Review of Dufour 27
Basic specs.
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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.
Fin keel
The Dufour 27 is equipped with a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a full 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.
The boat is typically 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.
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.
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.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Dufour 27 is 2.97.
The ballast ratio for Dufour 27 is 40%.
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.
What is Relative Speed Performance?
The Relative Speed Performance for Dufour 27 is 34
Maintenance
Dimensions of sail.
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 | 23.3 m | (76.5 feet) | 8 mm | (5/16 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 23.3 m | (76.5 feet) | 8 mm | (5/16 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 23.3 m | (76.5 feet) | 8 mm | (5/16 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 8.3 m | (27.2 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 8.3 m | (27.2 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 20.8 m | (68.1 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 18.3 m | (59.9 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Cunningham | 2.8 m | (9.2 feet) | 8 mm | (5/16 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 5.6 m | (18.4 feet) | 8 mm | (5/16 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 5.6 m | (18.4 feet) | 8 mm | (5/16 inch) |
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