Dufour 36 Classic

 

You climb up into the cockpit via the best companionway steps I have ever seen; nothing special, just wide and pitched at a logical angle to the vertical, a generous angle of steepness. The deck layout is conventional. The rig is masthead, with double spreaders, single lowers and a fixed babystay, while the upper diagonals are discontinuous. Each halyard is led back to winches and clutches on the coachroof. A mainsheet traveller is mounted on the coachroof with the traveller control lines being led through aft-facing cams, so they can be controlled from the cockpit.

While the genoa carrack positions are fixed by clips - control lines come only with the Performance Pack specification level (as does a folding prop).

The Classic 36 is a true graduate of the French school of design, which means it works well in all areas.

Its market competitors in Australia are also French; there is no home grown equivalent I can think of. It would be nice to be proved wrong.

PS: Why the reference to Dickens in the first paragraph? It alludes to the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities which is, you may recall, about the French Revolution. Which is more or less what has happened to the world's yacht building industry.

read on below advertisement



The price of the Cruising Pack 36 we tested was $226,545 including GST, but not including sails. For further information contact Pacific Yachting on (02) 9968 4242.

Story & Photos by Barry Tranter

« go back