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Review of Dufour 27




Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Dufour 27 is a sailboat. The Dufour 27 is built by the French yard Dufour Yachts s.a..

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Hull

The hull is made of 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.


Keel

Fin keel

The Dufour 27 is equipped with 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.

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 most marinas as the draft is just about 1.58 - 1.68 meter (5.18 - 5.48 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD6A diesel engine at 10 hp (7 kW).


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.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Dufour 27 is 2.15, indicating that this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races.


Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Dufour 27 is about 155 kg/cm, alternatively 868 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 155 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 868 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.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Dufour 27 is 2.97.

Slim Wide 58% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 58% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Dufour 27 is 40%.

Low High 50% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 50% of all similar sailboat designs. This righting moment (ability to resist heeling) is spot on average!


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Dufour 27 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.9, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 20.3.

Low High 62% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 62% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 76% 0 50 100
The Dufour 27 has more rig than 76% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.


RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Dufour 27 is 34

Slow Fast 34% 0 50 100
The relative speed performance is 34 which means that a it is faster than 34% of all similar sailboat designs.


Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail.

mainsail specifications headsail specifications

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale



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.



Guiding dimensions of running rig
UsageLengthDiameter
Mainsail halyard 23.3 m(76.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard23.3 m(76.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard23.3 m(76.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet 8.3 m(27.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet8.3 m(27.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 20.8 m(68.1 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet18.3 m(59.9 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Cunningham2.8 m(9.2 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap5.6 m(18.4 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul5.6 m(18.4 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Dufour 27 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.



References