Review of Dufour 3800
Basic specs.
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Both the hull and the deck 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.
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 interior is like most other boats made of teak. Teak has the advantage of being naturally very oily and therefore water-repellent, which is suitable on boats.
The boat is equipped with 6-8 berths, a galley, 140.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.
The Dufour 3800 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 3800 has been built with different keel alternatives.
Unknown keel type
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.
The boat 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.
CentreBoard
One option is a centreboard keel. A centreboard keel is a pivoting lifting keel, allowing to sail both coastal and inland waters.
This keel is also made of iron.
Dufour 3800 can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.07 - 1.17 meter (3.51 - 3.81 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Shallow keel
Another option is a shallow keel. A shallow keel allow to sail both coastal and inland waters.
This keel is also made of iron.
The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.35 - 1.45 meter (4.43 - 4.73 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD5 diesel engine at 7 hp (5 kW). The speed is 6.5 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.
The fuel tank, which is made of stainless steel, has a capacity of 45.0 liters (11 US gallons, 9 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 3800 is 2.10, 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 6.8 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 3800 is about 169 kg/cm, alternatively 951 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 169 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 951 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 3800 is 20.3.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Dufour 3800 is 2.88.
The ballast ratio for Dufour 3800 is 43%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Dufour 3800 is 223 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.
What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?
The SA/D for Dufour 3800 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.2, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.2.
What is Relative Speed Performance?
The Relative Speed Performance for Dufour 3800 is 58
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.
Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.
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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Mainsail halyard | 26.3 m | (86.3 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 26.3 m | (86.3 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 26.3 m | (86.3 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 9.3 m | (30.7 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 9.3 m | (30.7 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 23.4 m | (76.7 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 20.6 m | (67.5 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Cunningham | 3.1 m | (10.2 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 6.2 m | (20.3 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 6.2 m | (20.3 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
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