Beneteau’s Swift Trawler 34 and The Greatest Loop: A Four-Month Marketing Voyage

Beneteau is showcasing its Swift Trawler 34 with an ambitious four-month voyage around eastern North America, known as the Great Loop. Rather than a conventional launch campaign, the company has combined a live, highly publicized test run with industry partnerships, rotating media crews, shared expenses, and a plan to sell the boat after the journey. The project—branded The Greatest Loop—aims not only to promote a single model but to catalyze Beneteau’s expansion in the U.S. powerboat market.

Putting a new boat on a 7,000-mile maiden voyage on a tight schedule carries risks. Beneteau expects that, and in fact uses those potential mishaps as part of the story: showing how the boat handles real failures and how crews solve problems. The Swift Trawler 34 departed stocked with spare parts—down to a $4,200 replacement propeller—which proved prudent after the boat struck a submerged log on the Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario and bent two of five propeller blades. The spare was installed at Crate’s Marina.

“If it were risk-free we wouldn’t draw some of the reporters and readers,” says Laurent Fabre, head of sales and marketing for Beneteau Powerboats America. “We want to show how simple it is to drive a single-engine boat and make people realize that doing the Great Loop is affordable, easy and convenient. Things will go wrong and when they do we’ll show how to deal with them. We’ll all learn from it.”

Designed for Loop Cruising and Everyday Use

The Swift Trawler 34 is built for extended liveaboard cruising like the Great Loop while remaining handy for day trips. Compact dimensions and bow and stern thrusters make it easy to handle single-handedly or with a small crew. It comfortably accommodates two people and provides reasonable space for four. The boat’s shallow water draft (3 feet, 7 inches) and relatively low air draft (12 feet with the mast down) help it clear shoals and low bridges along the Loop, while a semidisplacement hull delivers trawler-like efficiency with cruising speeds around 17 mph and a top speed near 24 mph.

Beneteau equipped this model with a single turbocharged Cummins 425-hp QSB5.9 six-cylinder diesel and a five-blade prop, a configuration chosen for fuel efficiency and simplicity. That single-engine approach is a key selling point, especially as fuel prices fluctuate.

Onboard Comfort and Layout

The Swift Trawler 34 strikes a balance between size, comfort and performance—qualities that appeal strongly to baby-boomer cruisers. This hull, length overall 36 feet 7 inches with a 13-foot 1-inch beam, features easy access to the pilothouse/saloon via aft and starboard entrances, plus transom and hull-side doors. Controls are straightforward and the helm is responsive. A side door to the pilothouse is particularly useful for single-handing.

Below decks the layout includes a forward stateroom for two, a port-side cabin with twin single berths, and a starboard head. The saloon settee converts to a double berth. The pilothouse/saloon is offset slightly to port, enabling full use of the starboard door while preserving excellent visibility from the helm.

Thrusters give exceptional maneuverability—capable of tight pivots—while a shallow keel adds protection for the prop and rudder in the event of grounding. Trim tabs help maintain balance at speed. Standard systems include Raymarine electronics and a Cummins Onan generator tucked into the generous aft storage space. Freshwater capacity is 85 gallons, and the compact galley features a double sink and refrigerator suitable for short cruises; longer cruises benefit from auxiliary icemaking or storage options.

Pricing, Range and Fuel Considerations

List price for a base Swift Trawler 34 is roughly $280,000. Typical options such as a generator, air conditioning and upgraded electronics commonly push a spec’d boat into the $350,000 range. The Greatest Loop was outfitted with extensive extras—thermal imaging, wireless internet service and more—and would retail near $423,000.

Beneteau reports the light-displacement hull weighs about 16,356 pounds. Fuel-consumption figures show optimal cruise at 17 mph burning roughly 11.6 gallons per hour; wide-open-top speed approaches 24 mph at about 20.5 gallons per hour. With a 211-gallon fuel tank, the Swift Trawler provides substantial range for coastal passages; Beneteau estimates roughly 936 miles at slow cruise and about 200 miles at top speed. Beneteau projects the Great Loop fuel bill in the neighborhood of $30,000 for 6,000–7,000 miles, though regional diesel costs and sponsor discounts can affect totals.

Construction and Performance

Beneteau uses an integral solid fiberglass grid in the hull and a balsa-cored bottom to reduce weight while increasing stiffness and sound damping. Powerboat hulls incorporate a higher grid density to manage the extra stresses of heavier engines, higher speeds and larger accommodations. Dealers and owners praise the grid technology for combining lightness with strength and for contributing to fuel efficiency and handling.

The Voyage: Annapolis to New York

The Greatest Loop launched in mid-May from Annapolis with a crew of four. Departure followed a lively sendoff party on City Dock. On the first two-day leg, the boat covered about 315 miles from Annapolis to New York, stopping in Rock Hall, Cape May and Atlantic City before arriving in Manhattan. During the passage Beneteau staff maintained active social-media updates, and the boat’s transponder provided regular position reports.

The Swift Trawler’s speed and range surprised some traditionally sail-oriented mariners. The boat moved quickly through Chesapeake Bay and the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, making passages that can take much longer under sail. Approaching New York Harbor, the run under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and past iconic sights like the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island led to an arrival at Chelsea Piers, where the first leg concluded on schedule.

People and Places Along the Loop

While The Greatest Loop aims for a fast transit, the voyage still introduced the crew to local personalities and long-established marinas. Stops included Utsch’s Marina in Cape May—known for its practical staff and local hospitality—and Liberty Landing in Jersey City, where connections with experienced harbor captains and longtime harbor professionals underscored the Loop’s living-community aspect. These meetings highlight why many Loopers favor slow travel: to connect with people and places along the route.

Although The Greatest Loop will not replicate the traditional slow, immersive pace many cruisers prefer, the project demonstrates the Swift Trawler 34’s capability for long coastal passages, its suitability for liveaboard cruising, and Beneteau’s intention to grow its U.S. powerboat presence. The voyage also provides real-world testing, media stories and lessons about daily seamanship—everything from fuel planning and spare-part readiness to docking in crowded urban marinas.

Freelance writer Stephen Blakely sails an Island Packet 26 on Chesapeake Bay.

This article originally appeared in the August 2012 issue.