Berret’s influence is equally clear below, where the interior makes good use of a genuinely large living space. The boat’s short, well-balanced ends and subtle spring to the sheerline also drew praise from reviewers who surveyed the tooling.
Design and Construction
The First 405 is a 40-foot 8-inch sloop with a 35-foot 7-inch waterline. It displaces roughly 18,500 pounds on a 12-foot 11-inch beam, making it moderately beamy.
The hull is solid fiberglass below the waterline. Its fin keel carries 7,694 pounds of iron ballast and draws either 7 feet 1 inch or 5 feet 7 inches. The deck is also solid fiberglass.
Reviewers who examined the tooling rated both the general finish and the deck detailing as excellent. Notable details include the integrated companionway, the main-cabin skylight hatch, and the ramp-style cockpit coamings. The coamings are very comfortable when sitting to weather with the boat heeled, though less comfortable otherwise.
The companionway is notched into the aft end of the cabintrunk, allowing the ladder to land forward of the aft-cabin bulkhead. This arrangement also provides a protected place to sit when singlehanding.
Below, Beneteau used Burmese teak for the partitions, tables, doors, floors, and slats. It was the only wood chosen, valued for its incomparable texture and tones.
Rig, Performance, and Handling
Berret gave the First 405 a masthead sloop rig. The manufacturer lists 726 square feet of sail area, with a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 16.59. The displacement-to-length ratio is 183.
One design review considered the rig a little short for hot light-air performance, but also noted that the shorter rig would make the boat docile and easy to sail. The 405 has the general appearance of a fast boat, and test sailors found her stiff, strong, and sailing well—a performance profile consistent with a fin-keel, spade-rudder hull of this ballast ratio.
Accommodations
The interior makes the most of the large living space typical of Berret’s designs. At the foot of the companionway, a centerline island contains the galley sinks and engine box. One reviewer disliked running into it, while acknowledging that this feature makes the large aft cabin possible.
The galley itself is huge and very well laid out. Both heads are generous for a boat of this size: the aft head is more than adequate, as is the forward head.
The quarter cabin contains a 6-foot 10-inch berth set 33 inches aft of the door. It’s a proper sea berth rather than a cramped quarter berth. Altogether, the boat provides a genuinely spacious three-cabin layout.
Verdict
The First 405 is a thoughtfully engineered Berret design. It combines a robust solid-fiberglass hull, a refined teak interior, and a genuinely spacious three-cabin arrangement. The boat is easy to sail and stiff, though a touch under-canvased in light air. Its cockpit, companionway, and deck details reflect the careful planning that helped earn the First range respect in its era.
Pros
- Large aft cabin made possible by the centerline galley island
- Two adequately sized heads
- Huge, well-planned galley
- Excellent deck finish and integrated hatch tooling
- Docile, easy-handling rig
- Strong sailing performance
Cons
- Rig is slightly short for top-end light-air speed
- Centerline island obstructs the approach from the companionway
- Ramp-style coamings are comfortable only when the boat is heeled
