Dufour 40 Buyer's Guide
The Dufour 40 on the brokerage market is a Felci-designed performance cruiser built in France from 2005 onward, with interior and deck styling by Patrick Roseo, and offered in several sleeping-cabin permutations around a standardized galley, saloon, and nav core. Ex-charter examples are common, and the two principal used-market layouts reflect how the boat was originally specified rather than a later refit trend.
Layouts on the Used Market
Owner three-cabin layouts are the more common on the used market, but both are available. Dufour offered three interior layout choices and, around a fixed central area, four permutations for the sleeping cabins: three staterooms with two heads, three with one head, or two staterooms with one head, with the starboard aft twin substitutable for a large storage compartment and the forward berth a Pullman double or V-berth (the V-berth including a second head). The aft head sits by the companionway for interior and cockpit access, while the nav desk is forward of it on the starboard side, placed clear of the wet lines coming down the companionway.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
On the used market the Dufour 40 commonly carries an autopilot, chartplotter, teak decks, spinnaker, bimini, cockpit shower, and asymmetric spinnaker, and hot water, radar, and life raft are often seen. Solar, dodger, AIS, inverter, EPIRB, and short-handed setups are less commonly seen, tending to appear as owner upgrades. The boat was delivered with a bow roller and windlass provided but not installed, so a fitted ground-tackle system may be a later owner addition rather than factory work, and the Performance+ variant deletes the standard centerline helm seat to open the cockpit to the transom.
What to Inspect
The documented equipment gap is that a bow roller and windlass were provided but were not installed at the factory, so verify that ground tackle is properly mounted and bonded rather than loosely supplied. Otherwise the survey record shows no structural defect: the hull is a single-skin laminate below the design waterline and cored above, the deck is RTM-laid, and steering is reached simply through a cockpit-sole hatch to the quadrant. Check the moabi joinery and deep-fiddled lockers for the wear consistent with the boat's racing or charter history, and confirm which keel is fitted — the 5-foot 3-inch shoal cast-iron version or the 6-foot 11-inch draft.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Typical markets for the Dufour 40 are Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, and the United States. When viewing a candidate, confirm the cabin permutation matches your plans, verify the windlass and bow roller are actually installed and not just supplied, check the keel draft and cast-iron shoal option, and note whether the cockpit is the open-transom Performance+ or the standard helm-seat version.
- Owner three-cabin layouts more common; both available.
- Confirm supplied-but-uninstalled windlass and bow roller are fitted.
- Identify keel draft (5'3" shoal cast iron or 6'11" deep).
- Note Performance+ open-transom versus standard helm seat.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Dufour 40. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 13 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 25 | 1 | $ 108,708 | — |
| Jun 25 | 1 | $ 106,420 | -2.1% |
| Aug 25 | 1 | $ 123,500 | +16.0% |
| Sep 25 | 2 | $ 127,547 | +3.3% |
| Oct 25 | 1 | $ 131,594 | +3.2% |
| Dec 25 | 1 | $ 136,171 | +3.5% |
| Jan 26 | 4 | $ 135,599 | -0.4% |
| Feb 26 | 3 | $ 120,151 | -11.4% |
| Mar 26 | 3 | $ 113,285 | -5.7% |
| Apr 26 | 10 | $ 118,504 | +4.6% |
| May 26 | 4 | $ 115,532 | -2.5% |
| Jun 26 | 6 | $ 106,046 | -8.2% |
| Jul 26 | 1 | $ 108,708 | +2.5% |
Where they're listed
Dufour 40 listings appear across 13 countries. Spain has the most listings with 13 (37.1%), followed by France and United Kingdom.
Country view
35 listings · 13 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | $ 113,285 | 13 | 3 | 37.1% |
| France | $ 109,853 | 4 | 3 | 11.4% |
| United Kingdom | $ 101,095 | 3 | 3 | 8.6% |
| United States | $ 123,500 | 3 | 0 | 8.6% |
| Greece | $ 131,594 | 2 | 2 | 5.7% |
| Malta | $ 157,341 | 2 | 0 | 5.7% |
| Netherlands | $ 142,465 | 2 | 1 | 5.7% |
| Saint Barthelemy | $ 108,708 | 1 | 0 | 2.9% |
| Germany | $ 139,604 | 1 | 0 | 2.9% |
| Estonia | $ 124,728 | 1 | 1 | 2.9% |
| Italy | $ 99,554 | 1 | 1 | 2.9% |
| New Zealand | $ 102,843 | 1 | 0 | 2.9% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
11 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beneteau, France First 40.7 | 39.25' | $ 89,950 | 76 | 13 |
| Beneteau First 40 | 40.16' | $ 99,000 | 74 | 13 |
| Performance 44 Performance | 44.85' | $ 338,458 | 59 | 7 |
| Performance 40 Performance | 40.42' | $ 120,151 | 53 | 22 |
| Dufour 405 Grand Large | 39.93' | $ 145,326 | 49 | 10 |
| Dufour Classic 38 | 37.58' | $ 77,240 | 48 | 14 |
| Performance 40You are here | — | $ 116,830 | 36 | 15 |
| Performance 34 | 33.63' | $ 90,113 | 30 | 5 |
| Elan 40 | 39.04' | $ 87,053 | 27 | 3 |
| J/BOATS J/40 | 40' | $ 69,000 | 14 | 7 |
| X-Yachts X-40 | 40' | $ 176,762 | 13 | 4 |