Review of Dufour 28
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of fibreglass while the deck is made of die cast fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.
Both the hull and the deck is a sandwich construction which improves the indoor climate. Especially when the water is colder than the air in the cabin, then the double hull insulates against cold water and reduce the condense water in the cabin.
The boat is equipped with 3 cabins, 5-6 berths, a galley, 100.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.
The Dufour 28 is equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.
The Dufour 28 has been built with different keel alternatives.
CentreBoard
One option is a centreboard keel. A centreboard keel is a pivoting lifting keel, allowing to sail both coastal and inland waters.
The keel is made of iron. Many people prefer lead keel in favour of iron. The main argument is that lead is much heavier than iron and a lead keel can therefore be made smaller which again result in less wet surface, i.e. less drag. In fact iron is quite heavy, just 30% less heavy than lead, so the advantage of a lead keel is often overstated. As the surface of a fin type keel is just a fraction of the total wet surface, the difference between an iron keel and a lead keel can in reality be ignored for cruising yachts.
The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 0.95 - 1.05 meter (3.12 - 3.42 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Fin keel
Another option is a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.
This keel is also made of iron.
Dufour 28 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.70 - 1.80 meter (5.58 - 5.88 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
The Dufour 28 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.
Alternative 1:
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta 2001 diesel engine at 9 hp (6 kW). Calculated max speed is about 4.5 knots
The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenance than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.
Alternative 2:
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta diesel engine at 16 hp (11 kW). Calculated max speed is about 5.9 knots
The fuel tank, which is made of stainless steel, has a capacity of 50.0 liters (13 US gallons, 10 imperial gallons).
Sailing characteristics
This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.
What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?
The capsize screening value for Dufour 28 is 2.20, indicating that this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races.
What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?
The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.6 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Dufour 28 is about 154 kg/cm, alternatively 866 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 154 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 866 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.
Sailing statistics
This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.
What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?
The Motion Comfort Ratio for Dufour 28 is 17.0.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Dufour 28 is 2.76.
The ballast ratio for Dufour 28 is 35%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Dufour 28 is 184 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 29m2 (312 ft2).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.
Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.
If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Jib sheet | 8.5 m | (27.9 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 8.5 m | (27.9 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 21.2 m | (69.6 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 18.7 m | (61.3 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
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