# Beneteau 351??



## josemuller (Sep 16, 2002)

I am planning to buy a used Beneteau 351 built in 1995. The boat was used as a chartered until now.
I have not taken a look at the boat yet, and before I plan a trip to go see it, I would like to get some feedback form someone who has had experience in buying boats that are 6 to 7 YO and were used in charter

Has anyone on this board bought a "charter" boat? Would you recommend for it or against it?

Are Beneteau 351 (1995 or 96) good value boat? How much major maintenance should I plan for? 

What is the "expected lifetime" of this boat?

Thank you,

J


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## FreeDreamer (Nov 12, 2006)

*351*

I owned a 351 for 5 years and there are some very good features and some issues to be concerned with. I loved the boats design and layout. In the mid 90's it was a very advanced layout and a boat that would surf in high winds easily exceeding her hull speed under thos conditions.

I will start with the issues to be concerned with:

1. If the boat has a Perkins M30 engine avoid the boat or replace the engine / transmission with a Yanmar. Reason is that this engine is really a lawn tractor engine that will not idle at a slow enough speed to engage the transmission without damaging the clutch in tranny. This is a big problem.

2. Early models have only 2 cockpit winches making it hard to solo sail. you will need to add 2 new primaries at the wheel is equipped as such & reroute jib sheets.

3. Mid 90's & earlier Beneteau's have a hull blister problem. If the hull has been peeled and re-gelcoated or better yet epoxied over all will be good. It's a percentage of these that have issues.

4. General advice on Beneteau's is buy one that was made in France. The quality is much better.

5. 351 boats are heavy in the stern and do not sit proper on the boats scribe line (heavy aft). Solution is difficult perhaps a different keel shifting some of the ballast forward to properly trim the boat.

6. The furling main on the early boats is tricky to use and can jam the sail in mast if not properly setup when installing the main sail, it can only be rigged oneway, the right way!

The good Side:

1. Great strong hull and rig. Well built and great interior.

2. Very usable fun boat to sail on.

3. Fun cockpit with a huge table and cooler.

4. Nice big Jib forward a 140% sail was standard.

5. Below decks two cabin layout was the best around and adding more house battery capacity was easy.

My final advice is to buy a 1996 or new 351 or 360 with a Yanmar engine and you will enjoy since they fixed most of the issues by then.


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## davmarwood (Jan 12, 2008)

*Beneteau 351*

For the last two seasons, we have sailed the northern Chesapeake in a 1998 Beneteau 352, the nearly identical successor to the 351 you are considering. Our boat has a Yanmar 3GM, not the Perkins, and it is a very reliable and economical engine. Look for one with a Yanmar. The in-mast furler can get jammed if you try to furl it with the boom on the starboard side of the boad (ie: on port tack), but it furls nearly effortlessly if the boom is on the port side. This is due to the rotational direction of the furler. The previous comments about a spacious cockpit are accurate. Dining al-fresco is a pleasure. Also, the galley is well laid out and, for a 35 footer, the two cabins are relatively spacious, with good privacy. Sailing performance is good and backing into a slip is easy once you get the feel of the boat. All in all, I would recommend either the 351 or the 352. 
Cruising World August 1994 has a review of the 351 by Ted Brewer and a sea trial by Hal Sutphen. Sorry I can't figure out how to attach a copy, but you can get an e-mail copy from Cruising World for $10.00. It is a generally favorable review with a few notes of caution. The first is that Brewer says the ballast ratio is below par and he recommends adding a few hundred pounds of lead in the bilge. We have added two 8D house batteries at 150lbs each, so we have taken care of that issue. Next is his opinion that the deck is excessively sloped for walking forward, but we have not felt this was a problem. Finally, Sutphen gives his opinion that the large prop slows the boat in light air, but we have a Max-Prop, so that doesn't bother us either. Get a survey by a competent surveyor and if it is favorable, go for it.


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## olson34 (Oct 13, 2000)

Speaking to the charter history question alone, we bought a boat that was in _very_ active sailing club use for three years. It was the model we wanted and with continued upgrades and repairs has become a fine and fast (!) cruiser for us for the last 15 years.
Do bear in mind that the old warnings about "rental" use of a boat adding about 5 years of wear/deterioration for each year of age are true. 
The number varies, but you get the idea.

