Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 54 Review, Options and Price Guide

A First Yacht 53 hull wearing Oceanis clothes

The Beneteau Oceanis 54 that most buyers search for today is the Oceanis Yacht 54, announced in February 2020 alongside the Oceanis 40.1. Its starting point surprised people: rather than draw a fresh cruising hull, Beneteau reused the platform of the First Yacht 53, the performance cruiser it had introduced shortly before, which SAIL reviewed in its May 2020 issue. Sailboatdata lists the two as sharing a hull, and Cruising World stressed that the 54 is nonetheless a completely new boat above the waterline.

Both carry the work of two Italians rather than Beneteau's usual French studios. Roberto Biscontini, an America's Cup veteran, drew the hull with a plumb bow, a near vertical transom and maximum beam of 5 m carried well aft. Lorenzo Argento, known for his styling work on Wally yachts, designed the deck and interior. The fixed bowsprit carries the anchor and gives a tack point for reaching sails.

Cruising World also noticed what is missing: there are no hull chines, a feature Beneteau popularized with its Sense range. With 16 ft 5 in of beam, the interior has plenty of volume without them.

The terrace cockpit and the 8 ft tender garage

Beneteau describes the deck as a modernized center cockpit made flush. In practice there is a straight aisle from the companionway, between two lounging areas with solid wood tables, past the twin wheels and onto a fold-down transom. Behind it sits a garage for an inflatable of about 8 ft (Beneteau quotes 2.40 m, Cruising World measured room for an 8 ft 2 in RIB). The sailing controls cluster around the helms, so guests in the forward cockpit never handle a sheet.

Going forward is easy too. Owners step outboard behind the helms onto wide side decks protected by tall bulwarks that rise in steps to the foredeck, a solution Cruising World compared to recent Jeanneaus. There are four sunbathing areas, including a double pad on the foredeck. The Beneteau arch over the companionway anchors the mainsheet, a bimini and a windscreen, and a hard top bimini is on the option list.

Rig, keel and engine choices that define each boat

No two Oceanis Yacht 54s are quite alike, and the options matter more on the used market than the hull number. Read the build sheet before you read the asking price.

• Standard rig: in-mast furling main of 678 sq ft with a 549 sq ft self-tacking jib or a 700 sq ft 105 percent genoa, air draft about 78 ft 9 in
• Performance rig: a classic aluminum mast 1.80 m taller with an 894 sq ft full-batten main, air draft about 85 ft
• Keels: 8 ft 2 in deep T-keel or 6 ft 7 in shoal keel carrying more cast iron
• Engines: 80 hp Yanmar on a saildrive as standard, 110 hp Yanmar on a shaft as an option, or the Dock & Go rotating pod with a retractable bow thruster
• Sail trim: Harken AST assisted sail trim was optional, and a double-ended German mainsheet and boom furling were also offered
• Downwind: a 1,614 sq ft Code 3 and a 2,260 sq ft asymmetric spinnaker on the standard rig

An apartment below, with three cabins and a choice of heads

Argento's interior uses flush cabinet doors, neutral fabrics and Alpi joinery in light oak or walnut, and SAIL likened it to a modern urban apartment. Three horizontal windows in each topside bring in light and sea views. Two aluminum beams under the cabin sole add stiffness, which is unusual for Beneteau.

Every version has a large owner's cabin forward with a 1.60 m wide island bed, two hanging lockers and an en suite head, plus two double cabins aft. The two-head layout gives the aft cabins a shared bathroom; the three-head layout gives each cabin its own and adds a skipper's cabin in the bow, at the cost of the deep sail locker and some galley space. A sofa version swaps the chart table for extra seating. The C-shaped galley has a fridge, freezer, three-burner hob and oven, and Beneteau's Ship Control system, standard on the boat, lets owners monitor tanks, batteries and systems from a screen or phone.

Sea trial numbers from Annapolis and the Chesapeake

SAIL sailed the boat off Annapolis in 12 to 18 knots of breeze and recorded about 9 knots close reaching under standard sails, with roughly another knot once the Code 0 was unrolled from the bowsprit. It tacked through slightly less than 90 degrees, carried a touch of weather helm and responded instantly to the wheel. Cruising World's tester, sailing in about 15 knots on the Chesapeake, called it simply a blast to sail, with all sheets led to winches within arm's length of the helms.

Under power SAIL's boat had the optional 110 hp shaft engine. It cruised quietly at 9 knots at 2,400 rpm, reached nearly 10 knots flat out and turned in about one boat length. Fuel consumption was not published, so plan range conservatively on the 106 gallon standard tank.

Not to be confused with the 2008 Oceanis 54

Beneteau used the Oceanis 54 name once before. The earlier boat, first built in 2008 and also sold in the US as the Beneteau 54, was a Berret-Racoupeau design measuring 54 ft 9 in overall with a 16 ft 1 in beam, about 31,600 lb of displacement and a 110 hp Yanmar, according to sailboatdata. It is a different generation in every respect, priced far lower on the used market.

The quick tells: the Oceanis Yacht 54 dates from 2020 or later, carries a fixed bowsprit and a fold-down transom with a garage, lists Biscontini and Argento as designers and weighs about 36,600 lb. If an ad says Oceanis 54 with a 2008 to 2012 year, it is the older boat.

Buying new or nearly new

The Oceanis Yacht 54 sits beneath the Oceanis Yacht 60 in Beneteau's premium line, and it is one of the few current production 54 footers that sails well enough to excite experienced owners. For a US buyer the decision usually comes down to a new boat specified exactly as you want, or a two to four year old example that already has the expensive equipment fitted.

Budget beyond the base price for electronics upgrades, a generator, air conditioning, electric primaries, a bow thruster if not already included, and canvas. Annual costs for a boat this size, including slip, insurance, haul-out and routine service, typically run from about $40,000 to $80,000 before any refit work.