Talulah
Well-Known Member
Happy Days – Our Dufour 365 has been sold and it’s a weight of my mind. We had the most hassle free, painless process possible and I’ve got to say it’s all down to the broker John Rodriguez of Wessex Yacht Sales who posts on here as ‘Jonic’. Glad to see fellow forumites working together.
The reason for selling is that 2 boats were just too much to manage. However, here are my lessons learnt.
Firstly, when buying a boat make sure that anything that is discussed and agreed has a proper email audit trail. I had to rely on this audit trail when it came closer to delivery of the new boat and without it would have come unstuck.
There were a couple of very tiny things that were insignificant to me and the broker but important to my wife. i.e. scatter cushions. But promising these and failing to deliver meant that the broker involved would not get our business again. Unfortunately, sometimes you don’t get to choose your broker if you are after a particular brand.
The Dufour itself looks good on the water but the quality of the fit out is no better than most of the other plastic fantastic’s. Within a month of sailing her most of the interior screws pulled out, hinges came off, the saloon bench totally collapsed, the cushion covers started to come undone, the stack pack zip had missing teeth and the forestay started to pull the bow fitting off the foredeck etc. Further down the line the white plastic sheeting around the cooker came unstuck, the stitching on the foresail came undone, all of the eyelets on the mainsail pulled out or were coming out. When you did replace the screws with bolts you wondered as you tightened up the bolt if you would ever get it tight without just totally compressing the board to zero thickness.
My advice to people buying a boat these days is to seriously consider if you want a new boat. The cost cutting that is now going on is having a detrimental effect on the longevity of these boats. You may well be better off buying a boat that is the older model of the one you are thinking off. i.e. in our case a Dufour 36 Classic.
Our other boat is a Najad. My wife thinks I am disappointed with the Dufour as it is no comparison to the Najad and it isn’t. But when your paying circa £100k for a boat I don’t believe that any of the above defects would have made a scrap of difference in the price to get it right. All of the defects were fixed before passing the boat onto the new owner.
The reason for selling is that 2 boats were just too much to manage. However, here are my lessons learnt.
Firstly, when buying a boat make sure that anything that is discussed and agreed has a proper email audit trail. I had to rely on this audit trail when it came closer to delivery of the new boat and without it would have come unstuck.
There were a couple of very tiny things that were insignificant to me and the broker but important to my wife. i.e. scatter cushions. But promising these and failing to deliver meant that the broker involved would not get our business again. Unfortunately, sometimes you don’t get to choose your broker if you are after a particular brand.
The Dufour itself looks good on the water but the quality of the fit out is no better than most of the other plastic fantastic’s. Within a month of sailing her most of the interior screws pulled out, hinges came off, the saloon bench totally collapsed, the cushion covers started to come undone, the stack pack zip had missing teeth and the forestay started to pull the bow fitting off the foredeck etc. Further down the line the white plastic sheeting around the cooker came unstuck, the stitching on the foresail came undone, all of the eyelets on the mainsail pulled out or were coming out. When you did replace the screws with bolts you wondered as you tightened up the bolt if you would ever get it tight without just totally compressing the board to zero thickness.
My advice to people buying a boat these days is to seriously consider if you want a new boat. The cost cutting that is now going on is having a detrimental effect on the longevity of these boats. You may well be better off buying a boat that is the older model of the one you are thinking off. i.e. in our case a Dufour 36 Classic.
Our other boat is a Najad. My wife thinks I am disappointed with the Dufour as it is no comparison to the Najad and it isn’t. But when your paying circa £100k for a boat I don’t believe that any of the above defects would have made a scrap of difference in the price to get it right. All of the defects were fixed before passing the boat onto the new owner.
