[C320-list] Beneteau 343

[Koen Bennebroek]

Thanks Monte. I'll have to go and try one out sometime this season. With the
high freeboard I wonder how it behaves in gusts with respect to rounding
up...but I'll relay that discussion to a Beneteau forum :-)
I was just curious if someone here had any input on how the boat compares to
a 320. They are fairly similar in size so there must have been folks that
looked at both when they decided on the 320...

On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 6:12 PM, Monte B. <mjbc60 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Koen
>
> Haven't seen the 343 Beneteau, but was a nats hair away from buying a 393
> two years ago. I am 6'4" and loved the headroom. The payments scared me
> off
> and I still love my paid for 320. The loose footed main controls and
> responds very much like a boom footed sail and is commonly used on club
> racers and  performance boats that don't go race in Australia. Control of
> draft and camber are, as far as I can tell, the same. These are not the
> same
> as inmast furler sails.
>
> Monte
> Laima #620
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com
> [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Koen
> Bennebroek
> Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 6:44 PM
> To: C320-List
> Subject: [C320-list] Beneteau 343
>
> We went to Strictly Sail in Oakland this weekend and stepped aboard a
> Beneteau 343. I was amazed to find that it has 6'7 headroom (I'm 6'5)!
> Didn't think I would find a boat with standing headroom below 38 feet...I
> must say that this boat looked pretty tempting. Does anyone have any
> thoughts about this boat, especially compared to our beloved 320? What I
> found amazing though is that all base boards were screwed down. There
> didn't
> seem to be any bilge access without removing screws!
>
> Also, how does a loose-footed main compare in sailing characteristics?
> Never
> tried one before.
>
>