I did a multi-day delivery on a Ben 350 a few years ago and the layout inside was great, with a good galley and nav station. Of course that was their 80's design.

Best on luck on your purchase.

L


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Hey Guys, no offense, but he posted that in 2002. If he has not made the puchasing decision yet, one might question whether he ever will!! Nothing wrong with discussing the pros/cons of the Bene 351 though.


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## CapnSantiago (Jul 17, 2007)

I too love the 351 from the mid 90's (and the subsequent 361) and am convinced it will be my next boat (sooner than later I hope...but alas the economy!). I believe it is a great value over the 361 considering the price differential between the two. Great (appreciated) input above regarding the Perkins vs Yanmar, ballast, etc. I'd appreciate reading about any additional such experience/input w/this model. 

Regarding the charter issue I have always been skeptical of it but didn't know if that was really an issue or not. My anology has always been with rental cars and I know I wouldn't purchase one of those (despite the fact that the probably get better/more routine maintenance).


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## olson34 (Oct 13, 2000)

Cruisingdad said:


> Hey Guys, no offense, but he posted that in 2002. If he has not made the puchasing decision yet, one might question whether he ever will!! Nothing wrong with discussing the pros/cons of the Bene 351 though.


Good Point! I was only looking at the recent posts...
:laugher

L


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## capnJudd (Jul 18, 2012)

I'm looking at a used 351 from 1995 which has a dinette tabletop mounted on the compression post. There is a mechanism for raising and lowering it, and it is claimed that it will form a double berth, but when lowered it overlaps the settees on 3 sides and does not make a flat surface at all. It appears to be original. Does anyone understand how it is supposed to work? 

I wish I could post a link to a picture of the tabletop, but this site is pretty fastidious about preventing that.


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

It's best to start a new thread with a question like this, capn, rather than sticking it on the end of a very old thread. Anyway, are you basing your question on pictures you've seen of the 351, or have you actually been on the one in question and couldn't figure it out? I've seen pictures of the table arrangement, and always assumed that the overlap was only with the side cushions, and it was be taken care of by lifting the cushions as you lowered the table top.


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## capnJudd (Jul 18, 2012)

I have been on board and wrestled with the table (with the help of the broker) 
and we could not figure it out. I also took pictures, and you can see the most
revealing one here: tinyurl(dot)com/b4bat46 (Copy this and change '(dot)' to '.')
Notice how the tabletop does not fit into the hole of the settees. There is a good
3 cm lump there that would be really ummm... amazing to sleep on!


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

Good picture. Houston, we have a problem. Definitely not for your touchy sleeper! Hopefully a 351 or 331 (same table) owner will chime in, but I think you may have already found your answer. Have you checked on any Beneteau boards?


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## MSN2Travelers (Sep 12, 2006)

There is nothing that you are doing wrong. When you have placed the insert filler cushions, they are pretty level with the leading edge of the seat cushions. It just doesn't form a smooth, flat sleeping surface.

We have a couple throw-pillows aboard that we use to fill the low areas. This berth space is seldom used. When it is, the sleeper is usually so tired that they're happy to be anywhere that is kinda soft. 

As a side note . . . I'm pretty sure that table design was introduced with the Beneteau Oceanis 352 model in 1997. I know the 351 salon table was supported with an additional two legs under the table. The 352 table design had to be supported by the lower compartments. The "knee" egde of the seat cushions does match the height of the filler cushions. The problem is the "butt" position of the seat cushion slopes downward.

The 351 was replaced by the 352 in `97 and was replaced by the 361 after the `99 model year. Mine was one of the last off the line as the 361 model started production. If given a choice, avoid any 351/352 powered by a Perkins diesel.


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## capnJudd (Jul 18, 2012)

Thanks for the info about the salon table. It looks like a very UNslick piece of design work. Not what I would expect from Beneteau.



MSN2Travelers said:


> If given a choice, avoid any 351/352 powered by a Perkins diesel.


This is a separate datum, which I picked up somewhere else too. Is it the Perkins that is the problem? Maintenance issues? Reliability?

Why is this advice specific to 351/352? Is it the installation in the hull that presents an issue?


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## MSN2Travelers (Sep 12, 2006)

*Re: Beneteau 351/352*



capnJudd said:


> ....
> 
> Originally Posted by MSN2Travelers - "If given a choice, avoid any 351/352 powered by a Perkins diesel."
> 
> ...


