Family cruiser

Umberto Felci designed this new Dufour model. It's a boxy-looking boat but the company promotes the "generous volume" of the boat so I expect we could accept the fact that a box has the most volume for a given LOA. That said, I don't find the boat bad looking. I kind of like the blocky approach to the styling. It's not my style but my L.L. Bean flannel shirt is not very Euro either.

This is a beamy boat with an L/B of 2.91. Any time you get below 3 you have a very beamy boat. Beam buys you volume but not boat speed. The D/L is 203, so the boat is not light either. Displacement is volume, so clearly the designer was after max volume with a fairly beamy BWL and high freeboard. You can chose from either 6 feet, 3 inches or 5 feet, 3 inches of draft. The keel fins have moderate aspect ratio and long bulbs. There is a total of 4 feet, 3 inches of overhang on this boat. The drawings show the double bootstripe cut off short aft. I think it would have helped stretch out the look of the boat if the bootstripe were carried all the way to the transom.

You can choose from two layouts. The difference is that one layout has mirror-image quarterberth staterooms aft and the other has one quarterberth stateroom to starboard and a big cockpit locker to port. If you go with the two-stateroom layout you get a bigger head with a separate shower stall. The drawings call out specific "fruit and vegetable storage" along with "wine cellar" in the bilge. The galley is on the starboard side and features a large refrigerator just forward of the nav station. There is an optional centerline seat/bench for the dinette to port. Three couples dining at that dinette would be a cozy situation. The double quarterberths are big and there is a hanging locker in each stateroom. Instead of the typical V-berth there is a smallish double berth off to port with lockers to starboard.

The decks are clean with a well in the bow for ground tackle. The lines coming aft to the clutches from the mast are under a partial cover, over which the traveler sits. There are genoa tracks just outboard of the cabintrunk but the sheeting angle is 14 degrees and that's a bit wide for any serious performance to weather. The cockpit is huge. There are twin wheels aft and an extension to increase the depth of the swim step.

The SA/D is low at 14.7, so this boat will not be at its best in light air but it will be able to carry full sail in 20 knots, and that's good. Spreaders are swept 21 degrees. And the backstay is split so it doesn't interfere with the swim step area. Looking at the sailplan you can tell a lot of thought went into the styling of this boat. Note how the two long windows in the house are recessed and connected by a short recess.

I'd like to see this boat in person to see how all the unusual styling elements work together.

LOA 36'9"; LOD 35'9"; LWL 32'5"; Beam 12'8"; Draft 5'3" (shoal), 6'3" (deep); Displacement 15,564 lbs.; Ballast 4,298 lbs.; Sail area 573 sq. ft.; SA/D 14.7; D/L 203; L/B 2.91; Auxiliary Yanmar 30-hp; Fuel 53 gals.; Water 100 gals.

Dufour Yachts, (352) 871-0362, eric.macklin@dufour-yachts.com, www.dufour-yachts.com.

OBE: $200,000
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