Boat Test: 2026 Beneteau Antares 9

Overview

If anyone is wondering, “How can my family and I spend a perfect day or weekend on the water?” let me introduce you to the new Beneteau Antares 9. This is truly a boat for all reasons, making it one of brightest new models in the recreational boating market. Antares, by the way, is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius.

Interior and Accessories

For day outings, the Antares 9 cockpit offers a 6-foot-wide U-shaped bench that, when the table is used as a fill, becomes a sun pad worthy of a bigger boat. That’s not hype: A Beneteau hallmark is a cockpit lounge that slides aft when the engines are in the running position, increasing the cockpit space. When it’s time to tilt the engines up into the storage position, the lounge slides forward 16 inches. This lounge locks securely in place in either position. Good thinking on Beneteau’s part.

The protective hardtop stretches aft to fully cover the cockpit, providing sunburn protection for the family. A double slider serves as a companionway that essentially disappears and opens the cabin to the cockpit—and vice versa in fine weather. Access from the docks is easy through a door from the stern platform, or via a 24-inch boarding door to starboard with an optional swim ladder (order it to keep feet away from sharp props).

Engines

Speaking of engines, the Antares 9 features twin Mercury 200s as standard power. These produced 40 mph at wide-open throttle. If you pine for more power, don’t. Bigger engines might bump the top speed by 6 mph. But there’s enough oomph in these Mercury 200s to tow several giggling kids on water toys, they’ll get you home fast if foul weather approaches, and they sip fuel (19.4 gph) at a fast cruise of 32 mph.

This is the latest Antares iteration from an earlier 9, and (frankly) vastly improved. The finish is the same as the 42-foot Antares 12 with lacquered wood cabinetry and padded bulkheads. The hull shape is beam forward, with a wider beam which translates to exceptional interior room. To port is a convertible dinette (this transforms into a 35-inch-wide berth), with a compact galley opposite, and the skipper resides in lordly comfort with a sliding door to the side deck to help with docking and anchoring and facilitates waving jauntily as you depart an anchorage. The dashboard is smallish, but easily handles the optional 12-inch Garmin GPSMAP MFD. My test boat also boasted optional Lenco trim tabs and a Sidepower bow thruster. We also had the 3 kW Fischer Panda genset tucked under the cockpit to power the air conditioning (check yes on both).   

The galley may not handle beef bourguignon, but the two-burner Kenyon cooktop, 80-liter undercounter Dometic refrigerator, and optional microwave (yes!) easily handle family meals. 

The Antares cabin is offset to port, another Beneteau innovation, providing a safe and wide walkway from cockpit to the bow sun pad on the starboard side, with faux teak that grips well even wet. This means the port deck is, um, tiny, so it’s really for holding cleats or leaning against when standing on a dock.  

Not only is the Antares 9 a great day boat, but it’s a two-cabin weekender. My yardstick for weekending is if She Who Must Be Obeyed would spend a couple of nights aboard and, since the Antares 9 sports a full queen berth forward (impressive for a 30-footer), no problem. Yes, the head is wet, meaning the compartment becomes the shower, but I’ll forsake a shower stall in a hot second for a big comfy bed. And I liked the vessel sink and Euro-style faucet/spray. (And so will She.)

The second cabin, which is also privatized by a door, offers an athwartship, full-size berth with ample headroom (6 feet, 1 inch) to pull on your pants and a hanging locker to stash them at night.

Read Next: Pocket Cruiser Overnighting on Beneteau’s Antares 8

Offshore, the Antares 9 doesn’t disappoint and, even at speed in a lumpy Gulf Stream, Aunt Edna won’t be alarmed. The thin windshield mullions provided me with an unhindered view, and the manual sunroof adds some breeze without the complication or expense of wire and switching. The new Airstep hull, with twin strakes and 23 degrees of transom deadrise—yes, this is a deep-V cruiser—proved a delight to run, as deep-V hulls track great, even at low speeds, and ride great, even at planing speeds. This proved true during my test whether I headed the Antares 9 into the waves or ran down sea. The sharpish bow neatly sliced the swells, the lifting strakes threw the spray aside, and the resulting ride was a pleasant and predictable lope. I did discover that the Antares likes to run slightly bow high in chop (I didn’t have big seas), so ignore all the rules and trim the drives up a bit to move the point of entry a bit further aft. With 40-plus degrees of deadrise amidships, I still had a soft ride.  

With the hammers down at 5,800 rpm, I was measuring 85 dB(A) at the helm. That’s very quiet, especially compared to the noise levels at the helm aboard an open boat, which many Antares 9 buyers are moving up from. This already-quiet sound level dropped to a pleasant conversational 78 dB(A) at 23 mph.

Shopping? Take a look at the Cutwater C288 Coupe ($340,000). The Cutwater offers a V-berth instead of queen, lacks a bow sun pad and offers a smaller cockpit. It is a bit longer and is rated for more power, however.

Cutting to the chase, I loved the Beneteau Antares 9. It can do anything a family wants on the water, from fun fishing to entertaining, it’s comfy for weekend adventures, and it’s priced right! Take a peek.

How We Tested

• Engines: Twin 200 hp Mercury V-6s
• Drive/Prop: Outboard/19″x18″ Enertia ECO stainless steel
• Gear Ratio: 1.85:1 Fuel Load: 125 gal. Water on Board: 10 gal. Crew Weight: 600 lb.

High Points

• A queen-size berth aboard a 30-footer? Just heaven!
• Price is always a consideration in my household.
• From Groupe Beneteau, a 900-pound gorilla among boatbuilders, since 1884. 

Low Points

• I found the overhead VHF at the helm awkward to use.
• I would have liked the bow thruster joystick mounted outboard of the helm, but that’s a personal preference.

Pricing and Specs

Speed, Efficiency, Operation