Beneteau 320 Oceanis, a Used Buyer's Field Guide

Where the Beneteau 320 Oceanis sits in the 1986 to 1991 range

Anyone typing beneteau 320 oceanis into a search bar is usually looking at a listing for an older French sloop and wondering what it is. The answer is simple: the Oceanis 320 was the smallest member of Beneteau's first Oceanis generation, the family that the builder's own heritage site files under 1986 to 1991 alongside the Oceanis 350, 370, 390, 430 and 500. Sailboatdata records the 320 as first built in 1987, a year after the 350 and 430 opened the line.

Philippe Briand drew it, the same designer behind the 350, and the brochure leans on his name. His pitch was a cruiser that stays quick even when loaded for a holiday, with every element from the deck plan and rig to the optional wing keel worked out for family cruising. That ambition shows in the numbers: about four tonnes on a 9.6 m hull is light for a boat with two double cabins.

The name causes confusion. The Oceanis 321 of the mid-1990s is a different Groupe Finot design that Yachting Monthly describes as the 320's Mk II, and the later Oceanis 323 is a 2000s boat with nothing in common but the badge. If a listing says Beneteau 320, check the year: anything built from 1987 to the early 1990s with a Briand signature on the paperwork is the boat on this page.

Four tonnes on a 9.6 m hull, read from the factory sheet

Beneteau's spec sheet gives an overall length of 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in), a hull length of 9.25 m, a waterline of 8.44 m (27 ft 8 in) and a beam of 3.26 m (10 ft 8 in). Displacement is listed as about 4 tonnes (8,818 lb) with roughly 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of ballast, a ballast ratio near 30 percent. Sail area is 18.5 m2 of main plus a 30 m2 furling genoa, or 50.5 m2 with the largest genoa Beneteau offered.

Sailboatdata works those figures into a displacement to length ratio of about 185 and a sail area to displacement ratio a little above 20, which puts the 320 on the lively side of mid-1980s cruisers. Hull speed works out at about 7 knots. In practice that means a boat that moves in light air and needs its first reef earlier than heavier American contemporaries, because 30 percent ballast and a modest beam do not buy a lot of stiffness.

1.40 m fin or 1.15 m wing keel

Two keels were offered. The standard fin draws about 1.40 m (4 ft 7 in), and the optional wing keel, the quille a ailettes of the French brochure, cuts that to about 1.15 m (3 ft 9 in). For Chesapeake creeks, Florida Bay or the Bahamas banks the wing version opens anchorages a deeper boat cannot use.

The trade is upwind ability. A short winged keel loses grip when the boat is pinched in a chop, and on a boat this light that shows up as leeway rather than heel. If you sail mostly in open water, the fin version is the better buy; if your home port dries to four feet at low tide, the wing keel is the only sensible choice. Either way, ask the seller which one is fitted, because older listings often leave it out.

Below decks: the forward cabin wins

Beneteau's November 1990 equipment list is unusually specific, and it reveals an interior that favors the bow. The forward double measures 2.30 by 1.90 m with 1.75 m of headroom, while the aft cabin's double is 1.95 by 1.55 m under 1.78 m. Saloon headroom is 1.85 m and the companionway rises to 1.92 m, so a six-footer stands upright in the main cabin but not in every corner.

The saloon puts a U-shaped dinette to starboard with lockers under the seats and the 150 liter water tank beneath them. The galley has two round sinks, a 75 liter icebox and a gimballed two-burner stove with oven, and the chart table measures 800 by 600 mm with its own seat, book rack and a 12-function electrical panel. The head has a marine toilet, pressurized water and a grating for showering. The brochure counts sleeping for six, which assumes the dinette converts and the crew are friends.

What the factory bolted on deck

The same list shows how complete a 1990 Oceanis was out of the box. There are Lewmar 40C genoa winches, a Lewmar 16 ST on the coachroof for halyards and reefing, a Goiot mechanical windlass in a self-draining anchor locker, a furling genoa with a UV strip and a mainsail with two reefs and a Dutchman flaking system. The mast and boom are anodized aluminum with double spreaders.

Aft, the transom has a built-in swim platform with a deck shower, the cockpit seats are teak slatted, and one cockpit locker is sized for a liferaft. Most of this hardware is French: Goiot, Lewmar's European range and Plastimo parts are all still around, but expect to replace rather than rebuild anything original.

• Lewmar 40C self-tailing genoa winches and a Lewmar 16 ST halyard winch
• Goiot mechanical windlass and aluminum stemhead with roller
• Furling genoa, mainsail with two reefs and Dutchman flaking
• Swim platform with deck shower and a liferaft locker in the cockpit

BWS, Bureau Veritas and how the hull was built

Beneteau marketed its construction under the BWS System badge and gave each boat an individual Bureau Veritas approval, which the brochure prints with a certificate number. The cutaway drawing in the French brochure shows the principle: a solid fiberglass hull stiffened by a structural inner molding with integral floors, the contre-moule that Beneteau still uses. The 320 also carried French Merchant Marine second category homologation, the pre-CE standard for coastal and offshore use with limits.

Liner construction is fast and consistent, but after more than 35 years the bond between molding and hull is the first thing a surveyor should check. Look for cracked or lifted bonding around the keel floors, the mast step and the chainplate anchors, and for any sign that the boat has hit something hard.

A 28 hp ceiling and a 50 liter tank

Beneteau never printed a standard engine on the 1990 equipment list; it simply referred buyers to the price list. The brochure sets the maximum at 28 hp and the tank at about 50 liters (13 gallons). A 1991 Oceanis 320 recently offered in France lists a Volvo Penta 2003 of 28 hp, which is the kind of engine you should expect to see on an original boat.

A 2003 that has been well maintained will run for years, but parts are no longer cheap and many of these boats are now on second engines. A repower with a modern three-cylinder diesel in the 20 to 30 hp range is a common and sensible upgrade; budget for it in the offer if the original engine smokes, overheats or lacks a service history. The small tank limits motoring range to a long day, which suits the coastal cruising the boat was designed for.

Finding a Beneteau 320 for sale in 2026

Expect to look beyond your local brokerage. The 320 is a rare listing in the US compared with its bigger sister the Oceanis 350, so widen the search to Canada, the Caribbean and Europe, where most of them were sold. Asking prices for sound boats sit roughly between $14,000 and $33,000, and the spread is driven by engine, sails, standing rigging and deck condition rather than the year on the transom.

Annual costs are modest: about $5,000 to $10,000 covers a 32 ft slip in most US markets, insurance, a haul-out and routine maintenance. Insurance may be the harder part, because some underwriters want a recent survey and rigging replacement on boats over 30 years old. Price that work into the deal before you sign.