Dufour

Dufour has built sailboats in La Rochelle on France's Atlantic coast since 1964, when engineer and naval architect Michel Dufour founded the yard. Today it belongs to the Fountaine Pajot group and sells a cruising monohull range from 37 to 54 feet.

Michel Dufour set the company up in 1964 and gave it his name, and it has stayed a monohull sailboat specialist ever since. Over the following decades the brand became one of the familiar names of French production sailing, and generations of its cruisers went to work in Mediterranean charter fleets. The Grand Large name, used across several generations of cruising models, became its best known line. In 2018 Dufour was bought by Fountaine Pajot, the French catamaran builder, which runs it as a separate monohull marque beside its own catamarans.

The core lineup runs from the Dufour 37 to the flagship Dufour 54. Between them sit the Dufour 39, a recent addition pitched as a performance cruiser, and the 41, 44, and 48, which is aimed at extended cruising. Several models are offered in Smart Electric versions with electric propulsion, and all are built in La Rochelle, where the company keeps its headquarters and yard.

Charter is where most sailors first meet a Dufour. Grand Large generation boats such as the Dufour 405, the 460 Grand Large, and the 520 fill bareboat and skippered fleets, and they make up most of GetBoat's Dufour listings, with brokerage boats alongside. Used examples in the 40 foot bracket come to market regularly.