gallons an hour. Push past hull speed and the economics collapse: Harper found consumption tripled between 9 and 12.8 knots, and MBY calculated that flat out the boat would drain its 3,870 liters (1,022 gallons) in about 285 miles.

Twin MAN i6-730s, the horsepower you will rarely use

There was only ever one engine package: twin 730 hp MAN i6-730 diesels on straight shafts. They exist because Beneteau wanted a 20-knot top end for outrunning weather, and the tests confirmed it, with MBY seeing 20.5 knots and Yachting just over 20. For an owner cruising at 8 or 9 knots that is a lot of horsepower to carry, but it buys redundancy and the ability to make port quickly.

The machinery space is one of the boat's real strengths. Yachting measured 50 inches between the engines and 5 ft 10 in of headroom, with diamond-plate soles, and Harper called it beautifully engineered. Access is through the crew quarters and lazarette from the transom, with a second hatch in the cockpit sole for quick checks. Tested boats carried Side-Power proportional bow and stern thrusters; the joystick that ties shafts and thrusters together was an option MBY priced at 37,000 euros and judged unnecessary for a competent driver.

Roll, hardtop weight and the stabilizer question

Every serious review of the GT62 comes back to the same caveat. A round-bilge displacement hull rolls, and this one carries an enormous fiberglass hardtop some 20 feet above the water. Harper, beam-on to a light chop off Cannes with the stabilizer off, reported an insistent roll and said he would definitely order the gyro. MBY used the word wallow at low revs and called the Quick gyro a near necessity even at 94,000 euros.

With the gyro running the boat changes character. Yachting tested a GT62 fitted with a Quick MC2 X3 gyro in leftover Gulf Stream seas with some 4 to 6 footers and described it as stable as a table, even beam-on. For a used buyer the lesson is simple: a stabilized boat is worth considerably more than one without, and retrofitting a gyro or fins to a 28.5-tonne yacht is a five-figure job before installation. Beneteau clearly agreed, because Sleipner fin stabilizers became standard on the Grand Trawler 63.

A main deck built around a midships galley

The main deck layout is the part of the boat owners praise most. The galley sits just forward of amidships, where motion is lowest, behind bulkheads that can be closed with a sliding door. It has its own door onto the port side deck for provisioning, and a clever hatch lets you pull the trash bag straight out onto the side deck instead of carrying it through the saloon. Yachting listed a four-burner Siemens cooktop, a Miele dishwasher, a full-size Vitrifrigo fridge and a 24-bottle wine chiller.

Opposite the galley is a dinette whose table slides against the settee to clear the walkway and expose a handrail, with four slim folding chairs stowed beneath. The helm is raised on the centerline with a side door to starboard and a daybed to port. An internal stair beside the helm leads to the flybridge, and a second stair rises from the cockpit. Headroom is 6 ft 6 in or more throughout.

Three cabins or four, and which one to buy

The standard three-cabin arrangement gives the owner a full-beam master amidships with an island berth, a vanity, rows of drawers and an en suite with a stall shower; Yachting measured 6 ft 8 in headroom there. Forward, the VIP has its double angled across the bow to make the most of the narrowing sections, plus its own head. A twin cabin to port uses the third head, which also serves as the day head, and its berths slide together with an infill.

The four-cabin version splits the amidships space into two twin cabins sharing a bathroom, and the forward VIP becomes the owner's cabin. It suits families with older children, but it gives up the best room on the boat, and the three-cabin layout will remain easier to sell. Both versions keep the crew cabin aft, with crossed berths and separate toilet and shower compartments that double as a swimmers' rinse-off and laundry space.

A 333-square-foot flybridge and a hydraulic platform

Power and Motoryacht put the flybridge at 333 square feet, and it is the boat's party piece. Forward is a twin-seat helm with a sunpad ahead and settee seating to port; behind it are a bar and grill, a U-shaped dinette for eight, and open deck aft for loungers or a small tender or PWC on an optional crane rated at about 880 pounds. The hardtop has a large opening sunroof that Yachting measured at roughly 6 by 11 feet. Clear panels aft on both the flybridge and cockpit keep the view open.

At the stern a hydraulic swim platform with the same lift rating carries the main tender, with steps that deploy as it lowers. The cockpit settee faces aft through a glass transom, sheltered against the house by teak-slatted panels. Side decks are about 20 inches wide behind bulwarks over 4 feet high forward, and the fuel, water and waste fills hide behind side-deck hatches so diesel never touches the teak.

Grand Trawler 62 or Grand Trawler 63 on the brokerage market

The Grand Trawler 63 is the same hull, the same 62 ft 2 in length, the same 17 ft 10 in beam and the same twin MAN 730s. MBY's 2026 review listed the differences: Sleipner fin stabilizers as standard, Xenta electro-hydraulic steering, an optional Silent Boat pack with large lithium banks and solar for generator-free nights, black accent paint on the superstructure, hardwood parquet in place of laminate, and the former Luxe decor pack made standard. In other words, most of the meaningful upgrades can be retrofitted or lived without.

That is good news for GT62 buyers. A well-optioned 2022 or 2023 GT62 with a gyro, hardtop, generator and air conditioning costs less than a new GT63, whose base price is close to 2 million euros before option packs of roughly 96,000 to 166,000 euros. Most GT62s live in the Mediterranean, so US buyers should budget for shipping and check VAT status; boats already in Florida command a premium.

What a 62-foot passagemaker costs to run

At displacement speed fuel is a modest line item: a 500-mile season at 9 knots is about 56 engine hours and 450 gallons. The real money goes to a 65 ft slip, insurance on a seven-figure yacht, haul-out and running gear, MAN and generator service, gyro maintenance, canvas and teak. Budget $120,000 to $230,000 a year in the US, more with a part-time captain.