The new Sun Odyssey 349 by Jeanneau is really FANTASTIC! The Choose Your Boat team discovered her in Cannes last March in Cannes during a sea trial. Here is everything you should know! If you are looking for a new sailboat for family cruising, the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 will meet your every requirement. This fantastic boat combines stability, performance and innovative design. It provides easy handling together with comfort, boasting many features traditionally only found on larger vessels.
Twin helms and running gear innovations
The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 is a ten-meter (thirty-four foot) yacht with a large swim platform aft. This is adjacent to two large lockers, one of which is for the lifeboat and the other for lines and fenders. You spend eighty per cent of your time in the cockpit of a boat and the Sun Odyssey 349 caters for this by providing a spacious area containing seating and a generously-sized folding table.
The wide aft section has twin helms as standard. Each helm-station has a wheel, winch, electronic control panel and compass. The winch has the mainsheet and jib sheet coming back to it, making it very easy to control the boat from this point. The electronic control panel provides centralised management of the GPS, autopilot and instrumentation.
Jeanneau has proudly introduced to the Sun Odyssey 349 innovations utilised on race boats, dinghies and offshore vessels. The first of these is the use of a wide bridle for the mainsheet, a system taken from the racing world. On a boat of this size there would normally be two pulleys. But the problem with this is that the triangle they form can easily become distorted, making it very difficult to bring the boom back to the centre line. With a Y-bridle, the distance between the lower block and the upper block is very slight and this allows much better control of the mainsail.
The second innovation is the use of friction rings for genoa sheet leads, usually seen on America’s Cup boats and offshore vessels, but here brought to a family cruising boat because due to its simplicity it allows for excellent trim of the sail. At the bow of the yacht there is an anchor locker with optional bowsprit. It allows for easy use of a code zero or asymmetrical sail. The anchor locker is spacious, allowing plenty of room for the anchor and also the optional electric windlass. There is an offset anchor roller, which for boats without the optional bowsprit is straight.
A further innovation on deck is that there is no backstay whatsoever, thus instead of having swept back
spreaders at twelve degrees, the spreaders are swept back at thirty degrees, providing incredible stability of the mast and allowing you to sail at all points of sail in all conditions. This also greatly improves the ergonomics of the cockpit. Meaning there is nothing obstructing your back when sitting at the helm and has allowed the helm-stations to be pushed as far outboard as possible for greater visibility.
Spacious galley and saloon
The hull design incorporates positive sheer, resulting in a much higher deck-line in the middle of the boat. Classically the sheer-line is slightly curved from the bow towards the stern, such as in a Viking boat. But on the Sun Odyssey 349 the curve actually goes very slightly in the other direction. So, that creates substantially more volume in the centre of the boat, where you really want it, in the saloon. This ten-metre boat therefore has a very spacious saloon for its size.
The galley of the Sun Odyssey 349 is well equipped. It contains high-end counter-tops, stainless steel sink, oven, grill, hob and refrigerator. There is also ample storage comprising upper cabinets, which include the possibility of microwave installation, drawers and lower cabinets that house a cutlery drawer, plenty of shelves, basket and rubbish bin. This is normally the type of galley you would find on a twelve-meter boat. So it is perfect for family cruising or sailing with friends.
The main saloon is extremely user-friendly. It features comfortable seating around a table with two folding leaves. That provides a very large surface area when fully opened and allows easy access to the forward cabin when folded down. The chart table is adjacent to the seating area. It can be folded up to create extra room when dining. And beneath it is an optional freestanding seat. It can be pulled out when required to enable six or seven people to be seated comfortably around the table.
Up to three cabins and generous head compartment
The forward cabin has a good-sized bed with innovative double doors that enable the cabin to have lots of light and ventilation, as well as creating a sense of spaciousness and ensuring a fully private cabin at night. The aft cabin also has a large bed, which is much more rectangular than you would find on previous generations. This is due to the wider hull with the hard chine. There are no cockpit lockers on this side of the boat. So there is a lot more headroom, light and ventilation, with additional indirect lighting coming down the hull and a single door to provide night-time privacy.
On the opposite side of the boat to the aft cabin is the head compartment. It contains the toilet, wash basin, fully separate shower with shower door, a hanging rail for wet towels or clothes. It benefits also from a direct access through a door to the back sail locker. This is also accessible from the cockpit via a hatch. This handy storage area is usually only found on much bigger boats. The boat can optionally be fitted with a third cabin. This would take the place of the sail locker, but allows you the unusual advantage of being able to have three cabins on a ten-meter boat.
The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 has been designed with family cruising in mind. But it is incredibly versatile due to its sizeable cockpit and generous interior volume that is bursting with useful features.
This yacht is simple to use. It has an easy sail plan. You will find the high performance hull very stable underway. So all-round this is a great boat, particularly for its ten-meter size.
If you wish more information about the new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 (brochure, quote, sea trial, meeting, rental), please click here or send us an email to chooseyourboat@gmail.com.
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