1982 Benetti 16m Motorsailer

Comprehensively refitted Laurent Giles-designed pilothouse ketch from Benetti Sail Division in Italy. Launched in 1988 and constructed in steel with an aluminium deck and superstructure. From the board of Laurent Giles & Partners and constructed by Bennetti Sail Division in Viareggio, Italy, TILL is a 1982-built and 1988-launched example of the 16m Motorsailer design. Expensively constructed with a steel hull and aluminium deck & superstructure, the Benetti 16m Motorsailer is a solid and extremely well-founded ketch-rigged yacht, ideally suited to long-distance, all-climates cruising. In the same ownership for the past 25 years, TILL has been lovingly maintained and extensively updated/refitted including the fitment of inboom furling systems to both main and mizzen rigs to allow for effortless short-handed sailing. Her specification highlights include:- • Four-cabin mahogany-finished interior layout with owner’s stateroom aft, VIP twin stateroom forward, guest twin cabin aft and further twin guest/crew cabin in forepeak, all with ensuite bathrooms • Steel hull with aluminium deck and superstructure – repainted 2018 • Teak laid decks – replaced 2018 • Lead fin keel with semi-skeg supported rudder • Volvo Penta TMD70C 175hp diesel engine with shaft drive and 3-blade propeller • Hydraulic bowthruster with PTO from engine • Upper and lower helm positions • 24vDC battery systems with battery banks replaced in 2022 • Shorepower with isolation transformer • Approx 1,000 litres fuel capacity with fuel polishing pump • Approx 2,000 litres fresh water capacity • Autohelm and NECO autopilot controls • Full galley with Smeg gas stove, microwave and twin fridges • Reverse-cycle air-conditioning • In-boom furling system for main and mizzen rigs • Barient winch package with electric main halyard winch • 3.20m RIB with 15hp outboard engine Note. LOA including bowsprit and bathing platform is approx. 17.40m The Benetti Sail Division shipyard was established in 1978 as the sailing division of the F.LLI Benetti shipyards in Viareggio, which until then had only offered steel motor yachts. It specialized in the construction of aluminium and steel hulls. In 1981, under the leadership of Riccardo Benetti, the company became an independent brand. In those years (1985), the F.LLI Benetti shipyard, following the construction of the NABILA — at the time the largest yacht in the world — went bankrupt, bringing down the entire family with it. The Benetti brand and what remained after the bankruptcy were acquired by Paolo Vitelli, who thus created a new brand, Azimut Benetti, which would go on to become one of the largest and most important motor yacht shipyards in the world. Riccardo Benetti resisted the legal pressure from Vitelli’s lawyers, who attempted to force him to abandon the Benetti name. He stopped building sailing yachts after completing the WHITE GULL, went through a number of short-lived ventures such as Benetti Erreyacht, Colvic Delfino 1