B473 Owners Tell Me What You Like About The Boat

[jhg...@gmail.com]

I currently have a '99 B411. I find it very slow (6 knots in a 15
knot wind) and I am thinking of buying a 2001 B473. I realize there a
lot of factors to performance and I know I am being a little vague. But
in the opinion of B473 owners do you think your boat performs well?
Do you get 8 knots in a 15-18 knot wind ? What do you like about the
B473 from any perspective?

Oasis
B411
Huntington, NY

[mjb]

We've had our 473 since April and we love it. We had an Ericson 38 for
5 years before this and I've sailed numerous other boats and sizes
(including a 411 that we chartered in the BVI). So far I've found the
473 surprisingly easy to sail and very forgiving. Regardless of how
many people we have aboard it's usually as if I'm sailing single
handed. We have the roller furling main and the performance has been
fine - maybe even great compared to how I thought the boat would
handle. We've only had about 14 days sailing (with some very light
wind days) so I don't have any good benchmarks but I'm happy with the
performance. I did get a gennaker to help with light wind days but
we've only had a chance to use it twice so far.

My wife and I have slept aboard about a dozen nights so far. The
forward cabin is very nice and comfortable. This was a big selling
point for my wife. We have the 3 cabin version and the 473 still gives
us the U-galley and large salon (we also considered a 423 but my wife
really liked the open salon - the 3-cabin 423 has the galley along the
port side of the salon).

We keep our boat on the West dock at Willis Marine (all the way at the
end). I suspect you're looking at the 473 for sale in the parking lot.
There is another 473 on our dock and the owner routinely takes it
offshore (he just went to Bermuda) and longer trips (he just spent a
week at Block Island). He's had the boat for 5 or 7 years and loves
it. He's knows the 473 inside and out and I've already learned quite a
bit from him - you might want to wander down to the dock and see if
he's available to discuss many of the finer points about the 473.

Feel free to stop by and say hi.

Mike Beller
Belvedere
B473 #272
Huntington, NY

[John White]

I have been very pleased with the performance of my B473; she is fast and weatherly and easily handled by two aging crew.  At least the deep keel/classic main version points well and is very good at reeling in the miles to windward.  The long waterline gives short passage times when the wind blows. The high bows keep the spray out of the cockpit.  However, downwind performance is not all that great and so I plan to get an asymmetric spinnaker before we set off for distant horizons. 

I notice from the USA Beneteau website that the B473 is now officially obsolete having been replaced by the B49.  At least from the pictures, this boat is somewhat of a disappointment.  To me it is not nearly as good looking as the B473, the nav station looks poorly laid out with practically no space to mount electronics and none of the locker hatches seem to be ventilated.  Has anyone seen this boat in the flesh?

John.

B473 Rafiki

[Rick Lucas]

Do you want to go faster or do you have 6-foot-itis? <grin>

 

If faster is your goal, you might look into new sails. We replaced the 4 year old sails on your boat and it made a world of difference. We were in a friendly club race and were out pointing J109s in a 42cc! (I wasn’t driving). You may also want to invite other experienced sailors, particularly racers, to sail with you. They might give you some trimming tips to make you go faster. It’d be cheaper than a new boat. <grin>

 

But if you want a bigger boat… <grin>

 

Rick L

[masterson]

John, I saw the B49s that are under construction in the plant in Marion.  I toured the plant before the July 4 week shut down.  I agree with you that the 473 is a much better looking vessel.  BTW, the last two 473s (hull number 287 and 288) were being finished off the “assembly line” while I was there – the B49s are now on the former 473 “line”.

 

Regarding our 2001 473 (#5), we like it very much.  I agree with your assessment of the boat and we do have an asymmetric spinnaker which gives us much better light wind performance.  For the money I think it is a great value.  We just finished a round trip from Annapolis to the Bahamas with some 12 ft seas and winds from 0 to 40+ kts.  I am confident of the boat with the right plan in place – I have a storm staysail on a roller furler and that worked well for us.  We will be sailing it from Norfolk to the BVI in November as part of the Caribbean 1500 rally and then spending the next 2 years on it in the Caribbean.  I hope I will like it for the next 3 years as much as I do now.

 

Bob

Villomee B473 #5  

 

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[nealalex235]

have you considered a first series? they are fast....

[Rick Donovan]

Original question was

>>>>>>> To: Beneteau Owners
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} B473 Owners Tell Me What You Like About The Boat

Oasis
B411
Huntington, NY<<<<<<<<<

__________________________________________________________________________

The short answer is yes, 8 knots is a reasonable speed to expect under many
sailing conditions on a well sailed 473. a major reason we bought a 473 was
for waterline length. That is a big factor in any boats speed predictions.

