1984 Beneteau First 4213m

42' Beneteau First    1984    OCEAN GRACE   

Builder: Beneteau (FRA)  (Hull # 154 of about 200 built 1981-1985)

Designer: German Frers:   See Ferenc Mate's "World's Best Sailboats"

 One of the most competitive and stable sailboats of its time, the Beneteau First 42 was designed by the Argentinian architect German Frers, and recognized in Ferenc Mate's "World's Best Sailboats". “The design brief for the First 42 was a fast family cruiser / racer. Beneteau had, and continues to have, very precise building methods and specifications for their production boats including lamination, materials, interior requirements and rigs. I worked closely with the people at Beneteau, Francois Chalain and Mme. Roux, in the design in order to meet their criteria, which I felt was very sensible and based on solid building experience, which resulted in very good value for (one’s) money.” - German Frers.

While a fast boat, the 42 First is a true Racer/Cruiser, built with tasteful interior finishes, refrigeration, hot and cold pressure water, 3-burner propane stove with oven, etc. Delivered new to the first Vancouver owner in 1984, Ocean Grace has been lightly cruised in the Pacific North West, and never raced. This Prestige Model is the two cabin / two head version with additional wood interior storage details and trim. The yacht’s hull is solid hand-laid glass, reinforced with an epoxy-bonded partial hull liner, extending two feet above the bilges. Installed while the hull remained in the mold, the “green” liner and hull ensured a chemical and adhesive bond. The liner comprises a grid system designed to reinforce and stiffen the hull, particularly adjacent to the keel, the mast base and where the chain-plate loads are transferred into the hull. The liner keeps locker bottoms isolated from wet bilges and, during manufacturing, ensured the exact positioning of bulkheads. Before installation, the liner was partially cut away with the resulting edge flanges tabbed to the outer hull with multi-layers of glass. This technique retains the strength added by the liner yet allows near full access to the inner skin of the hull and the wide, 200plus mm thick, glass keelson, which carries a cast-iron ballast keel with 16-20 mm bolts. The decks are constructed with a combination of solid glass and balsa core with approximately 20 mm of solid glass at hardware mounting points. 18 mm marine plywood structural bulkheads, installed while the hulls remained in the mold, were tabbed to the hull on both faces with multiple layers of bi-axial glass with overlapping edge bevels. The bulkheads and furniture are finished with beautiful light teak veneer and trimmed with sculpted dark mahogany.

Ocean Grace has a double spreader mast-head rig, headstay furling, baby-stay and massive inline shrouds with rod chainplates lead deep into the hull structure. Main and Jib halyards are led aft along with most control lines, like for the hard vang. The spinnaker halyards are led to a pair of deck-mounted #40 winches, while the reefing and outhaul lines are led internally through clutches on the underside of the boom to a #16 2-speed Lewmar reefing winch mounted on the aft side of the mast. A reliable Barbarossa backstay adjustor and rigid vang help control mainsail shape, and support the boom.

In the teak-decked cockpit, jib sheets are led to #55 two-speed primary winches through fairleads mounted on inboard T-tracks and massive Barbarossa double turning blocks. There is a large wheel, Richie compass, and single throttle/transmission control. Speed and depth displays are forward, below the bridge deck, and a stored below Garmin chartplotter can be mounted on the binnacle.

Sorry this is just the first teaser version - come back soon for more info about the nice interior accommodations.

Thanks, Lee