52 Beneteau Swift Trawler

Source: David Lockwood, Boatpoint Magazine

Beneteau’s new Swift Trawler 52 defies its appearance by packing a punch and delivering on the luxuries for serious entertaining, as David Lockwood discovers

Stylishly swift

It’s not every day that 50 or more dolphins surf your bow wave in Sydney Harbour, leap and dive, bare their white bellies, then look up at you with a Flipper-like nod of approval. But they did just that during a rousing welcome for Beneteau’s new Swift Trawler 52, the giant French yard’s biggest powerboat ever, and a real performer in keeping with the yard’s reputation.

We got a drive of the French flagship during its world release prior to the Sydney International Boat Show. Sporting a navy-blue hull, the motoryacht is a comely passagemaker in every respect. But it’s more than just a pretty boat, packing aboard things like a Portuguese bridge, pilothouse helm station with sea berth, and deep bulwarks around its decks.

But while there is a big teak panel on its flanks to remind you of nautical tradition, underwater there’s a thoroughly modern boat rearing to go. And it’s here that Beneteau has the edge over its largely Asian-built opposition. Unlike many old hulls, the French yard started carte blanche to create a modern trawler. There are prop tunnels, four-blade wheels and underwater exhausts, for example.

Rather than trying to make an old boat go fast, which in some cases results in inefficiency and an awful lot of displaced water, Beneteau built a fast boat from the outset. Similarly, the interior is contemporary in keeping with the French boatbuilder’s latest power and sail offerings, with elements of yachting tradition, like plenty of handrails where you intuitively reach for them, present but with the modern conveniences such as Maxpower bow and (optional) sternthrusters.

Down below, Beneteau breaks the mould by offering owners a massive full-beam 12m² stateroom with oversized oval panorama windows that bring the ocean into your bedroom like we haven’t seen it before. And Beneteau acknowledges the motoryacht market in other ways too, like offering an optional office or walk-in dressing room in place of the third cabin, aft crew quarters or a garage with workbench in the lazarette, and everything for desalinator to seaworthy tender. Such are the possibilities.

ENGINEERED RIGHT
The hull on the Trawler 52 is one-piece GRP sandwich moulding, with a full internal liner and balsa-cored decks. With 4000lt fuel and 800lt of water you can stow away for a fortnight without needing the desalinator. Of course, serious cruising buffs will find room for one, along with a tender and crane on the boat’s bridge. Such things are among the extensive factory options list.

We started our tour in the fully-lined lazarette where, such is the volume of this hull, there’s headroom under the cockpit floor. Beneteau agents JW Marine made a smart call here; where instead of fitting out the lazarette they left it bare so the owner can create a crew cabin, a workspace, dedicated additional storage for dive and fishing gear, a laundry with washer-dryer and/or add a separate chest freezer.

A watertight door leads forward into the engineroom, where foam insulation and underwater exhausts help reduce noise and vibration. Fans aid ventilation, the twin interconnected 2000lt alloy fuel tanks are forward, and the batteries on the centreline where they have the least effect on trim. The sea strainers and Volvo Penta fuel filters are also easy to access up front, too.

Importantly, there is abundant servicing room around the twin D9s and, in keeping with a little ship, the boat has mainly 24V DC systems. The 13.5kVa Onan generator – one would think it would be Kohler to match the engines – is located back in the lazarette so operating noise is far removed from the accommodation. An inverter is an option well worth ordering so you can, among other things, enjoy a movie at-anchor without running the gennie. Basically, all the bones are in place to create a real liveaboard motoryacht.

DECK TOUR
The Trawler 52 is traced by especially deep bulwarks to keep the kiddies, dog and crew contained. You can order an optional stern station for docking or a plug-in remote, either of which would be handy for shorthanded docking. As it was, the side-opening doors to the bridge let you glance back down the sidedecks between shifts in and out of gear with the throttles and tweaking of the thrusters.

Unlike some trawlers, the Beneteau has a decent cockpit with room for a table before the moulded L-shaped seating that, with a few casual chairs retrieved from the lazarette, let you entertain eight on deck. There are wing doors on those bulwarks to keep the weather at bay and a big hardtop for shade. You can fit clears to create a complete all-weather enclosure.

