47′ Beneteau Monte Carlo

Source: David Lockwood, Boatpoint Magazine

We discover a new dawn aboard the magnificent Monte Carlo 47 with Volvo Penta IPS pod drives

It’s 5am, the alarm sounds, I have a pair of three-year-old’s feet in my mouth. Don’t ask me why. I’m too rushed. There’s barely time to don the Trade-a-Boat uniform, cross town, park in a station, and board our boat. But the photographer is adamant: he wants dawn light. I’ll try anything, once.

Just look at my sleeping arrangements. Besides, Beneteau’s new Monte Carlo 47 deserves a place in the rising sun.

Doubtless you’ve heard the expression ‘less is more’. But on this, the dashing new flagship Monte Carlo 47 more is definitely more. You get more boat for your buck – or Euro thanks to our favorable exchange rate – more space on what is an exceptionally high-freeboard hull, and more nautical style than any other powerboat we have driven from the big French yard. Vive that difference.

Waking to the interior, I found myself imagining spending many more mornings aboard. Was I delirious? Perhaps. But five good hours driving twin Volvo Penta IPS 600s on this boat proved a pleasure. And that says something when you are on 40 to 50-footers as often I am. In short, this 47 presses your I-love-boating buttons.

Arriving at the dock, seemingly the only one without a coffee in hand, I wipe the sleep from my eyes and peer up at what presents as an especially high-volume sportsyachts. The Flyer 12, that it in some ways replaces, appears a minnow tied alongside. Compared with a Riviera 44 (I spent several days and nights aboard her) with the same power, similar footprint and price, the Monte Carlo 47 has greater volume all round.

From the moment you set foot aboard, the design unfolds like a well-configured boat. You step onto the teak-topped boarding platform, range up some stairs, arrive in a cockpit designed for dayboating, sashay inside an airy saloon, and head down to the accommodation.

Although the galley is below decks, so to speak, a large atrium encourages social discourse and, such is its volume, you won’t feel confined. Then comes the dynamic full-beam stateroom, which we’ll get to in the fullness of time. Or when the Sandman calls.

TICKING THE BOXES
Although, the Monte Carlo 47 comes with twin Volvo Penta IPS 600s – what powerboat isn’t designed for pods these days? –  the must-have Joystick is listed as optional. One wouldn’t have this boat without one. While easy to dock off the electronic shifts, the joystick is true to name for micro adjustments around the dock and for newbie skippers. A cinch, really.

But pod-drives are just the beginning of the inventory that goes on to tick plenty of boxes and press even more buttons. There’s a garage, opening at the press of a different button, home to a Zodiac 2.6m RIB with 8hp outboard. Oh, and there are owner’s fishing rods and expectant landing net poking out from within. Fish for breakfast, anyone?

To launch the tender flip-down some rollers, grab the remote, press another button, and tug on the duckie’s transom. The electric winch is at your call when you return. Access through the same garage exists for attending to serious engineroom matters. Owners on the other hand, lift a hatch in the cockpit and descend a vertical ladder into what is a pretty tight space.

Importantly, you can get around all sides of the six-cylinder Volvo Penta D6 common rail diesel engines and aft pod-drives, the 9.5kVa Onan is serviceable, and you can reach the sea strainer and the fuel filters. Elsewhere, I note hot-water service, blackwater tank, and that the twin alloy fuel tanks have shutoffs at the helm, along with a fire-fighting system. All mainstream production-boat engineering that meets European CE standards.

Back up top, the teak bathing platform has the requisite handheld hot/cold shower and swimladder. Take the steps up either side of the garage and you’re in the cockpit. We mentioned ticking boxes – an electric awning extends over the U-shaped cockpit lounge and dinette for shade at, at least, midday. Up to six can dine back here.

With a top-notch adjustable Italian Besenzoni pedestal table base on the dinette, and the retractable awning, this same lunch setting converts to a sunpad. Or follow your feet up the moulded steps to the obliging sidedecks, backed by stainless steel hand, far-reaching bow, and moulded toe rails. There’s another sunpad up front with drinkholders alongside.

The Lewmar anchor winch is recessed, so mud from the chain and 25kg self-stow Delta anchor is kept off the decks, and there is usefully grippy non-skid. You will also notice the pronounced reverse sheer on the foredeck that guarantees clear views from the helm all the way from idle through the throttling-up process to running with abandon.

Last but not least, back in the cockpit is a moulded amenities centre that goes the extra distance. You get a 240V electric hotplate for la plancha-style Spanish or teppanyaki-type cooking. There’s also a fridge, sink with hot and cold water, and storage space. Fenders can go in the garage, while LED lights abound.

GREAT DESIGN
Big saloon doors let you saunter indoors where the mood is light, bright and airy, but also cutting edge thanks to the sea of light-oak joinery. This is the timber for me: I’m an oak man and have a gorgeous period dining table with a honey-coloured patina not unlike that of this boat’s veneered joinery. I just like the grain and colour.

While Beneteau is a production yard, and there is evidence of that in out-of-the-way places, the fit and finish is vastly improved on this big Monte Carlo. Silicon wipers, soft liners, moulded panels, everything comes together nicely. Fittings are also largely Italian-made.

The sense of space we hit on earlier provides the foundation for a very livable boat. Headroom is a highpoint, there is plenty of glass and, press a button again, an electric sunroof. Incidentally, the saloon glass is reflective on the outside and the windows are raked in perfect reflection of the Mediterranean styling of Piere Andreani. He’s the in-house pen behind the Monte Carlo boats.

