Beneteau First 26

The Beneteau First 26 is a French sailboat that was designed by Jean-Marie Finot of Groupe Finot as a cruiser-racer and first built in 1984.

Production
The design was built by Beneteau in France from 1984 to 1991 with about 300 examples completed, but it is now out of production.

Design
The First 26 is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim. The deck is a sandwich of balsa, fiberglass and polyester. It has a deck-stepped mast with aluminum spars, a masthead sloop rig, a raked stem, a slightly reverse transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed fin keel or, optionally, a stub keel and centreboard. It has 70 in of headroom in the main cabin and sleeping accommodation for five people.

The boat is fitted with a Swedish Volvo 2001 8 hp diesel engine for docking and maneuvering. The fuel tank holds 6 u.s.gal and the fresh water tank has a capacity of 13 u.s.gal.

The design can be equipped with a symmetrical spinnaker with an area of 603 sqft. The boat has a hull speed of 6.42 kn.

Variants

 * First 26 fin keel
 * This model displaces 4814 lb and carries 1455 lb of ballast. The boat has a draft of 4.30 ft with the standard keel fitted.


 * First 26 centreboard
 * This model displaces 4850 lb and carries 1543 lb of ballast. The boat has a draft of 2.79 ft with the centreboard retracted and 5.74 ft with the centreboard extended.

Operational history
In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote about the boat, "best features: The cabin layout is refreshingly unusual, with a dedicated space for a navigator's station, a head located aft, and a complete-looking galley (except for no icebox!). Worst features: The diesel engine, housed under the companionway ladder, will make the aft double berth hot in summer (but cozy in winter, if you like sailing among the icicles)."