Side gates let you provision and access the boat from a marina stepcase with ease, while the swim platform is suitably deep to hang out at anchor. The teak feature panels on the flanks of the saloon are avant-garde and doubtless will look great following the completion of some eight coats of varnish that was also destined for the boat’s teak-capped rails.

But the innovation in the bulwarks comes by way of some clever garbage storage. You can access the garbage bag from a hatch outdoors that’s linked to a chute in the galley. Remove the bag, replace it, and then store the waste in the dedicated sealed compartment alongside.

We’re talking garbage, but liveaboard boaters will appreciate the thought.

Up front, the Portuguese bridge doubles as a second deck with seating for four on lounges, a double pulpit, and heavy-duty Lofrans double gypsy chain and rope windlass. The ship-like deck gear includes sturdy bollards and hawsepipes and, get this, something called a stainless steel dolphin nose structure, which is presumably the bowsprit. As I said, Flipper approved. Aft capstans are an option.

DRIVING STATIONS
You reach the bridge from either the cockpit ladder, which was a tad steep, or the obliging internal staircase. Once up top, several things fight for attention, not least being the huge aft deck. Sans its crane and tender, there’s an awful lot of room to entertain here. Stainless steel rails and safety lines provide additional security along with diamond-pattern non-skid.

The obligatory amenities centre had a griddle, sink and scope to fit a second fridge or icemaker. There’s also a small servery area for assembling a buffet lunch. Eight can plonk down on the lounges and the swivel helm seat, gaining shade from the Sunbrella bimini top fitted locally. The cherrywood table adds to the ambience, while the main lounge is big enough to double as mid-passage seaberth or a daybed while swinging on the pick.

You can’t fault the views from that helm over the boat’s purposeful raised bow. Electronics included Raymarine E120, ST 6002 autopilot, those nice electronic EDC engine controls, Lenco trim tabs and bow and sternthrusters. Of course, there’s an even better spread of gear in the pilothouse: twin E120s including radar, new Volvo Penta engine-monitoring panel courtesy of French electronics firm Scheiber, trick switch panels, wipers, and big windows.

The captain isn’t forgotten with an upmarket Besenzoni helm chair and a leather-bound wheel, while a dedicated chart table with storage for manuals – wonderfully extensive in keeping with CE certification – and a twin-person lounge with table and sea berth are nearby. Ventilation is controlled through the sliding side doors with intermediate settings. And a bite to eat is only a few steps away in the aft galley.

LIVING AREAS
Maybe it’s because a woman heads the company, but Beneteau really nails its interiors. The Trawler 52 has a salty feel derived from blue carpet, white upholstery, cherrywood joinery and solid Corian counters. The light plan is switchable by remote, while a lot of effort has gone into providing views through picture windows in the saloon and below decks. Of course, air-conditioning is included.

Once inside, through the sliding saloon door that creates a seamless indoor/outdoor effect, you’ll find seating that extends from a U-shaped lounge to two loose tub chairs. You can pull up the latter to the dinette and create a formal setting for six to eight. The dinette also converts into a drinks table and the high-definition LG television rises like a phoenix from the cabinets opposite.

You get plenty of storage on the Trawler 52: in a cocktail cabinet for the bootleg, in a large cabinet for your AV gear including DVDs, and forward in a locker cupboard the galley for platters, plates and appliances. Alongside is the upright Vitrifrigo fridge and freezer, with further pantry space in the galley.

A nice open servery and plenty of food-prep space mark out the seakindly U-shaped cooking area. Among the amenities are twin sinks, a dishwasher, three-burner electric cooktop with range hood, and a multifunction microwave. There are opening windows for natural ventilation and yacht-like thinking that extends to things like a dedicated drawer for cleaning products beneath the sink. Everything you need to cook and clean up after a crowd.

SLEEPING BEAUTY
To give you some idea of the Trawler 52’s volume, it takes seven steps to range from the pilothouse to the accommodation plan, where you will find three cabins and two heads. The VIP is forward, but interestingly there’s no island bed. Instead, the oversized vee-berth uses an infill to create a two-metre by two-metre double bed. Without the infill, you get a lot more dressing space besides hanging lockers and drawers.

