Dufour T7
Hans Valk
Does anyone out there have any experience with this boat. Sailing
characteristics, strong and weak points ?
--
Hans Valk
Ulrich Lasse
wrote:
>I'm thinking about buying a Dufour T7.
>Does anyone out there have any experience with this boat. Sailing
>characteristics, strong and weak points ?
My "tic" is a T 7, built in 1980, sails quite ok, not very fast. What
would you like to know?
Ulrich Lasse
Hans Valk
Sorry for reacting so late but I've been sailing for a few days ;-).
I'm wondering how 'stiff' the boat is. In other words how is her ability
to carry sail on, for example, a windward course ? How soon does reefing
become necessary ? Could the boat be sailed past her positive righting
moment ?
I'm mainly interested in the boat because of the possibility to 'take
the mud' and visit harbours that dry out during low tide. Have you got
any experience with this ? Any trouble with the daggerboard and it's
case ?
How is the building quality, in general ? How much power does the engine
on your boat have ?
What do you consider strong an weak points of the boat ? The boat has
been built only for a small period of time and I'm wondering if there's
a reason for that.
--
Hans Valk
Ulrich Lasse
wrote:
Hello Hans,
I realized that answering in English is very difficult for me due to
all this maritime terms. Maybe your German is better than my English.
But I'll try a lttle mix:
>I'm wondering how 'stiff' the boat is. In other words how is her ability
>to carry sail on, for example, a windward course ? How soon does reefing
>become necessary ?
I bought this boat 5 years ago third hand. She carries not very much
sail: 14 qm main sail, 8 qm fock, no genoa. As I am sailing alone most
of the time, I am reefing early from 5 bft on.
Das Boot krängt am Anfang schnell, bleibt dann aber stabil nach ca. 30
Grad. More sailing area results in more Krängung, not more speed.
> Could the boat be sailed past her positive righting
>>moment ?
Don't know what this means.
>>I'm mainly interested in the boat because of the possibility to 'take
>>the mud' and visit harbours that dry out during low tide. Have you got
>>any experience with this ?
As I am sailing in the non-tidal part of the river Elbe I only fell
dry once. There were no problems. There are steel parts to make the
body stronger. On hard ground I suppose there will be some
difficulties with the motor, which reaches out over the body of the
boat.
>Any trouble with the daggerboard and it's
>>case ?
What is this?
>>How is the building quality, in general ?
Quite ok, no problems.
>How much power does the engine
>>on your boat have ?
8 hp
>What do you consider strong an weak points of the boat ?
She is easy to sail, easy for singlehand-sailing, there is enough room
on her (for two, not for four persons if not kids), cockpit is
relatively large, comfortable sitting position even by Krängung, easy
to put on a trailer, the material is of good quality, no osmosis.
Negative points: On low speed she drifts because of the small
lateralplan, does not sail very high windwards, but this may partly
be, because I have no genoa. A bit bad is that you cannot have the
cabin luk opened, when you are sailing
> The boat has
>been built only for a small period of time and I'm wondering if there's
>>a reason for that.
As far as I know there were financial problems in the eighties so that
Dufour finished boat-building than, no special reasons in the quality
of this particular boat. When Dufour gave up, the T 7 has been built
for some years under the name Rhodes 24 by chantier naval Figareau at
Colmar. The name Dufour has been relaunched in nineties whith new
yachts as you may know.
If you are interested I could send you a test of this boat published
in the german magazin yacht in 1981 and a paper with technical
specifications of the Rhodes 24.
Ulrich Lasse
Hans Valk
>
> On Wed, 30 Aug 2000 14:34:21 +0200, Hans Valk <a.j....@bk.tudelft.nl>
> wrote:
> > Could the boat be sailed past her positive righting
> >>moment ?
>
> Don't know what this means.
I'm sorry. I meant to ask whether the boat could be capsized under sail
so far that it would not come upright again. In other words: is the
ballast enough to keep her from turning upside-down ?
> >Any trouble with the daggerboard and it's
> >>case ?
>
> What is this?
I meant the centreboard (the retractable keel) and it's housing.
Thanks for your otherwise good information.
--
Hans Valk
Ulrich Lasse
wrote:
Hi, here I am again:
>I'm sorry. I meant to ask whether the boat could be capsized under sail
>so far that it would not come upright again. In other words: is the
>ballast enough to keep her from turning upside-down ?
She has an amount of ballast of 500 kg which is about 42 % (This is
what the papers say, I never measured this)
In the test of the german magazin "yacht" they measured an uprighting
moment at the masttop of 30 kp, which let them say the boat should be
"kentersicher".
>I meant the centreboard (the retractable keel) and it's housing.
No problems with it. The housing is situated mostly beyond the
cockpit, so that there is only small chest in the cabin.
By the way, did I mention, that in my opinion the construction of the
cabin luk is not perfect, because it cannot be opened when you are
sailing.
Hope this helps
Ulrich Lasse
Hans Valk
>
> On Tue, 05 Sep 2000 16:38:07 +0200, Hans Valk <a.j....@bk.tudelft.nl>
> wrote:
>
> Hi, here I am again:
>
> >I'm sorry. I meant to ask whether the boat could be capsized under sail
> >so far that it would not come upright again. In other words: is the
> >ballast enough to keep her from turning upside-down ?
>
> She has an amount of ballast of 500 kg which is about 42 % (This is
> what the papers say, I never measured this)
>
> In the test of the german magazin "yacht" they measured an uprighting
> moment at the masttop of 30 kp, which let them say the boat should be
> "kentersicher".
That sounds good.
> >I meant the centreboard (the retractable keel) and it's housing.
>
> No problems with it. The housing is situated mostly beyond the
> cockpit, so that there is only small chest in the cabin.
>
> By the way, did I mention, that in my opinion the construction of the
> cabin luk is not perfect, because it cannot be opened when you are
> sailing.
Yes, you did. I've visited the T7 that was for sale a few days ago. The
owner of that boat had fitted two pieces of triangular plywood to the
underside of the hatch (cabin luk) by means of hinges. When he turned up
the hatch these plywood pieces could be flipped downwards to the sides
and used to support the hatch in the open position (the hatch being at
an angle of about 30 - 45 degrees).
> Hope this helps
It did. I've decided not to buy the boat mentioned above, but the T7
remains an interesting design.
--
Hans Valk