Dufour 390 Grand Large Review, Layout Choices and Used Values

The first of the post-2018 Dufours

The Dufour 390 Grand Large made its public debut at boot Düsseldorf in January 2019, next to its bigger sister, the 430. Yachting World's show guide summed up the pair in one line: stronger hull chines and wider sterns for more form stability. It was the first new generation from the La Rochelle yard after its 2018 purchase by Fountaine Pajot, and it took the place of the 382 Grand Large in the range.

The boat reached the United States that spring. Cruising World editor Mark Pillsbury sailed both new Dufours on Chesapeake Bay before their official debut at the Annapolis show in October 2019 and stepped off, in his words, with a smile plastered on his face. Both were nominated for Cruising World's 2020 Boat of the Year, and the 390 was a family cruiser finalist for European Yacht of the Year 2019.

If you are researching the dufour 390, the naming can be confusing. Early press material calls it the Dufour Grand Large 390 or 390 Grand Large; later brochures and listings simply say Dufour 390. They are the same boat. It stayed in the range alongside the newer Dufour 37, 41 and 44 into 2024, and today's lineup has moved on to the Dufour 39.

Where all that volume comes from

The hull itself is 11.19 m (36 ft 9 in) long. A molded bowsprit that doubles as the anchor roller takes the overall length to 11.94 m (39 ft 2 in), which is why the boat is sometimes listed as a 37-footer and sometimes as a 39-footer. Beam is 3.99 m (13 ft 1 in), and David Harding of Yachting Monthly noticed that it is carried much further forward than on earlier Dufours, giving the 390 broad shoulders and an enormous forecabin.

Felci drew nearly vertical topsides down to long chines that start well forward, then tucked the hull in below them to keep the waterline narrower. The result is a light, flat-sectioned shape: 7,700 kg (16,976 lb) light, with a 2,100 kg cast iron bulb keel and a 10.50 m waterline. Below the water there is a moderate-aspect fin and a high-aspect, semi-balanced rudder, a single blade rather than the twin rudders many rivals adopted.

• Standard keel draws 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in); the shoal option draws 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
• Sail area 66.5 m2 (36.6 m2 main, 29.9 m2 headsail)
• Sail area to displacement about 16.3 on the 100 percent foretriangle (Yachting Monthly)
• Ballast ratio about 27 percent and displacement to length about 185 (sailboatdata)

Thirty knots in the Solent: the test that sold the boat

Numbers like those usually describe a boat that needs the engine on in light air and a reef early. Yachting Monthly's two-part test in 2021 says otherwise. On the first day, in a shifty breeze gusting to about 6 knots, the owner's boat with a deep keel and overlapping headsail clocked 3.5 knots on the wind. On the second, with gusts near 30 knots down Southampton Water, it reached at up to 8 knots on the log under full headsail and one reef, then punched upwind through Solent chop at 6 to 6.4 knots, touching 6.7 in flatter water while tacking through about 75 degrees.

Harding then tried to make the boat misbehave. With the sheets pinned in and the traveller amidships, the rudder held until about 30 degrees of heel before the boat rounded up, gently by modern standards, and settled hove to. Fore-reaching at about 3 knots, it still answered the helm well enough to be turned downwind, gybed and brought back close-hauled. His verdict was responsive, obedient and fun to sail, which is not what you expect from a boat bought mostly for its saloon.

The weak point is momentum. A light, high-volume, flat-sectioned hull sheds speed quickly in a tack, so the headsail has to come in fast. Expect the usual beamy-boat trait too: constant small helm corrections as the hull heels and comes upright in gusts, and downwind in a seaway.

Small rig details worth fixing on a used boat

The test exposed a few cheap fixes. The genoa tracks stop too far forward for the overlapping sail, so the leech closes while the foot stays slack; longer tracks or a barber hauler solve it. Standard rigging is twin backstays with no tensioner, and a single bifurcated backstay with an adjuster was on the options list, worth having for headsail shape. The two-bladed fixed propeller costs speed in light air, so a folding prop is a common upgrade.

Good news is in the standard hardware: a mainsheet traveller, which many family cruisers omit, a German-style split mainsheet led to both helm consoles, and Lewmar 40 self-tailers forward of the wheels.

Five ways to lay out a 39-foot interior

Dufour's 2020 brochure listed five layouts, which is unusually many for a boat this size. The most common in private hands is three cabins and two heads: twin double cabins aft, a communal head to port opposite an L-shaped galley, and an en suite head in the forecabin. Cruising World's Annapolis boat, at about $303,000, had that arrangement. A two-cabin version replaces one aft cabin with a huge athwartships double or with storage and a bigger aft head.

Charter fleets favored the three-cabin, three-head plan with a linear galley along the port side, and there are single-head versions with two or three cabins. For a couple who cruise, the two-cabin boat with the L-galley is the best boat to live on. For resale, the three-cabin, two-head layout is the safest bet in the US.

Joinery is moabi as standard, with teak or light oak as options, all built in-house. Harding liked the split mattresses that allow lee cloths, a chart table that lowers to extend the 6 ft settee into a berth, and the optional wine rack under the sole. The European Yacht of the Year jury found the interior annoyingly noisy at sea and spotted some poor finish, while praising the standard digital or analog switch panel.

Outdoor galley, twin wheels and the hinged transom

Topsides the 390 follows the Grand Large recipe: twin wheels, a fold-down swim platform that also opens the liferaft stowage, and an outdoor galley with grill and sink built into the transom seats. The cockpit table carries handholds, a light and a stowage bin. Side decks are wide and run all the way aft, though Yachting Monthly found the molded non-slip less grippy than some.

The European jury singled out the cockpit as easy to work in, because Dufour did not cram the winches beside the wheels the way many rivals do, and the aft quarter seats are comfortable places to steer from. Half-depth lockers on each side swallow fenders and lines.

Thirty or forty horsepower, and the rare electric boat

Standard power is a 30 hp Volvo Penta with saildrive, with a 40 hp upgrade. Yachting Monthly recorded a quiet 6.2 knots at 2,500 rpm with the 30, and found the boat handy under power, although it takes a while to steer to port in reverse. Fuel capacity is 200 liters (53 gallons) and water 380 liters (100 gallons). Dufour also offered a Smart Electric pack; such boats are rare on the brokerage market, and the lithium bank and its monitoring system need a specialist's check.

Construction is conventional: a hand-laid solid laminate hull with NPG resin, a structural grid under the sole and stainless steel backing plates for the keel bolts. The deck is injected around a PU foam core to cut weight and lower the center of gravity.

What a used 390 costs, and which ones to avoid

Most US listings are 2019 to 2022 boats. Expect roughly $175,000 to $260,000 in 2026, with keel, sail plan and charter history moving the price as much as model year. Dufour's own used-boat guide flags the checks a surveyor will make: sails and furler, engine hours, which keel is fitted, osmosis, and the batteries on electric boats.

Ex-charter boats from the Caribbean and Mediterranean are plentiful and cheaper, but check the rudder bearing, the saildrive seal service record and the gelcoat on the hinged transom, which takes a beating from dinghies. A privately owned boat with the genoa, deep keel and 40 hp engine is the one to hunt.