The third cabin has extra-long bunks big enough to sleep a pair of French front-row forwards and cute opening circular portholes. A communal head for both cabins leads off the companionway, with a door back to the VIP in case you want to create an en suite. In typical Beneteau style, there’s a splash of panache about the stylish glass vanity tops, the head is an electric number, and there’s a trendy pencil-style handheld shower.

However, the pièce de résistance is the full-beam owner’s cabin with en suite including large shower stall. Nothing prepares you for the effect of the oversized oval portlights that bring the ocean virtually to the foot of the queen-sized bed. There is also a vanity/desk and oodles of storage for personal effects and clothes. Even with the generator running the noise amounted to barely a whisper. It’s a real retreat.

OCEAN GOING
As difficult as it was to prise ourselves away from the stateroom, a boat like this only reveals its true personality in the wide blue yonder. So we headed east, far enough to see the coast vanish in the distance, where the salt air was pure and water deep blue. What an eager beaver…

Plant the throttles of the twin Volvo Penta 575hp D9 diesel engines and, quick as that, the so-called trawler sheds its disguise. From Clark Kent to Superman, soaring at 26kts top speed as a light ship, which was some three knots faster than Beneteau states. Those dolphins were left to frolic in someone else’s wake.

Of course, in today’s time-poor world, speed counts for plenty. By all means go slow and sip the fuel on those long passages, where range is about 800nm at 10.5kts, and cruise the bay or river in a carefree guise, but you also have the performance to dash about on last-minute day trips and to make the most of fair-weather windows. No plodding trawler, the so-called semi-planing hull from Beneteau’s Michael Joubert and Bernard Nivelt generates an amazing amount of lift.

According to the supplied sea-trial sheet, 1000rpm gives about 8kts for 18lt/h in total and a range of 1600nm with 10 per cent of the fuel in reserve. At 1700rpm the boat comes onto the plan at 12.3kts. If time is ticking away, try 2000rpm or 80 per cent load for 16 to 17kts and 116lt in total, equating to a safe cruising range of about 500nm. That’s easily Sydney to Gold Coast in one cruising trip. After which maximum continuous revs of about 2200 to 2300rpm gives about 21 to 22kts.

We hit our top speed of 26.4kts while surfing back home in search of another reception from our dolphin friends. Along the way, the boat proved dry, agreeably smooth and quiet, and very obliging in respect of its layout. It’s also fast when you need it – Beneteau’s most serious ocean-going powerboat yet. A swift trawler indeed!

HIGHS

• Slippery hull
• Terrific performance
• Excellent engineering
• Oodles of potential to customise
• Big and safe decks
• Nice high bow and Portuguese bridge
• Thoughtful layout
• Full-beam owner’s stateroom is special
• French styling is warm and inviting
• Excellent support from huge boatbuilder and local agents
• Resale value should be pretty high

LOWS

• Boat still needed a lot of gear for serious liveaboard cruising
• Due to the empty lazarette, the hull was very buoyant back aft and the cockpit ran downhill
• Not much by way of redundant systems
• Steep cockpit ladder to flybridge
• No island berth in the bow
• Kohler generator would be a better match with Volvo Penta power

Boat Specifications: 52 Beneteau Swift Trawler

BENETEAU SWIFT TRAWLER 52

Options fitted: Raymarine electronics package, teak cockpit, soft-furnishing upgrade, double-station sternthruster, deckwash pump, generator, electric griddle on bridge, Portuguese bridge and teak steps, forward teak deck, LCD television with Bose, and more

GENERAL

Material: GRP composite hull with balsa-cored decks

Type: Hard-chine semi-planing

Length overall: 17m

Beam: 4.92m

Draft: 1.30m (max)

Deadrise: n/a

Weight: 20,000kg dry; 28,000kg laden

CAPACITIES

Berths: Six (up to 10 possible)

Fuel: 4000lt

Water: 800lt

ENGINE

Make/model: Volvo Penta D9

Type: Six-cylinder electronic diesel w/ common rail injection, turbocharging and aftercooling Rated hp/kW: 575/428 at 2500rpm

Displacement: 9.4lt

Weight: 1075kg

Gearboxes (Make/ratio): MG5065AE 2:1

Props: Four-blade bronze