The Dufour 29 Sailboat
Specs & key Performance Indicators

The Dufour 29, a masthead sloop, was designed by Michel Dufour and built in France by Dufour Yachts.

A Dufour 29 sailboat launches the spinnaker

A Dufour 29 sailing slowly in very light winds under her spinnaker

Published Specification for the Dufour 29

Underwater Configuration: Fin with skeg-hung rudder

Hull Material: GRP (fibreglass)

Length Overall: 29' 4" / 8.94m

Waterline Length: 25' 1" / 7.64m

Beam: 9' 8" / 2.95m

Draft: 5' 3" / 1.60m

Rig Type: Masthead Sloop

Displacement: 7,250lb / 3,289kg

Designer: Michel Dufour

Builder: Dufour (France)

Year First Built: 1975

Year Last Built: 1984

Owners Association: Dufour Owners Association

Published Design Ratios for the Dufour 29

1. Sail Area/Displacement Ratio: 15.6

2. Ballast/Displacement Ratio: 36.5

3. Displacement/Length Ratio: 205

4. Comfort Ratio: 20.7

5. Capsize Screening Formula: 2.0

Summary Analysis of Published Design Ratios for the Dufour 29

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1. A Sail Area/Displacement Ratio of just 15.6 suggests that she'll need a stiff breeze to get her going. In any other conditions, unless you've got plenty of time on your hands, motor-sailing will be the way to go.

2. A Ballast/Displacement Ratio of 36.5 means that a sailboat like the Dufour 29 (which doesn't have a stiffness-enhancing bulb keel), is likely to benefit from being reefed early to keep her sailing upright in a moderate breeze.

3. A Displacement/Length Ratio of 205, tells us she's a moderate displacement cruiser, which means she'll carry all your cruising gear without it having a dramatic effect on her performance. Most of today's sailboats intended for offshore cruising fall into this displacement category.

4. Ted Brewer's Comfort Ratio of 20.7 suggests that crew comfort in a seaway is similar to what you would associate with the motion of a coastal cruiser, which is not encouraging news for anyone prone to seasickness.

5. The Capsize Screening Formula (CSF) of 2.0 indicates that a Dufour 29 would not be the wisest choice of sailboat for ocean passage-making owing to the lower resistance to capsize in strong winds and heavy seas that is associated with sailboats with a CSF of 2.0 and above.

More about the Dufour 29...

The Dufour 29 is a simple and sturdy sailboat that can accommodate up to six people in two cabins and a saloon. It has a spacious cockpit with a tiller steering. The Dufour 29 is powered by a Volvo MD6A diesel engine with a fuel capacity of 10 gallons. The Dufour 29 is not a very fast or agile sailboat, but it is stable and comfortable in moderate conditions.

Dufour 29 accommodation layout

Accommodation

The Dufour 29 has a traditional layout with two separate cabins and a saloon. The forward cabin has a V-berth that can sleep two people, with storage lockers underneath and shelves on both sides. The aft cabin has a double berth that can sleep two people, with storage lockers underneath and shelves on both sides. The saloon has two settees that can sleep one person each, with storage lockers underneath and behind them. The saloon also has a folding table that can seat four people comfortably.

The galley is located on the port side of the saloon, next to the companionway. It has a two-burner stove with an oven, a sink with cold water, and storage cabinets for dishes and utensils. The navigation station is located on the starboard side of the saloon, opposite the galley. It has a chart table with drawers, an electrical panel, and instruments such as VHF radio, depth sounder, speedometer, and compass.

The head is located on the starboard side of the boat, between the saloon and the forward cabin. It has a manual marine toilet, a sink with cold water, and storage cabinets for toiletries.

The Dufour 29 has ample headroom of about 6 feet throughout the boat. It also has several opening ports and hatches for ventilation and natural light.

Hull and Deck

The Dufour 29 has a fiberglass hull and deck with an end-grain balsa core for stiffness and insulation. The hull-deck joint is secured by bolts and covered by an aluminum toe rail.

The mast is deck-stepped and supported by stainless steel wire rigging with single spreaders. The boom is aluminum and has slab reefing for the mainsail. The foresail is roller-furling on the forestay. The sails are made of dacron and are in good condition.

The cockpit is large enough for four people to sit comfortably or six people to squeeze in. It has two lockers for storing lines, fenders, tools, etc. It also has two winches for handling the sheets and two winches for handling the halyards on the cabin top.

The deck is wide and flat, with stainless steel stanchions and lifelines for safety. It also has a bow pulpit, a stern pulpit, and a double anchor roller at the bow. The anchor locker has a manual windlass and a chain and rope rode. The boat comes with a CQR anchor and a Danforth anchor.

The above text was drafted by sailboat-cruising.com using GPT-4 (OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model) as a research assistant to develop source material; we believe it to be accurate to the best of our knowledge.