TURN UP THE VOLUME

DUFOUR HAS JUST CHANGED THE GAME WITH HOW MUCH BOAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO GET IN A 40-FOOTER BUT IS THAT A GOOD THING?

The number of bedrooms is usually the first line of enquiry for people looking to buy a house. It helps to categorise and price a property. So it stands to reason it can be no different for many when buying a yacht.

Yet surely we know what to expect from a 40ft production monohull these days. It’ll either have a two- or three-cabin layout with one or two heads, depending on how social you feel, right? Not any longer, not with the arrival of this Dufour.

Ever since the Beneteau Group shook things up when it brought out its new generation of Sun Odyssey and Oceanis hulls back in 2017, which use the full bow shapes employed by offshore racing designs to create extra volume, we have seen internal volume continue to swell. Bavaria and other mainstream yards have followed suit, using the trickery of naval architecture to minimise wetted surface while maximising space below decks.

None has managed to do so enough, however, to alter layouts and cabin numbers significantly for this mainstay 40ft size... until now. The new Dufour 41 is the only boat in this class to offer four cabins, including two forward cabins with proper double beds. It’s also offered as a three-cabin boat with up to three heads, so you can start to imagine just how much volume it has in its forward ends. 

It’s always interesting how yards choose to promote their yachts. ‘Pushes the limits for ever more space’ are the first words of the brochure. After all, space is the prime reason why the multihull market and Dufour’s sister company Fountaine Pajot has burgeoned in recent years. It’s clear from the outset that this is a yacht that’s all about volume, deck space and natural light below.