The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 Performance is the third model to join the cruising sailboat line but adds race-bred features that convert it to a swift and versatile passage-maker
- Overview
The eighth-generation Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 was added to the French power and sailboat brand in late 2018, joining the 440 and the 490 as well as the newly introduced 319 hulls in the performance yacht line-up.
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The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey's design was meant to disrupt from the outset, with an inset co*ckpit and safe walk-around side decks between bulwarks and coamings making the boats safe and comfortable to sail.
Price and equipment
In late 2019 Performance Boat Sales had the price of the base boat at a tad under $400,000 for a bare 410 with a two-cabin, aft workshop and single-head layout. Other layouts included two- and three-cabin with single or twin heads. Incremental price variations for those options range from around $6000 to $20,000-plus.
Standard on all variants are high-strength polyester sails, including a fully battened main with German mid-boom sheeting back to twin Harken 46.2STs and furling 110 per cent genoa with aft sheeting; mainsail boom bag with lazy jacks; rigid vang and lowered gooseneck; coachroof Harken 40.2ST halyard winch; co*ckpit table; swim platform with telescopic ladder; two-cabin, single-head layout; separate navigation desk; U-shaped galley with double sink and two-burner stove and oven; 190-litre top-loading fridge and sliding-seat dinette arrangement.
A 30hp Yanmar with shaft drive and three-blade fixed prop is standard. An upgrade to 45hp costs $3600, and a folding three-blade prop adds $2830.
An $18,000 Premiere package adds a GRP bowsprit; power windlass and chain counter; GRP multifunction co*ckpit table; lifeline gates; shore power and USBs; a grill in the oven; two extra batteries and a 60-amp charger.
For $7000 more the Preference pack adds co*ckpit halyard bags; indirect LED lighting below decks and in the co*ckpit; upholstered bulkheads; wine storage underfloor; vertical second fridge door; and signature clock and barometer at the chart table.
Our evaluation test boat had the Premiere and Preference trim packages included.
At this point in the selection process buyers can make one of two $25,000 vocational choices.
The cruising-oriented Voyager pack includes a spray hood with LED lighting; an outboard motor bracket; a releasable forestay and fittings; a solar coachroof panel and controller; a seawater/freshwater galley foot pump; and a stainless steel davit arch.
The Voyager cruising package can extend with a self-tacking headsail ($2500); a mast-furling mainsail ($1925); a 1.6-metre shoal draft keel ($2426) or a 1.37-metre lifting keel ($35,208).
The test boat’s Performance pack included a taller mast with Dyform standing rigging and Dyneema running rigging; laminated Flex Lite sails; adjustable-lead genoa sheet rings; block-adjustable backstay; composite steering wheels; asymmetric spinnaker rigging with jammers; extra Harken 40.2ST winch on the coachroof; and a masthead Windex.
On top of all that are typical entertainment and communication and navigation packages, as well as heating and aircon options.
Hull and engineering
Marc Lombard’s innovative hull design for the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 is executed in single-skin, hand-laid GRP, with an ISO Gelcoat and the protective barrier layer. Inside the hull is an infused GRP liner, with extra lamination in chainplate areas.
The deck is a Prisma process injected moulding, incorporating balsa coring and an ISO gelcoat.
A twin-rudder arrangement uses textile control lines for improved helm feel, and self-aligning roller bearings.
Three cast iron keels are available: standard 2.25-metre draft, shallow draft and swing keel. I doubt the value of the swing keel for Australian coastal cruisers as the shoal draft keel is said to allow the boat to sit on its keel and rudders at a dry-out mooring, while the expensive swing keel reduces draft only by an extra 230mm.
All keel profiles have L-shaped bulbs for optimum stability and snag avoidance.
Inbuilt fluid tanks are generous: 200 litres of fuel and up to 530 litres of water storage.
Jeanneau has returned to shaft drive after a dalliance with legs. We assume that the principal attraction of rotating legs was their ‘joystick’ manoeuvring ability, but low customer take-up may and maintenance requirements may not have justified the expense.
Layout and accommodation
The exterior layout of the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 Performance is outstanding with safe, walk-around decking and control lines led aft to co*ckpit and helm winches.
These lines are external, which isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as under-deck routing, but is very practical when there’s a need to re-run a line.
The boom is set at a noticeable upward angle, as with many cruising cats, which gives ample clearance for a spray dodger, keeps co*ckpit occupants out of harm’s way and makes stowing the mainsail a doddle.
The inset design of the co*ckpit is clever, in that the table is slightly offset to starboard, providing more deck space beside the port co*ckpit locker that provides workshop access in two-cabin versions. Sails can lift out and stow without the need to drag them up and down the companionway.
There’s still ample foot room at the table and moving around in a seaway is made safer by easily reached handholds.
Below decks is Piaton Yacht Design’s clean and modern interior featuring some ‘smarts’ that I liked.
The sofa lounge converts with a simple sliding action from a reading couch to expanded dinette seating capacity; furniture fiddles double as handholds that are more instinctive than overhead rails; and an underfloor wine rack is a nice touch.
All cabin beds are rectangular, even in the forward cabin when it’s fitted with the optional shower/toilet; the head module fits to port and the bed is angled.
