CNB 66 Review, the Deck Saloon Yacht Built for a Family Crew

How big can a family crew go

The CNB 66 was built to answer one question: what is the largest sailing yacht an owner can run with family and friends, without a professional skipper? CNB, the Bordeaux yard that made its name with custom superyachts before joining Groupe Beneteau, said the answer was this 20 m deck saloon cruiser. It launched the boat in 2017 to mark the yard's 30th year, after the success of the Bordeaux 60 (46 sold in nine years) and the CNB 76 (21 sold in four years), according to Yachting World.

Philippe Briand drew the hull and coachroof in the family style of the 76, adding a bowsprit option that the bigger boat did not offer, while Jean-Marc Piaton and Rafael Bonet designed the interior. CNB's own history and sailboatdata both put production at 23 hulls, the last in 2022. The CNB 66 sits where semi-custom luxury meets serial production: Yachting World put its base price about 40 percent below an Oyster or Contest, with the caveat that ticking every option closes much of that gap.

Twenty-two degrees apparent and ten knots on a fetch

Yachting World sailed the 66 out of Port Cogolin in a Force 4 easterly the day after Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Beating under full main and genoa, the boat pinched to 22 degrees apparent at 7.5 knots, then 8.5 knots at 25 degrees apparent as the breeze built into the mid-teens. Cracked off to 50 degrees apparent in 15 knots of wind she held a steady 10 knots, which the tester called intoxicating, and an asymmetric pushed her to 10.5 knots before shallow water forced a deeper, slower angle.

She sails best powered up and heeled a little. Lightly loaded the helm can feel neutral and she can wander, but the twin rudders give the autopilot plenty of grip. The sail plan is large: Briand's figures are 112 m2 of full-batten main and 103 m2 of furling genoa, with a 55 m2 staysail, a 330 m2 asymmetric, a 250 m2 gennaker or Code 5 and a 155 m2 Code 0 in the wardrobe.

Three headsails and a furling boom, at a price

Two rig choices define how manageable a CNB 66 will be. The first is the staysail: Yachting World reported that 90 percent of CNB owners take the inner forestay option, and Cruising World's judges called the resulting triple headsail rig a way to match sail to conditions quickly. The runners are needed only to stop the mast pumping under staysail in a swell, and hydraulic backstay rams run under the aft deck.

The second is the carbon mast with a hydraulic roller-furling carbon vee boom developed with Hall Spars. It lets a reef be wound in without changing course, but Yachting World priced the boom and reefing system at about 140,000 euros and still needed one crew member at the mast base to work the halyard and the mandrel switch. The standard rig is aluminum, so check exactly which spar and boom any boat carries.

Jet tender garage, swim platform and a forepeak workshop

Aft, a hydraulic bathing platform drops to reveal a garage big enough for a 3.25 m Williams jet RIB, and Yachting World saw the tender launched in about a minute; Cruising World notes the garage can also be reached through a cockpit hatch. Forward, the sail locker has about 7 ft of headroom, a fixed ladder, a watertight door into the accommodation, a workbench with power for tools and a tower of bosun's boxes. It can be finished as an optional crew cabin.

Those two spaces explain why the cabins feel compact for a 66 footer. Yachting World's tester called them rather compact, a direct consequence of fitting both a garage and a sail locker into the hull.

Piaton's deck saloon and an offset owner's berth

Below, the beamy deck saloon makes the first impression: sofas taken right out to the hull sides, panoramic glazing and an open bulkhead to the galley, with an aft-facing nav station between them. Owners can swap the big daybed for a dedicated starboard nav station. The owner's cabin is forward with an offset berth for privacy, a large en suite with a separate shower and a door through to the sail locker; an option replaces the fourth head with a dressing room.

Guests get a double and a bunk cabin, both en suite, and the aft cabin beside the U-shaped galley suits either guests or a crew couple, though its en suite is tight. CNB fits electric cooking powered from the batteries and inverter to avoid carrying gas, a 157 liter domestic fridge as standard and electric-flush heads with heated towel rails. The testers wanted a deckhead handrail in the saloon and found the companionway steps awkward at heel.

A modular build, one engine room box and a 1,000 mile range

CNB builds the interior as five modules outside the hull, then lowers them into receivers in the laminate, which keeps quality consistent and shortens build times. On the 66 the engine room is one of those modules, a single metal box under the saloon sole. Quick access hatches allow daily checks, while major work means lifting carpets and soleboards; once open, access is excellent, though the space is crowded with tanks, plumbing, genset and optional watermaker.

Power is a Volvo Penta D4 of 180 hp at 2,800 rpm. Fuel capacity of about 1,300 liters (2 x 650) gives a motoring range of over 1,000 miles including three hours of generator use per day, per Yachting World, and fresh water is 2 x 500 liters. Bow and stern thrusters make the twin-rudder boat manageable in port, though the tester found the joystick thruster controls mounted too close to the wheel.

The couple who proved the brief

Cruising World's 2022 Boat of the Year judges inspected two CNB 66s at Annapolis and sailed one that a husband and wife had cruised for two years. Gerry Douglas called the build quality impeccable and the layout terrific, noting the owner had a system to handle the boat solo. Tim Murphy said the judges had been skeptical for a decade about couples sailing boats this size and came away a believer. The CNB 66 was the runaway winner of Best Luxury Cruiser against the Contest 67CS, Dufour 61 and Jeanneau Yachts 60.

After Beneteau: what changed at CNB and why it matters

In 2021 the Italian builder Solaris acquired CNB and production moved from Bordeaux to Solaris's yard at Aquileia on the Adriatic. The CNB 66 was not carried over; the new CNB 62, designed by Briand to combine the ease of the Bordeaux 60 with the space of the 66, and the CNB 78, which replaced the 76, lead the range. CNB's Italian-run website now lists the 66 among its previous models, which makes a full service history from the Bordeaux years worth more than ever. Listings in 2026 include a 2018 boat in Mallorca at about 1.85 million euros and a 2021 boat in France at about 2.09 million euros.