Bonjour Monsieur

 

WORDS + PHOTOS: ANDREW RICHARDSON

This imported fishing boat has a French flavour that's sure to suit the Aussie palate.

A friend of mine had been looking around for an efficient small cruiser to replace his existing 6m cruiser. What he wanted was a vessel that he could keep on his mooring, but it had to have a few creature comforts and it was essential that he could handle the vessel on his own. It also had to be able to handle rough conditions. Price ? under $100,000.
I had noticed the Beneteau Antares Fishing VI in a brochure last year during the research on a Modern Boating review of the Beneteau 7.10. It turned out that my friend had also been looking at brochures and decided a Beneteau Antares Fishing VI might be just what he was looking for. These days there are plenty of 6m outboard and sterndrive runabouts around, but you'll have too look hard to find a good, solid, well-founded, shaftdrive diesel cruiser of this size.
Adam Waters from JW Marine and I arranged the test and made sure my friend came along for the ride. After the review we had a bit of a chat about the pros and cons of the vessel, but it was like preaching to the converted ? the vessel suited his needs to a 'T'.

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Dealer Comments
Adam Waters explains, "these mid-sized vessels have wide appeal, because they offer cruiser characteristics that are one notch above runabout pricing".
Most buyers have had vessels in the past and understand the value and the efficiency of a mid-powered diesel cruiser with a focus on open cockpit space. They are good value ? a well-built, efficient package with a lot of panache. A few obvious shortcomings, such as only having a single battery, can be easily resolved during pre-delivery.
On the downside, these boats are not as fast as other 6m planning vessels, have limited accommodation and no enclosed head. It is a day boat and not an overnighter.
Layout
The French didn't get carried away with creature comforts at the helm. While many imported vessels offer bolster helm seats, Beneteau has gone back to the basics and fitted a simple single plastic helm seat. What about your mate who stands next to you when underway? He gets a grab handle.
The vessel's saving grace is the cockpit tiller-steering arrangement, because most of the good weather steering is done outside. Suddenly, it all makes more sense and this French boat, built for a different climate, becomes well suited to Australian conditions.

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