Maybe that came out a little harsher than I intended. There seems to be general consensus among owners that have experience with both the Perkins model M30 (Perama-M30) & the Yanmar model 3GM30F that the Yanmar is the better choice. I don't know if it is parts availability (which could be a local issue), ease of maintenance, overall reliability or some combination of all three. I'm not telling you to avoid the Perkins. I'm just saying that, given a choice, the Yanmar is the preferred power plant.

I have noticed that brokers, and owners, tend to misidentify which model they have. Throw in the occasional French made units with the US made and it can get confusing. The European made boats tend to have the galley spread out along the length of the boat's port side.

As I see it, the US made Oceanis 352 is basically the same boat as the Oceanis 351. Beneteau used the `97 thru `99 model years the as a test bed for design elements that eventually were adopted in the 361 and they called it the 352 for marketing purposes.

Our boat is used as a cruiser and has a crew-of-two most of the time. We often day sail with guests but typically cruise 7-21 days at a time by ourselves. I often take it out alone with little difficulty. We love the boat.

I race on a vintage Pearson Flyer. The differences between a lean & mean vs. the family cruiser became obvious immediately. The 351/352 only has two winches located on the cabin-top for all sail trimming duties. This can be kinda awkward for people who are not used to having the main sheet and Genoa sheets sharing just two winches. It is can be even more problematic for sailors who maneuver the boat while alone in the cockpit. (i.e.: you have to leave the wheel to reach any/all of the sail handling sheets.)

Another item to be aware of is the prop-walk when in reverse at idle/very low RPM's. You learn to embrace & use it as a tool or curse it and spend thousands trying different props that mitigate it.

At the end of the day, I would have preferred to get an Oceanis 361 (Genoa winches near the wheel) but they wanted way too much money for that model boat while a late model 352 had basically the same interior layout.


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## Marcel D (Apr 15, 2012)

But would you buy a car that was up on the rocks many charter boat suffer from this.


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## denverd0n (Jun 20, 2008)

So, original post in 2002. Then 8 years later, the thread gets revived and there's finally a response. And now, more than two and a half years after that, the thread gets revived once again. This may be a record for a thread brought back from the dead.

To repeat, in the future, capnJudd, it would be much better to start your own, new thread, since this is a new and different question. Even if the thread were only a year old, it would be better to start a new one. When the thread is more than ten years old, very DEFINITELY better to start a new one!

Good luck getting an answer to your question. Sorry I can't help with that.


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

That table look familiar. Our 361 has the same set up, but I believe ours sits better in the lowered position. It still does not make a completely flush surface with the inserted filler cushion. Just like Paul has stated, it is used mostly by one only and is not considered a double although some might advertise it as a double, its not. The person lounging there is at hook or in the slip and is very comfortable. Underway it can be used as a sea berth on Port Tack and for me when I come off a 4-hour watch cranky, cold, wet and tired it is very comfortable.


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## georover (Jul 9, 2012)

Yup. I have a 351 and I try never to sleep on the table in the salon. I'm designing and building a new table that will sit lower so the cuchions will be level and not require you to visit the chiropractor the next day. I did try it once but it's way to uncomfortable however the rum and girlfriend made it easier.

Good luck. Oh and I have had no issues with the engine as of yet. Knock on wood. But the self furling main is a entirely different story!!!


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

Well, let's hear about your furling main then! What's the problem?


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## Monster (Sep 12, 2020)

Yes this is avery old post! But you are reading this to find as much info on the 351 or 352 as possible. Here is the link to a dedicated FB group








Beneteau Oceanis 351 / 352 | Facebook


The purpose of this group is to provide as much knowledge on the Beneteau Oceanis 351 & 352 available to human kind!




www.facebook.com


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## chicovzla (Mar 29, 2010)

Hello, I have a Beneteau 352 1994 with a perkins M30 since 2009 and never have am issue with the engine. But i need to change the chain plates. In Beneteau America informed that the chain plate are not available , any idea where to find it.?


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## olson34 (Oct 13, 2000)

Any boat with a SS chainplate assembly can have it replicated at a decent SS fabrication shop. Cost is usually very reasonable. When welded and all holes are drilled, it's best to sand and buff it to a mirror polish. This slows the onset of corrosion.
If your old chain plates are just stained and ugly, first buff them all the way up, and then inspect with a magnifier to see if there are cracks.


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