title: Beneteau First 235
text: # Beneteau First 235
  
  The Beneteau First 235 is a French sailboat, that was designed by Group Finot and first built in 1986.
  
  ## Production
  
  The boat design was built by Beneteau in France and the United States between 1986 and 1991, with 680 examples completed, but it is now out of production.
  
  ## Design
  
  The First 235 is a small recreational keelboat, built predominantly of glassfibre. It has a fractional sloop rig, a transom-hung rudder and a fixed fin keel, wing keel or optionally a centreboard. It displaces 2,826 lb (1,282 kg) and carries 825 lb (374 kg) of ballast.
  
  The boat has a draft of 3.80 ft (1.16 m) with the standard fin keel and 2.75 ft (0.84 m) with the optional shoal draft wing keel. A centreboard version was also produced with a draft of 5.75 ft (1.75 m) with the centreboard extended and 2.16 ft (0.66 m) with it retracted.
  
  The boat is normally fitted with a small outboard motor for docking and maneuvering.
  
  The design has a PHRF racing average handicap of 189 with the swing keel or the fin keel and 195 with the wing keel.
  
  The boat has a hull speed of 6.03 kn (11.17 km/h).
  
  ## Operational history
  
  In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "here is a boat you might call elegant, if you like the French approach to design—all rounded corners and brushed aluminum. It may take time to get over the idea that she's not 23 1/2 feet long, (She's really only 21' 8" on deck, without the rudder, and even her official LOA is only 23' 4"...so where does the "235" come from? Marketing!) ... Best features: Roomy cabin with good headroom and enclosed head. Very pretty, very sleek, very ... French. Worst features: That aft berth under the cockpit is a bear to climb into or out of."
  
  