New Dufour 365

[Talulah]

Well after much deliberating I have ordered a brand new Dufour 365. The deposit is paid and there is no turning back. It will be the London boat show boat next January.
Any suggestions for names?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Excel?

 

[Talulah]

Yes. Excel 2006

 

[jimi]

Seventeen ...for the numbers at the start and end of the sequence

Du three four five six

 

[StellaGirl]

I think twister mean to name the boat "Excel"...

 

[jimi]

Call it "Tom Robinson"


..... Dufour sex plate, new white shine!

 

[jhr]

Trois, six, sank?

Erm, p'raps not..................

 

[jimi]

... just sputtered my tea all over the keyboard ;-)

 

[Twister_Ken]

"I think twister mean to name the boat "Excel"... "

Thank heavens someone is concentrating!

 

[gregmlucas]

Congrats Edward.

Does this mean you'll be getting rid of the Najad or running both under BoatShare?

 

[Talulah]

I will be running both under the boat share. The Najad is great for longer trips and the Dufour ideal for the Solent.
I have a small waiting list of people wanting to join the boat-share plus I am now a Sailing School. Hence by linking the two I should be able to give members a pretty good deal.
The idea is to have an alternative job once the IT Contracting dries up or ageism takes over. The Dufour was a conscious decision to take the next step. Fingers crossed.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Even better

Excellent

Or, if it gets damaged at the boat show...

Excelbent

 

[StellaGirl]

lol

 

[alisdairs]

You are a braver man than me to have his pride and joy on display at Excel for a hoard of the great unwashed to clamber all over - I hope you got a good discount !! I'd also be on hand during craning in and out if you can to ensure all OK...

 

[Sailfree]

I am always curious as to the main criteria for their choice of boat. Would you care to tell what were the factors that you consider best on the Dufour and did what you did not like on the others.

Re Display Boat - A few years ago we bought one of the Southampton display boats and agreed to it being used again at LBS. I would not worry about doing the same again. Boats get much harder use on the water and I think a show boat get extra care in their preparation. One of the YM writers mentioned that some manufacturers put in more substantial companionway steps etc.on show boats! Certainly ours had tape on the underside of the floor boards where they bear on their supports, I got the impresssion that was not standard but no squeaky floorboards!

Have you decided on a name yet?

 

[Talulah]

In deciding there were various criteria to restrict the choice of boat.
1) Had to be a plastic fantastic as the boat will primarily be used in the Solent and used by people of moderate experience.
2) Had to have twin aft cabin due to boat-share and needing maximum separate berths.
3) Easy to clean and maintain with minimum downtime.
4) Had to come in at circa £80k
5) Had to be spacious down below.
This rules out the Swedish boats plus Hanse, Grand Soleils etc and narrows it down to the main plastic boat builders:
Bavaria, Legend, Beneteau, Dufour. Dehler
(Apologies if you brand is not on here but brand awareness is also a factor.)
Hopefully, without offending people here are reasons from then on:
Bavaria: I have been on umpteen Bavaria’s and always been disappointed with bits falling off, parts not fitting etc. Promised myself I would never buy a Bavaria.
Legend: I went to a Bavaria/Legend open day at Gosport a few weeks back. The Legends were IMHO worse than the Bavaria’s which I didn’t think possible.
Dehler: No experience of them but just don’t like the look.
Final choice was between Beneteau and Dufour. I have sailed on a number of Beneteaus and always found them to be consistently good in build and handling. The Dufour 365 is new and it is always better to buy the newer model for residual value. The Dufour was cheaper than the equivalent Beneteau. I don’t like the forward cabin on the Dufour. I prefer the forward cabin to have two traditional ‘v’ berths and not the double to one side.
I chartered a Dufour 36 and took most of the boat-share group out on it to get their feedback. They were very happy with choice of boat.
The one final reason that really did it for me and ruled out Beneteau’s is the inability to choose a dealer. You have to go to the one in your area and this for me meant going to Ancasta. I refuse to deal with Ancasta as their terms of sale IMHO are outrageous.

I should add that lots of people own some of the boats above that I have discarded and are very happy with them. I do not wish to offend. I am also aware that lots of people when choosing a boat discuss their choice amongst their colleagues/friends etc and are oblivious to certain design trade offs until they are explicitly pointed out to them. Also their choice of boat will be for different reasons.
One final note. The wife likes both the Beneteau and the Dufour. She does not like the others. Her reasons are varied. They include things like salesman’s attitude to woman at previous boat show. This is ranked very highly. Woman are all to often treated as though they are invisible. Dealers at the forthcoming Southampton boat show should consider doing to staff training on this subject!

Now I hope I haven’t opened up a can of worms.

 

[StugeronSteve]

Congratulations.

Re: Selling to women.

Few years back we were vere seriously looking at buying a T5 V70 Volvo. A good test drive, followed by a rather patronising explanation of the techie stuff etc, which was clearly directed towards me. Then the coup de gras, "Oh, Mrs Stugeron, you'll be impressed with this, Volvo put hooks in the back so that your shopping doesn't fall over" Missus takes sharp exit and car is not purchased from this dealer!

 

[BlueSkyNick]

Great explanation, Edward.

Re selling at the boat show, I find that sales people generally sell to SWMBO more than me, usually because we are merely window shopping and not a genuine purchaser. More time is spent inspecting the domestics such as accommodation, galley, heads etc and not on sailing charactieristics, rig, keel etc etc.

We always head for the boats as soon as the show doors open, before they get too busy. Last year at Southampton, after the Najjer, we climbed onto the Sweden 45. SWMBO was doing her usual trick of opening all doors around the galley area inspecting the storage facilities. Then she tried one too many and found the built in dishwasher. WHat's more, it was running at the time. She closed it quick, and we made our excuses and alighted with due haste. Nice boat, though.

 

[Sailfree]

Thanks for sharing your analysis.

I agree about selling to women and know that if SWMBO is not happy I would not be permitted to purchase! Not proud of my macho status but its a fact of life.

I had one of the early Dufour 36's and had an untraceable front water tank leak. No problem dealer ordered a replacement. Heard that the man from Dufour had been onboard. Inspected but no new tank, strong smell of glassfibre! Found the rudder stock had been reinforced! Tank was replaced later (immediately new one delivered). I was happy for the strengthening to be done but would have liked to have been told!! I did think though that there are benifits of buying a thoroughly tested product (cars & boats) rather than the latest model. After 2 Dufours I think they are one of the better production boats and the dealer does repair any minor problems (I believe ALL production boats have some minor problems/repairs required). If it wasn't for the Volvo engine I would have had no hesitation in buying my 3rd Dufour however congratulations on your choice and wish you many years happy sailing.