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Beneteau Barracuda 9 Test Walkthrough Video

May 26, 2017 11:31 am

The Beneteau Barracuda features a modular design with a list of options to easily fit any pastime. Her rugged polyester sandwich construction makes her hungry for rough waters and her enclosed wheelhouse means there’s always refuge from the weather.

Join us as BoatTest.com tests this versatile center console:

The following opinions are solely those of BoatTest.com and its test captain.

Hi, Capt. Steve for BoatTest.com and today we’re going to take a look at a very different boat from a company known for doing things a little bit differently – it’s the Barracuda 9 from Beneteau. And I’m going to take it on a full test and performance review.

She’s designed to combine fishing and cruising with the unique cabin arrangement and a twin-engine outboard configuration. But first let’s take a look at her out of the water, because in addition to her enclosed pilothouse, one of her other distinguishing features is the Air Step hull.

Looking at her head out we can see multiple lifting straits leading to a hard reverse chine. Now Air Step works quite differently from a conventional stepped hull that draws air in from the sides. Air Step brings air in from above the hull, in this case through the intakes on the cabin sides, and then directs it under the hull from the center through these dual 2-inch ducts, and then delivers it through the low drag running surface.

Beneteau Barracuda boat walkthrough video

Our test of boats with Air Step hull have shown a marked improvement of both handling and fuel consumption. At the stern, the engine well begins 8 inches up from the keel and extends out 6 ¼ inches. Optional trim tabs and a bow thruster were installed on our test boat.

Now let’s take a look at some of the operational features. Now I notice that the engines can’t tilt all the way up because they’re in such close proximity to the transom, but Beneteau has come up with a workaround for that.

Beneteau Barracuda boat walkthrough video

The cockpit deck is all hardwood and channels underneath direct water to 2-3 inch cockpit drains that lead directly overboard. We also begin to see features that are typical of much larger boats, starting with the most important – the enclosed pilothouse.

Then these hardwood cap rails with hoss holes leading to the cleats under the bullwarks. Space in the side decks measures 14 ½ inches being reduced to 9 inches with the ladder for the optional flying bridge.

As we make our way to the bow there are conventional grab handles on the sides of the cabin as well as mounted to the cap rails. Notice how the foredeck is elevated so that you’re not having to bend over to work the ground tackle. This is another feature we usually see on much larger yachts.

At the bow there are two deep compartments to both sides of again the hardwood inlay with a standard windlass. To the starboard side is the remote control for the windlass, and both compartments are self-draining overboard.

Beneteau Barracuda boat walkthrough video

Now here’s a feature you don’t see very often. These forward steps with wood inlays make it convenient when you bring your boat bow first into a slip. Now you can step up and disembark.

Taking a look at the helm, with huge wraparound windows and narrow mullions, visibility is certainly a non-issue on the Barracuda 9. The beginning of our test day was rainy however, and that showed me that I’d like to see a little more coverage from the windshield wipers. Trim tab controls were just beneath the Yamaha multifunction gauges and ahead of the digital engine controls.

Notice the fiberglass helm console, gunmetal gray, no glare and it doesn’t reflect in the windshield and all the electronics are angled nicely towards the operator. The upper helm has the same grey panel as the lower helm, offering a significant reduction in glare. It’s also equipped with the same Yamaha digital multifunction gauges and digital engine controls.

Beneteau Barracuda boat walkthrough video

A panel to the side of the helm 9 inches by 12 inches will accommodate a 12-inch diagonal screen. The flybridge helm doesn’t lend itself well to operating while in the standing position. With that said, operating from the seated position was very comfortable with everything falling right into place.

Now let’s get underway and see how this Barracuda 9 performs. Our Barracuda 9 had a length overall of 28 feet 10 inches, a beam of 9 feet 9 inches and a draft of 2 feet 7 inches. With an empty weight of 7,053 lbs., ¾ fuel and 5 people onboard, we had a test weight of 9,691 lbs.

With a pair of 225 horsepower Yamaha 4-strokes turning 19 by 15¼ 3-bladed propellers, we reached the top speed at 5200 RPM and 47.9 miles per hour. That gave us a fuel burn of 44.15 gallons per hour for range of 103 miles. But with the heavy chop during our tests, I believe that in better sea conditions that I could have broken 50 miles per hour.

Beneteau Barracuda boat walkthrough video

Not very sensitive to trim adjustment, so once you get up on plane, don’t be shy about adding trim. You’ll feel a boost in speed but you won’t notice much difference in the attitude of the boat.

Best cruise came in at 3500 RPM and 30.1 miles per hour. That reduced the fuel burn to 17.55 gallons per hour, which the Barracuda 9 could keep up for 5 hours and 24 minutes and 163 miles while still maintaining a 10% reserve.

The Air Step hull gave us quick times to plane with 3.6 seconds average, we accelerated the 20 miles per hour in 5.4 seconds, 30 in 8.4 seconds and continued accelerating through 40 miles per hour in 12.6 seconds.

When accelerating very little bow rise only – about 5-10 degrees. For the most part she seems to come up level when she gets up on plane and that’s thanks to the Air Step hull. With this heavy chop on test day the Barracuda 9 seemed to handle it quite well.

Beneteau Barracuda boat walkthrough video

I can’t believe how smoothly she takes the following sea. We’re just slicing right through these waves, and it’s a nice gentle motion and it really feels comfortable. You can see as we’re crossing the wake of the camera boat how she seems to slice cleanly through the waves rather than oppose them and throw spray everywhere.

She has a comfortable 15-degree roll into the turn and doesn’t seem to bleed off a lot of speed in the turns. I also noticed that she makes very tight turns without ventilating the propellers.

She has a sweeping sheerline while maintaining high freeboard, giving her safety in offshore conditions. Although the engines are mounted very close together, I found her to have excellent low speed maneuverability.

Opening side doors to both port and starboard add a lot of ventilation to the cabin area and it also makes it very easy to tie the Barracuda 9 up single handed. In my opinion, the addition of the pilothouse adds several advantages to the Barracuda 9.

Beneteau Barracuda boat walkthrough video

One being you can get out and fish earlier in the season, another is it affords protection from the elements, and lastly you can run later in the season. Add that to her comfortable layout and handling and the Barracuda 9 makes a capable offshore fishing platform.

Well that’s our full test and performance review of the Barracuda 9 from Beneteau. For BoatTest.com, I’m Capt. Steve. We’ll see you on the water.

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