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Model profile · for Great Loop buyers
Beneteau St 50
The published record on this model and what owners report, with the
questions worth asking while a boat is still a listing. This page covers the model.
Every boat still needs its own homework.
A rare pod-drive semi-displacement trawler with a towering air draft and IPS-pod liabilities — an uneasy Loop candidate needing careful air-draft and drive scoping.
The Beneteau Swift Trawler 50 was a limited production run (reportedly around 10 hulls) of a semi-displacement trawler built exclusively with Volvo Penta IPS pod drives. Its two most consequential Loop traits are a tall air draft (flybridge, hardtop, mast/arch) that likely exceeds the Loop's controlling fixed bridge unless components come down, and the service/parts and strike-vulnerability concerns common to forward-facing pod drives on shallow inland rivers. Shallow hull draft is a genuine strength. Do not confuse this boat with the later shaft-drive Swift Trawler 48.
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CLAIMstated by one source, not yet confirmed
QUESTIONopen, and settled by looking at the boat itself
CONTEXTbackground on how this model is built or used
Sources are linked where published.
Air draft
CLAIM
Flybridge, hardtop and mast make this a tall boat for the Loop
The model carries a flybridge with hardtop plus a mast/Samson post and topmost nav lights, giving it one of the taller air drafts in its class. Builder spec sheets and reviews cite a full air draft in the ~21'9"–22'5" range, with a reduced arch-height figure around 18'10" quoted as 'arch height without small mast.' The gap between those two figures is the whole question for Loop clearance. Full fuel and water also lower clearance by inches.
src:
Beneteau spec sheets (Passage Nautical / Top Boats PDFs); MBY review; boattest.com
QUESTION
What is the measured air draft with the mast/arch down, and what actually lowers?
The reduced figure the spec sheets imply (~18'10") depends on removing or lowering the mast/Samson post; a full flybridge hardtop enclosure is hard to lower and may not be realistically reducible. Owners report real-world air draft being off by a foot or two from what a previous owner believed, and on a crawl at idle an inch of error has the same outcome as a foot.
src:
Trawler Forum 'Two questions regarding the Great Loop'; yachtaccess.com
Your move: Have a rigger or surveyor physically measure air draft to the highest fixed point with the boat near loaded trim, then get in writing exactly which components (mast, radar, arch) can be removed or hinged and how much each one saves.
Draft
CLAIM
Shallow hull draft is a Loop strength
Hull draft is modest (builder spec around 3'5" / 1.05 m), comfortably within typical Loop depth guidelines. This is one of the model's best Loop attributes, offsetting the air-draft concern.
src:
Beneteau spec sheets
Drives
CLAIM
Volvo IPS pods are forward-facing and unprotected
The model is IPS-pod only, with props facing forward and no keel or skeg protection ahead of them. A surveyor documented a strike that destroyed a lower unit and caused fiberglass delamination radiating into the stringer tabbing — costly to repair. This vulnerability matters on the Loop's shallow, debris-strewn rivers more than on open coastal water.
src:
Trawler Forum 'Swift Trawler 50' / 'ST 50 Purchase'
CLAIM
Pod service and parts are hard to find on inland routes
IPS drives need a certified Volvo tech with a laptop to read fault codes, and parts are sometimes air-freighted. Owners and moderators note coastal and Great Lakes coverage is generally fine but the inland rivers are not. A reported Maine-to-Florida ST 50 delivery was abandoned after repeated IPS failures and multi-week waits for parts. The system is widely praised for efficiency, maneuvering and low vibration when running — the liability is support, not performance.
src:
Trawler Forum 'Swift Trawler 50' / 'ST 50 Purchase' / 'Volvo 435 IPS'
CLAIM
Pod reseals require haul-out and recur at intervals
Gear-oil changes and drive-seal resealing require hauling the boat, with reseal cycles commonly cited around every ~4 years and described by owners as expensive; some owners reported recurring seal trouble severe enough that they repowered to conventional shafts. This is routine recurring cost to budget, not a one-time repair.
src:
Trawler Forum 'Swift Trawler 50'; Volvo Forums
QUESTION
What is the IPS steering-knuckle and drive-seal history on this hull?
A 2015 ST 50 owner reported both IPS steering knuckles failing within 50 hours at ~450 engine hours; his hypothesis that constant autopilot heading-hold at 8–10 kt stresses knuckles on a slow-running pod boat is unverified by Volvo and may not apply to every rating or hull, but the failure itself is documented. Pods accumulate a service history that a buyer should trace rather than assume.
src:
Volvo Forums 'IPS 500 problems'; Trawler Forum
Your move: Ask the broker for the full Volvo IPS service record — knuckle work, reseals, lower-unit replacements, strike repairs — and have a Volvo-certified tech read stored fault codes and inspect the pods during survey.
Range
CLAIM
Fuel tankage is modest for the size and the hull is semi-displacement
Twin tanks are reportedly ~1200 L on earlier boats (some later boats ~1350 L), described by reviewers as not generous for a 50-footer. Run slowly at displacement speed (~6.5–7.4 kt, roughly 1500–1800 rpm) the boat burns far less and stretches range considerably; pushed onto plane burn climbs sharply. The Loop is run slow, which plays to the boat's efficient end.
src:
boattest.com (via Denison); TradeABoat review
Identity
QUESTION
Is this a Swift Trawler 50 (IPS) and not the later shaft-drive Swift Trawler 48?
The Swift Trawler 50 was a short IPS-pod run; Beneteau's later Swift Trawler 48 is a different, newer shaft-drive model. Confusing the two leads to wrong assumptions about drives, service and clearance.
src:
Trawler Forum
Your move: Confirm the exact model and drive type on the HIN and builder's plate, and verify whether the boat has IPS pods or shafts before relying on any of these drive-related points.
Reading the boat
CONTEXT
Weigh the IPS trade-off against your route
Owners consistently split the IPS story in two: excellent to drive and dock, efficient and quiet, but exposed to strikes and dependent on scarce certified service and parts. For a Loop where long inland stretches lack IPS support and shallow debris is common, that trade-off is heavier than for coastal cruising. Factor in a plan for how you would handle a pod casualty mid-river.
src:
Trawler Forum 'Swift Trawler 50'
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