Dufour 35 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for a Dufour 35 means looking at Michel Dufour's 1971–1982 cruiser, a 450-hull production run that still turns up in meaningful numbers across several regions. She is a beamy, solidly built offshore sloop whose used-market presence rewards buyers who know which layouts and upgrades to expect and which structural points to check.
Layouts on the Used Market
Owner three-cabin layouts are the more common on the used market, but both are available, and ex-charter examples are common. Either way the boat carries a single head and around 1.9 meters of headroom, with berths for up to eight or nine, so the cabin-count variation is about how that volume is partitioned rather than total capacity.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Autopilots and biminis are commonly fitted, while life rafts, heating, solar, inverters, wind generators, dodgers, chartplotters, and boats with a transatlantic completed are often seen. A cockpit shower and radar are less common, falling into owner-upgrade territory. For a buyer, the meaningful clusters are power and energy — solar, wind generators, and inverters that reduce engine reliance at anchor — and navigation and canvas, where a chartplotter, dodger, and bimini shape daily comfort and watchkeeping. A documented Atlantic crossing speaks to a boat already proven in long passages.
What to Inspect
The Dufour 35 is built of solid fiberglass with a balsa sandwich deck, and the original review notes her hull laminate is among the first fiberglass composites with particularly generous thicknesses by today's standards anchor. The encapsulated fin keel carries about 2.6 tons of ballast, and the skeg-hung rudder has a long, deep blade; both are worth close inspection for impact or water ingress. The balsa-cored deck should be tested for softness around fittings, since that sandwich is the boat's known weak point for moisture.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These boats typically appear in Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, France, the British Virgin Islands, and Denmark. For a shopper, the short checklist is: confirm the deck core is sound, verify the encapsulated keel and skeg rudder are undamaged, and match the layout and equipment tier to your plans. A commonly available three-cabin ex-charter example with solar, heating, and a chartplotter can be a sensible cruising buy if the structure passes.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Dufour 35. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 10 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 25 | 2 | $22,625 | — |
| Aug 25 | 2 | $16,447 | -27.3% |
| Sep 25 | 5 | $34,948 | +112.5% |
| Oct 25 | 1 | $37,291 | +6.7% |
| Nov 25 | 1 | $34,377 | -7.8% |
| Dec 25 | 1 | $41,952 | +22.0% |
| Mar 26 | 4 | $16,315 | -61.1% |
| Apr 26 | 8 | $29,567 | +81.2% |
| May 26 | 4 | $26,720 | -9.6% |
| Jul 26 | 1 | $42,535 | +59.2% |
Where they're listed
Dufour 35 listings appear across 13 countries. Germany has the most listings with 6 (25.0%), followed by France and Denmark.
Country view
24 listings · 13 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | $29,133 | 6 | 0 | 25.0% |
| France | $37,291 | 3 | 0 | 12.5% |
| Denmark | $23,441 | 2 | 0 | 8.3% |
| Netherlands | $31,464 | 2 | 0 | 8.3% |
| United States | $21,250 | 2 | 0 | 8.3% |
| British Virgin Islands | $32,450 | 2 | 0 | 8.3% |
| Belgium | $20,393 | 1 | 0 | 4.2% |
| Switzerland | $23,591 | 1 | 0 | 4.2% |
| Spain | $42,535 | 1 | 1 | 4.2% |
| United Kingdom | $38,751 | 1 | 0 | 4.2% |
| Greece | $11,653 | 1 | 0 | 4.2% |
| Italy | $29,017 | 1 | 0 | 4.2% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
6 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dufour 35You are here | — | $ 30,000 | 26 | 1 |
| Tradewind 35 | 35.01' | $ 61,179 | 21 | 3 |
| Westerly Oceanquest 35 | 35.45' | $ 63,871 | 20 | 13 |
| Nauticat 35 | 34.92' | $ 105,265 | 18 | 2 |
| Nicholson Nicholson 35 | 35.25' | $ 39,429 | 10 | 2 |
| Nicholson 35-1 | 35.25' | $ 41,131 | 10 | 3 |