In this cruising boat, cutting-edge styling doesn’t take the place of practicality.
Mar 27, 2008
By Jeremy McGeary (More articles by this author)
Jeremy McGeary
Large ports in the house are typical of Beneteau, as is the big mooring cleat; nonskid on the cabin top extends onto the cabin sides.
At the 2006 U.S. Sailboat Show, when Beneteau announced with great fanfare its new line of cruising boats with interiors designed by Nauta Design, a firm of, well, interior designers, the cynics in the audience responded with an almost audible “Uh-oh.”

Perhaps they were remembering the late 1980s, when “decorators” forced sailors to live among curved surfaces—hard to do on the level, never mind heeled at 20 degrees. To everyone’s relief, the most recent approach by Beneteau has proven to be refreshingly rectilinear, and the resulting layouts are both practical and comfortable.

In the Beneteau 43, the benefits of the design approach are immediately apparent, and the result is an arrangement that includes all the essential elements in almost exquisite proportion.  READ ARTICLE
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