I am getting into this discussion very late but I wanted to send along a
link with the performance polar curves for the B473, provided by the
designer Group Finot, that should give a better idea of what to expect than
only the owners individual opinions you have received so far, mine included.

http://www.finot.com/bateaux/batproduction/beneteau/oceanis473/polaires/pola
ires.htm

When in race mode, I have found these numbers to be obtainable for our 473.
This means the usual racing requirements, keeping excess weight out of the
boat (particularly the stern) a very clean bottom, good sails and proper
sail trim, maximum crew weight and accurate and properly adjusted
instrumentation (this is critical to matching the polars predictions).

I feel that the 473 really likes a breeze of about 13-17 knots true to
really show its stuff. It is my opinion that this boat struggles somewhat in
really light winds and I fully expected that with the design parameters used
when we started to get serious about buying our 473 in early 2002. The
factory has since offered a tall rig version that would seem to help the
boat if you were going to spend a lot of time in lighter winds rather than
cruising offshore as was its original design parameters, but would certainly
mean reefing sooner when the wind picked up.

Rick Donovan
Biddeford, Maine
Beneteau 473 #29
Turn the Page

[Ca...@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/21/2006 9:03:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time, richard....@verizon.net writes:

Original question was

>>>>>>> To: Beneteau Owners
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} B473 Owners Tell Me What You Like About The Boat

I currently have a '99 B411. I find it very slow (6 knots in a 15
knot wind) and I am thinking of buying a 2001 B473. I realize there a
lot of factors to performance and I know I am being a little vague. But
in the opinion of B473 owners do you think your boat performs well?
Do you get 8 knots in a 15-18 knot wind ? What do you like about the
B473 from any perspective?

Oasis
B411
Huntington, NY

This is the first time I've grabbed emails in a week, so I am also late with comments that probably have already been made. I agree with Richard about the speed. Even fully loaded (water & fuel & food for a week) we were making over 10 kts on a recent trip down the bay and averaged 10 kts for 40 miles.

 

However, the thing I really like is the comfort in a seaway compared to a 40' boat. I heard from a Chesapeake Bay waterman that their boats have a 45' waterline to improve stability on the Bay's frequent chop, and I find that this is really true for us when compared to smaller boats. In short, you get length and room at a good price in a solid boat with the 473. Few problems in 5 years. We love the boat.

 

Cap & Linda Munday
Zydeco
B 473 #20
West River, MD

[Eta and Gordon Johnson]

I just got back form a two week sail on a 473 in the Adriatic. I found the
boat to be a bit of a sloth -- a comfortable sloth, but still not as fast as
my 423. It is a big roomy boat, and admittedly, a folding/feathering prop
would have helped, but the performance was still less than I would have
expected. Frankly I was surprised that in general, I believe, that my 423
would have been faster on most points of sail that the chartered boat which
had a standard rig and keel.

Gordon

-----Original Message-----
From: Benetea...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:Benetea...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of jhg...@gmail.com
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 8:25 PM
To: Beneteau Owners
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} B473 Owners Tell Me What You Like About The Boat

[Mistral]

BTW... Beneteau has discontinued manufacturing the 473. If you are
considering bying a new boat, shop fast as what's in inventory is all
there will be.

Happy Sailing

Mark

[bbigd...@aol.com]

 

 I have an auto helm ST6000.  The system works great except it recently stopped beeping when I press the buttons.  Anyone know if there is a way to turn the audio on or off.

Thanks for your help.

Bill Wagner
Santa Maria
Huntington, NY

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Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

[Rick Lucas]

Bill,

 

Without looking at the manual, I’d say no. After installing our new E80 displays, I had to go through all of the configuration steps for the ST6000 (I think it’s a plus model, but I’m not certain). I do not recollect that as a parameter in the configuration screens. Given that, I think your beeper might have died.

 

To be certain, you might want to go to the Raymarine Web site and pull down the manual. They do a good job of keeping their documentation online.

 

Rick L

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Benetea...@googlegroups.com [mailto:Benetea...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of bbigd...@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, 01 August, 2006 12:58
To: Benetea...@googlegroups.com

[John Mundt]

Chapter 7.3 lists options you can set, the beep being one of them.  Go to Menu --> System setup --> Key beep and turn it on.  Lots of other things you can set/unset there as well.  Raymarine has the manual online for download as a PDF.


John
Beneteau 373 - "Dotage"