Beneteau launches the “mono-hull”: 14-meter home boat

The “mono-marine” boat halfway between a monohull and a catamaran designed for living long periods aboard. How? In the best possible way according to typical boating habits. Here is the Island Cruising Boat by Beneteau, a 14-meter by 4.5-meter developed by Beneteau / J&J Design.

Beneteau Island Cruising boat

In 2020, Beneteau began supplying its boats with the Seanapps system, a remote onboard monitoring software. It then has in its hands, totally anonymously, a wealth of data on the habits of boaters, and begins to analyze it, focusing on charter boats. What are the results? Of the more than 1,000 boats connected in the Mediterranean, on average, 80 percent of the time is spent at anchor, the average cruise is 18 miles per day, 80 percent of which are sailed at an average of 6.5 knots. What users want is to be outdoors and enjoy the view, to sail without having limits, safely and, if possible, respecting the environment. All this on a comfortable, spacious and, above all, quiet vehicle. Well, of this concept, Beneteau has made it into a flesh-and-blood (or, rather, fiberglass) boat, currently being tested in the Caribbean and Croatia, the largest charter market. It is no coincidence that the prototype was unveiled at the, perhaps less well-known, at least here in our country, Biograd Boat Show. Beneteau has called this hull a “monohull”: at the bow it is a monohull that, from about midships, continues in two hulls like a catamaran. Entirely displacement, it is therefore not a tricycle hull (with three separate planing hulls), but in the absence of photos out of the water it is impossible to be more precise. After all, as the analysis of average behaviors revealed, habitual cruising takes place at low speed, thus favoring stability and quietness.

And how else to be silent than with an electric propulsion? A 12 kW POD is installed on each of the two hulls, aft. The battery pack consists of 8 modules of 5.8 kW, for a total of just under 50 kW, providing a range of about 2.5 hours at 7 knots, which is perfectly in line with the average distances analyzed. In addition, there is a diesel generator with a 200 l tank that can recharge the batteries, should the solar panels not be enough. Yes, because the very large hardtop is entirely covered with photovoltaic panels, which can provide between 30 and 50 percent of the energy needs.

Prototype or breakthrough?

And we come to the real novelty of this solution: the layout. In the bow, being a monohull, it is a normal walkaround around a deckhouse that houses a sundeck, but from midship on, immediately abaft the helm station, the cockpit is entirely free and set up with furnishings we might see in a poolside villa: a large table surrounded by chairs, a bar-kitchen station, and a sofa. This entire area is covered by the hartop and can be enclosed if necessary, making it protected and habitable, with real yacht-like volume. When, on the other hand, one wants to enjoy maximum contact with the sea in most cases, the side bulwarks can be opened and the stern platform lowered, making the whole area a large raft on the water, while maintaining the security that being on a real boat gives. It is currently unknown whether this concept will remain as such or actually become a production model. The focus of the development has been charter, but isn’t comfortable, slow cruising in good weather conditions the most common use even among boaters? Will this design succeed outside the professional market as well?

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