DUFOUR 530
LOA 16.35m 53ft 7in • HULL LENGTH 15.5m 50ft 10in • BEAM 4.99m 16ft 4in • DRAUGHT 1.95m, 2.30m or 2.80m 6ft 5in, 7ft 6in or 9ft 2in • DISPLACEMENT 17,774kg 39,200lb • BASE PRICE: €300,700 ex VAT • www.dufour-yachts.com
The first Dufour since the company’s merger with Fountaine-pajot was launched alongside re-branding to focus the range at a younger and more active audience. This also repositions the Dufour range in a more premium part of the market in which quality finishes and good performance are important.
First impressions are of a big and wellappointed boat with excellent accommodation at an attractive price. The interior is accessed via a wide and easy companionway with a minimal bridgedeck, so it doesn’t feel as cut off from the outside as on many monohulls with a spaceefficient interior layout.
This model is offered with up to six cabins (plus optional skipper’s quarters forward) for the charter market. However, the show boat had a more typical and commendably spacious three-cabin/three-head owner’s layout. This includes a large full-width galley at the forward end of the saloon.
The Felci-designed hull has a long, soft chine aft and conventionally shaped bow sections, rather than the wide flare above the waterline forward seen in some recent French designs. On deck there are three distinct versions, including a very pared down Easy model and high spec Performance package with cockpit mainsheet traveller and optional carbon rig.
The boat at Düsseldorf was the Ocean version, intended to appeal to the bulk of private owners, with a coachroof traveller, sheets led aft to the helm stations and halyards handled at the companionway.
The intention is to build some 60-70 boats in the first 12 months, with the Dufour 530 followed by two further new models in the next 18 months. The first of these will be a 61-footer, scheduled for launch at this year’s Paris boat show.
This model, which attracted plenty of attention, is bristling with neat touches and feels much larger than a 40ft trimaran might, both on deck and below. The latter is the result of a combination of clever design features that encourage the brain to assume there’s more volume, combined with attention to detail and taking the trouble to
build in accessible stowage wherever feasible.
I was initially sceptical about the twin wheels, as my preference is for tillers whenever possible, which shouldn’t be an issue on a trimaran of this size. However, the execution is extremely good – there’s enough cockpit width to have good separation between the pedestals, while there’s easy access to the electric winches and to the low-profile built-in pods for MFDS and instrument displays on each side of the boat. Another nice touch is transom hatches for the floats that enable an inflated kayak to be easily stowed inside each one.
Below decks there’s a two double cabin layout, with the aft one being the more spacious, with neat solutions to make use of corners that would otherwise be inaccessible. While this is far from the lightest trimaran of this size, it’s impressively civilised, with an air of quality throughout, and offers the very enticing prospect of passage making at speeds of 20 knots.