From a practical perspective, the saloon works very well, indeed. Clean and uncluttered, it features a U-shaped dinette with leather lounge to port around a glass table (my preference over the optional timber table) opposite a buffet with pop-up TV. With supplied stools, the six in the cockpit can now move indoors to air-conditioned comfort, turning this into an all-weather entertainer. Winter boating, no worries.

An AV system with Bose speakers is supplied, as are glasses, various storage spaces, and leather upholstery in cool dark-brown. Italian Cantalupe lighting adds to the ambience at night. An icemaker is optional but, with the fridge in the cockpit, you don’t have to go far to find the champagne.

BELOW DECKS
Whereas single-level sportsyachts and sportscruisers are often like yachts, in that you descend below decks and lose connectivity, Beneteau has gone to great lengths to design things differently on its big Monte Carlo. The atrium above the galley beams provides loads of light below and, without the optional third cabin (don’t do it), you get a useful second saloon as a casual seating area for chatting up the chef, eating on your lap, or sleeping a couple of kids.

Opening portholes provide natural ventilation, while lift-up stairs reveal a large void designed to take a washer/dryer. Traced by moulded counters, the galley is oversized in the most welcome of ways, thereby offering abundant food-prep and servery or smorgasbord space. Come and get it. Alas, no croissants to be found, but the pot coffee maker was calling.

Storage comes in spades behind a network of light-oak cupboards with matching fascias that also conceal the upright fridge with lower freezer. I also find a pullout pantry, lots of drawers, pot lockers, and the most impressive of magic corners with swing-out baskets. Smart stuff.

Twin sinks, a two-burner hotplate and convection microwave oven take onboard cooking to the next level. The timber flooring and dish-drawer dishwasher assist with clean-ups. Inside the table base, after chores, is the resting place for several bottles of burgundy. You didn’t hear it from me.

A nearby door leads into the second bathroom, which therefore doubles as a communal head, as well as the en suite with separate shower for the VIP cabin forward. That guest cabin has an island bed and a voluminous wardrobe with hanging space perfect for your weekend carry-on clobber.

But in respect of accommodation, nothing comes close to the impressive full-beam stateroom aft of the lower saloon. There are big panorama windows, a makeup area to starboard and, wow, a wave lounge to port offering a place to watch the water dancing alongside. Such is the level of luxury they had to tear me away. Small opening windows provide some natural cross-flow ventilation, too.

Headroom exists in the stateroom before the queen-sized bed, then you duck into the digs, kick off your socks, and grab some zeds. A second AV system with TV faces you for late-night movie watching. And there are blinds for privacy back in the marina, or to assist with sleep-ins – if only.

The separate shower and freshwater heads on this Monte Carlo 47 aren’t always givens on Beneteau powerboats, but here they separate the big Monte Carlo from sailing siblings and underscore the fact you’re on a near-million-dollar boat.

MED’ STYLE CRUISING
Baby-soft leather lines the dash-pod that’s in keeping with cutting-edge Euro designs, standing proud without obstructing sight lines. A Raymarine C or E120 Wide (with optional radar) holds court, surrounded by a spread of Volvo Penta analogue gauges, ST 70 autopilot, rocker switches and engine starts. With this lot, cruise the coast hands-free and safely. The 640lt water supply caters for a week aboard.

There are windscreen vents and air-con, but our dewy morning meant the windscreen needed wiping on more than one occasion. Otherwise, wipers with freshwater washers work well. What’s more, the boat’s level running attitude doesn’t require the use of trim tabs. An occasional duck of the head and crane of the neck was all it took to locate the peak-hour ferries during the tightest of turns in Port Jackson.

Top speed was 31kts – up to 32.5kts say Beneteau – with the six-cylinder Volvo Pentas revving out to 3600rpm, but remaining quiet in their housing well astern. Cruise came in at about 3000rpm and 24kts for 113lt/h and a safe working range of some 250nm, with 10 per cent of the 1300lt fuel supply in reserve. A flybridge version of this boat is available for regular coastal work.

Although the composite balsa-cored hull did feel a little lighter, or perhaps fuller in the bow when crossing wakes than its blunter-stemmed brethren, the boat was plainly good fun to drive.

And what great photos and what a great time to be cruising Sydney Harbour a la mode, French-style. As I said, I’ll try anything once. Beneteau has just bought a factory in Italy. New 55 to 85-foot Monte Carlos are in the pipeline and, we hear, the yard is working on a raft of new and innovative design features that may extend to propulsion systems.

Plenty to get out of bed for. Set your alarm!

Final Report
An ideal big-city cruising conveyance for heading out in high style, with lots of great features and some exclusives like the wave lounge in the stateroom that carries you away. Stirring.

OPTIONS FITTED
IPS Joystick; Raymarine E120 sounder, plotter and 2kWa radar; Raymarine autopilot; cockpit griddle; 32in flatscreen TV, DVD and Bose in saloon; second TV with DVD/MP3 in stateroom, and more.

GENERAL
Material: GRP hull w/ balsa-sandwich hull and deck
Type: Monohull
Length overall: 14.8m
Hull length: 14.22m
Beam: 4.37m
Draft: Approx 1.1m
Deadrise: n/a
Weight: 11,600kg (dry w/ standard motors)

CAPACITIES
Berths: 4 + 2
Fuel: 1300lt
Water: 640lt

ENGINE
Make/model: 2 x Volvo Penta IPS 600
Type: Six-cylinder four-stroke common rail electronic turbo-diesel
Rated HP: 435
Displacement: 5.5lt
Drives: IPS