Design and Construction
Michel Dufour's cruiser is a solid fiberglass hull with a traditional monohull form, and the builder offered her with different keel alternatives to suit varied cruising grounds. One option is a shallow iron keel drawing just 4.43 to 4.73 feet depending on load, letting the boat into even shallow marinas, while another is a torpedo iron keel drawing 5.38 to 5.68 feet and still clearing most marinas. The ballast-to-displacement ratio sits at 36.5 percent, and the displacement-length ratio of 205 places her among moderate racers rather than heavy voyagers. With a length-beam ratio of 3.11 and a wetted surface near 258 square feet, the hull is proportioned for settled all-round cruising rather than ultralight performance.
Rig and Handling
The Dufour 29 carries a masthead-sloop rig that is notably powerful for her size—the yachtdatabase review found she has more rig than 92 percent of similar sailboats, indicating she is significantly overrigged. Her sail-area-to-displacement ratio is quoted both at 15.6 and at 20.18 across reviews, and the generous canvas plan pairs with a documented 364 square feet of sail area. The standard halyard guides call for 81.3-foot lengths at 5/16 inch diameter for mainsail, genoa, and spinnaker, while sheet runs run 29.4 feet at 3/8 inch for jib and genoa and 73.4 feet at 3/8 inch for the mainsheet. The capsize screening formula lands at 2.0 in one review and 1.95 in another, and the comfort ratio of 20.7 with a motion comfort value of 21.3 describes a steady, predictable coastal cruiser. The theoretical hull speed is 6.7 knots, with an immersion rate of 826 pounds per inch showing how load-sensitive her waterline is.
Accommodations
Below, the Dufour 29 follows a traditional layout with two separate cabins and a saloon. The forward cabin holds a V-berth for two, with storage lockers beneath and shelves to both sides, and the aft cabin mirrors that with a double berth for two plus lockers and side shelves. Headroom is above average for the class, a real benefit in a 29-foot hull where many contemporaries force a stoop through the main companionway. The separation of sleeping cabins fore and aft gives two couples or a family a measure of privacy that open-plan 29-footers of the period rarely managed.
The Verdict
The Dufour 29 is a plainly competent mid-seventies cruiser: overrigged enough to drive comfortably in a breeze, available with a shoal keel for thin water, and laid out with genuine two-cabin privacy and better-than-average headroom. Her moderate displacement and lead ballast read as a stable coastal boat, though the iron keel options invite vigilance against corrosion where a later lead version might not.
Pros
- Traditional two-cabin layout with V-berth forward and double aft, plus a saloon
- Above-average headroom for a 29-foot cruiser
- Strong rig for her size, exceeding 92 percent of comparable sailboats
- Shoal iron keel option draws under 4.75 feet for shallow marinas
Cons
- Iron keel alternatives are corrosion-prone compared with lead
- Conflicting sail-area and capsize figures across sources leave exact performance envelope unclear
- Moderate displacement and 205 DL-ratio suit cruising more than spirited racing