However, the V-channel moulding in the forward cabin roof is visible in single-head layout boats. I found that somewhat jarring, given the otherwise stylish interior.
The entire roof moulding throughout the boat is unlined and I feel that a thin velcro-attached roof lining would add a considerable touch of low-cost class.
Like the Sun Odyssey 440 and 490, the 410 features a central galley. A central daybed is unique to the 410, while a large navigation station to port provides for plenty of room for paper map plotting and electronics.
On the water
We had weird conditions for our test sail, with a Pittwater wind that fluctuated between 8-22 knots and swung from nor’west to nor’east: tricky when choosing the right rig for a race, but ideal for seeing how this boat behaves in light and heavier air.
Motoring out into a slight chop was relaxing, with progress aided by the fact that the unladen 41-footer could spin quickly within its own length. The twin rudders, full hull sections and short waterline length make direction changes through the moorings very easy.
A retractable bow thruster is optional, but most buyers shouldn’t need it.
An optional powered Harken 40.2ST winch on the coachroof made light work of hoisting the fully-battened main and the 110 per cent genoa unfurled rapidly.
A burst of engine power helped the optional three-blade folding prop feather and we were sailing.
co*ckpit-led controls soon had the main outhauled and vanged, as did lines for the genoa sheeting angle. The 3D barber hauler arrangement was most impressive, employing a pair of line-controlled rings through which the genoa sheets pass.
Line tension raised, lowered and laterally varied the sheeting angle.
German main sheeting and twin 46.2STs allow the helm to trim main and genoa while steering, but, when we were coaxing maximum upwind performance, the main trim could be done by a sheet hand, using the port coachroof top winch, while another cranked the genoa winches from the safety of the aft side decks.
Getting an optimum grinding stance over a winch can often be tricky, but the Sun Odyssey’s walk-through side decks made applying winching power easy and safe.
The supplied polars are for a standard-rig Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410. The optioned Performance test boat did considerably better: we saw 7 knots-plus upwind, close-hauled in 15 knots of true wind. It felt more like a racer than a cruiser on the wind.
The helm seats are L-shaped, allowing the steerer to sit behind each wheel, or to ‘hike’ on the gunwale. Standing at the wheels is aided by deck chocks.
The big puffs meant that our full-main rig was overpowering us slightly at times, but the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 hull showed its tolerance admirably, heeling onto its stabilising chines and lifting the windward rudder clear of the briny.
Although the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 has fat aft sections, sitting outboard when puffs hit didn’t feel precarious.
The stern didn’t lift noticeably, as it can in some boats and I think the full bow helped stop a nose-down attitude when the boat was overpowered. The helm remained light and the boat felt reassuringly stable.
We checked out its stability even further by deliberately bearing away without easing the sheets and the Jeanneau simply heeled, spilled the excess wind and showed no tendency to round up. This is a forgiving boat.
Off the wind the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 Performance hummed along at 8.0 knots-plus in 12 knots true and shaded 9.0 knots in the big puffs.
Our test sail impressions were confirmed a few days later when we came across the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 Performance in a twilight race on Pittwater.
Upwind it matched the tacking performance of a Sydney 38 and a 39CR, losing out to them downwind as the breeze eased and mainly because of some 2000kg difference in displacement. Impressive!
Verdict
The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 Performance is an easy boat to sail both in terms of its ability to work the wind, and the safety of its deck and co*ckpit.
Once the passage is over, below decks offers a premium living space that includes a number of clever features designed to maximise creature comforts.
Specifications
Model: Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 Performance
Length overall: 12.35m
Waterline length: 11.47m
Beam: 3.99m
Displacement: 7784kg
Draft: 1.37m (swing)/1.60m (shoal )/2.25m (deep)
Sail drive: Shaft
Fuel: 200L
Water: 530L
Holding tank: 80L
Mainsail: 42.8m2 (std)/43.3m2 (Perf)/35.1m2 (furling)
Genoa: 34.3m2 (std and Perf)
Jib: 25.3m2 (self-tacking)
Gennaker: 59.8m2 (std)/69.4m2 (Perf)
Priced from: $396,173 including high-strength polyester sails with fully battened main with German mid-boom sheeting back to twin Harken 46.2STs and furling 110 per cent genoa with aft sheeting; mainsail boom bag with lazy jacks; rigid vang and lowered gooseneck; coachroof Harken 40.2ST halyard winch; co*ckpit table; swim platform with telescopic ladder; two-cabin, single-head layout; separate navigation desk; U-shaped galley with double sink and two-burner stove and oven; 190-litre top-loading fridge and sliding-seat dinette; 30hp Yanmar shaft drive with three-blade fixed prop
Price as tested: $490,278 includingGRP bowsprit; power windlass and chain counter; GRP multifunction co*ckpit table; lifeline gates; shore power and USBs; a grill in the oven; two extra batteries and a 60-amp charger; co*ckpit halyard bags; indirect LED lighting below decks and in the co*ckpit; upholstered bulkheads; wine storage underfloor; vertical second fridge door; signature clock and barometer
Supplied by:Performance Boating Sales
