Dragonfly 800 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Quorning designed the 800 and builds them as a unidirectional fiberglass hull and deck with Airex coring. Unlike the F-27, whose crossbeams pull up and in, the Dragonfly's amas pivot aft to retract. The folding sequence is deliberate: remove the aluminum strut between hull and crossbeam, ease rig tension, loosen the netting, and winch the ama in. With both amas drawn in the beam is just over nine feet, wider than the legal road limit, so for trailering four bolts on each ama are unscrewed and the float is stowed upside down on the trailer. The open transom earns praise for swimmer convenience, and the kick-up rudder with centreboard lets the boat be sailed ashore like a beach cat.

Rig and Handling

The 800 comes in racing and cruising configurations, the racer carrying a taller mast and Kevlar sails. All sail handling is accomplished from the cockpit, with most controls led through rope clutches on the coachroof and the rotating mast controlled from the helm. The roller-furling drum sits below deck at the forward end of the anchor locker, its line led aft to emerge under the traveler; ama-hauling lines appear on the cockpit coaming beside a winch, and a barberhauling system runs from each ama bow to the jib sheet and back into the cockpit. Yachting Monthly notes a small jib that furls in seconds and lazyjacks to manage the main, with floats wound in or out via the primary winches in about two minutes.

Performance

In 5 to 8 knot breezes testers reached at wind speed and nearly matched it upwind. Yachting Monthly records up to 20 knots on a reach and about 12 knots hard on the wind, and the builder claims a top speed near 25 knots; above 12 knots a roostertail appears. The boat tacks easily about its centerboard and pivots quickly, but when overpowered the hull lifts and the rudder cavitates, rounding the boat up. A 6 hp outboard is recommended and drives the hull at 7.2 knots in flat water, controllable from the cockpit so motor and tiller turn together.

Accommodations

Below, the V-berths run about seven feet with a tinted skylight overhead and a pull-down privacy blind from the settees. Main-cabin settees have fold-out panels that secure against the centerboard trunk to make two 30-inch bunks, and a teak drop-leaf table fits over the trunk. The split galley aft holds a sink fed by a 17-gallon tank and a single-burner Origo alcohol stove; an optional toilet tucks under one cushion. Yachting Monthly calls the accommodation cramped with no standing headroom, limited stowage, four single berths, and a sea toilet under the saloon seating. Ash plywood overhead, designer lights, and teak trim dress the space, with a forward-facing hatch for light and air, and the cockpit extends the living area when dodger and Bimini zip together.

Known Issues

An alleged bad batch of resin delaminated several rudders a couple of years before Practical Sailor's review, though the importer indicated the matter had been addressed. Testers also noted the seacocks lacked the flanges ABYC recommends.

The Verdict

The Dragonfly 800 Swing Wing is a clever folding trimaran that trades cabin volume for trailering practicality and shoal-draft beachability. Its cockpit-led systems and two-minute float folding make it a practical daysailer and coastal cruiser with genuine offshore capability in the right hands, though the cramped, headroom-less interior and occasional rudder and seacock concerns are real trade-offs.

Pros