35' Beneteau Oceanis 350

Accommodations

Entry into the main cabin down 4 steps has master stateroom to port side aft with private door, oversized double berth, hanging clothes locker, storage above & below. Private aft head to starboard side aft with private door, sink, shower, storage above & below. Full galley with double stainless sinks, large icebox/refrigerator, stove/oven, storage above & below. Hanging clothes locker, nav/chart table with ships service panel above. Nav/chart seat is removable converting starboard settee to single berth. Main salon settee to port side with center dinette table with drop downs. Forward stateroom has private door, large V-berth, hanging clothes locker, storage above & below. Teak interior, teak & holly sole, teak head liner panels, 6 side opening port windows, 2 topside opening hatch's. 6' 1" head room.

The Design

Philippe Briand, a prominent naval architect in France with experience in the America's Cup arena, was commissioned to design the Oceanis 350. Performance is important to Beneteau; indeed, many of their boats are successfully raced, though most of those belong to the First line. The Oceanis line, which over the intervening years has or does include the 281, 321, 351, 370, 390, 430, 440, 44cc, 500, and 510, are marketed more as sexy, performance cruisers. Indeed, the Oceanis 350 is a striking design with its low-profile coachroof, smoked "skylights," and wide, scooped transom.

The hull is of fairly light displacement; the displacement/ length ratio is 178, meaning there is not a lot below the waterline, including bilge. The keel is essentially a cruising fin, with a raked leading edge and a flat run on the bottom. It has the 5' 2" fin without wings. The rudder, which one owner said was heavily built, is a balanced spade behind what designer Bob Perry calls a "skeglet." The prop shaft exits through a short supporting skeg. With a sail area/displacement ratio of 16.2 (generous, but not excessive by any means), she sails quickly in all but light air conditions.

Though the name 350 implies 35', LOA actually is 33' 10" with a long 29' 10" waterline. The beam of 11' 3" is considerable for a boat of this length, but that is the trend today because it increases interior volume and contributes to stability. Unfortunately, wide beam also can make a boat squirrelly to handle in certain conditions.

Because of the aft cabin (an appealing feature to most owners), the cockpit is slightly elevated, and one owner said the backrests, while comfortably angled, were a bit short. The same owner praised the scupper system ("The best cockpit drain well I've seen") and propane tank storage compartment, with room for jugs of gasoline for the dinghy outboard and reserve diesel fuel. The bridgedeck is at the same height as the cockpit seats, and is a good safety feature, though the ladder, by necessity, is a bit steep. We'd rather have the bridgedeck than a low companionway with fewer steps.

A charter version of the Oceanis 350 was offered with double aft cabins (built only in France), which appear to reduce the size of the starboard cockpit locker and the head.

The rig is a masthead sloop with double spreaders slightly swept back to eliminate fore and aft lower shrouds. A baby stay helps keep the mast in column and from pumping.

Additional Information

Performance

The Oceanis 350 is powered by a 28-hp. Yanmar diesel that is easily serviced and will cruise at 7 knots with 2,000-2,200 rpm. Fuel capacity is 21 gallons.

Interior

The light ash veneers used below give the cabins an airy feel that is seldom possible with teak.

The head is located in the aft starboard quarter area and came standard with a toilet, pressure hot and old water, an opening portlight, mushroom vent and locker space.

The galley opposite has a 2-burner stove with oven, double sink, Frigiboat 12-volt refrigeration, icebox, dustbin, opening portlight and adequate stowage, though one owner noted that pots and pans have to be kept in the wet locker.

Another owner said that "The galley has a very nice slide-out, multi-level storage area under one sink. The smallish, deep round sinks hold wine bottles and coffee urns securely in a seaway and, most importantly, avoid the appearance of tract house double sinks surrounded with faux marble Corian and overhanging wine glass racks.

The icebox is well insulated, holding ice for four days in tropical climates. Freshwater tank capacity is 82 gallons.

The dedicated nav seat intelligently faces aft, which facilitates communication with the helm.

Construction

The boat is built of solid fiberglass, deriving much of its structural integrity from a complex liner with molded floor frames for rigidity. The liner is bonded to the hull, but as we have said many times, it is difficult if not impossible to determine how well this has been done as access through the liner is often limited. And we could repeat that liners offer less thermal and acoustic insulation than wood, and so tend to make for noisier interiors that also condense moisture more easily, but the man-hours required to construct an all-wood interior are prohibitively expensive on most production boats.

Bulkheads, instead of being glassed to the hull, fit in channels in the hull and cabin liners and are then epoxied. Again, this is perfectly adequate for most kinds of sailing, but they can begin to work (move slightly), and if you want a boat to take on long offshore passages, it's better to have the bulkheads directly bonded to both the deck and hull.

The deck is cored with end-grain balsa, as is almost standard practice these days, and is joined to the hull with a shoebox flange that is, according to an owner, riveted on 6" centers and only through-bolted at the stanchion bases. He felt that the bases were not sufficiently large and, ironically, the only leaks he'd experienced were at these bolt holes. The toe rail hides the hull/deck joint.

Iron ballast is external, with keel bolts screwed into steel inserts or plugs cast into the keel. Lead would be preferable from the standpoint of higher density and lower maintenance. Winglets on the shoal keel model were bolted on.

One owner said the anchor locker cover is "flimsy and has a large hole in it." It is possible to install a windlass inside the anchor compartment, which keeps it out of the way and protected from the weather.

Another owner said the aluminum deck castings - including the stern anchor roller, fairleads, cleats and bow roller - "are excellent and heavy duty.

Most of the hardware, naturally, is made in France, and while generally of above average quality, replacement parts can be hard to come by.

Excluded item

• The Monitor wind vane, shown in the photos is NOT included in the sale.

Disclaimer

The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. Buyer should assume that items on the vessel at the time of viewing, but not specifically listed on this specification sheet, are not included with the sale of the yacht, and should instruct his agents, or his surveyors to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. Buyer assumes responsibility to verify all speeds, consumptions, capacities and other measurements contained herein and otherwise provided, and agrees to instruct his surveyor to confirm such details prior to purchase. This vessel is subject to sale, price and inventory changes, and withdrawal from market without notice.