Review of Bénéteau 343

Basic specs.

The Bénéteau 343 is a sailboat. The Bénéteau 343 is built by the French yard Bénéteau.

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

Rig

The boat equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.

Keel

The boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.55 - 1.65 meter (5.09 - 5.39 ft) dependent on the load.

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.2 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

Over- / underrigged

The Bénéteau 343 has more rig than 85% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	30.0 m	(98.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	30.0 m	(98.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	30.0 m	(98.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib sheet	10.5 m	(34.5 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet	10.5 m	(34.5 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet	26.3 m	(86.3 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	23.1 m	(75.9 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Cunningham	3.7 m	(12.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Kickingstrap	7.4 m	(24.2 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Clew-outhaul	7.4 m	(24.2 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section shown boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

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References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.