Dufour 520 Grand Large, the Boat of the Year Value Pick

Why three judges picked it over Beneteau and Jeanneau

In Cruising World's Boat of the Year class for full-size cruisers of 50 to 54 feet, the dufour 520 went up against the Beneteau Oceanis 51.1 and the Jeanneau 51, all three from France's big volume yards. It was the cheapest of the group at about $420,000 for the base boat, and it won anyway. Judge Tim Murphy said it offered the most pleasurable sailing in the class, wrote 'the helm feels good' in his notes and underlined it.

Ed Sherman pointed to 5.5 to 6 knots of boat speed in 9 to 11 knots of wind and to the ergonomics of the cockpit. Murphy added that it could just as easily have won categories for best value or most versatile, had they existed. That combination of feel, flexibility and price is still the reason to buy one used.

A cockpit that changes shape at anchor

Murphy's word for the 520 GL was Transformer-like. Aft, a huge two-level swim platform folds up underway to close the cockpit and form seating for the helmsman at either wheel. Lower it at anchor and it becomes the standing platform for an outdoor galley with a sink and grill, completed by a drawer fridge under the drop-leaf teak table. Forward of the wheels, the crew sits against the coamings; at anchor, panels fold up to turn the benches into sun loungers or outdoor bunks.

Sail handling suits a couple. A double-ended German-style mainsheet puts the main at the helmsman's fingertips on either tack, there is a proper traveler for leech control, and the slightly overlapping genoa runs to electric Lewmar winches on the test boat. Lewmar chain-and-cable steering felt silky. A composite bowsprit takes off-wind sails, and Cruising World recommended ordering one because reaching speed dropped with the small genoa.

A saloon with moving furniture

Below, the galley runs athwartships at the main bulkhead, leaving the beamiest part of the saloon for people. At the foot of the companionway a desk slides forward to become a forward-facing nav station underway and tilts with the heel; in port it slides aft as an end table and a fill-in cushion turns the area into a full-length settee or sea berth. Opposite, the dining table lowers for coffee, raises for meals and opens to seat the whole crew, and seats lock into the sole with backs that double as handholds.

Owners chose between dark moabi and light oak joinery, and between four layouts. In every one, the port aft double can be split into two singles.

• 3 cabins, 3 heads, 6 berths
• 4 cabins, 3 heads, 8 berths (owner's cabin split in two)
• 3 cabins, 2 heads plus Pullman bunks, 8 berths
• 4 cabins, 3 heads plus Pullman bunks, 8 berths

Choosing between saildrive and shaft, short mast and tall

Dufour offered the 520 GL with a 75 hp Volvo on a saildrive or a 110 hp Volvo on a conventional shaft. Cruising World's test boat had the smaller engine and still reached 9.2 knots at wide-open throttle, which the judges called excellent. For US cruising we prefer the shaft-drive 110: no saildrive diaphragm to replace on a schedule, more reserve punching into a headsea and an easier time with a heavy dinghy on davits.

The rig came in two heights, a standard mast of about 70 feet and an Adventure package mast of nearly 75 feet that carries a bigger sail plan. Keels were a shoal fin of 6 ft 4 in and a standard fin that Dufour lists at 2.30 meters, about 7 ft 7 in. Tankage is generous for the class at 450 liters of fuel and 720 of water, about 119 and 190 gallons; Cruising World noted it carried the most of any boat in its group.

Construction and the things the judges did not like

The hull is hand-laid solid fiberglass below the waterline and PVC-cored above, with polyester resin throughout, extra E-glass in high-load areas such as the chainplates and a structural grid glued and tabbed into the hull. The deck is also PVC-cored. It is conventional, well executed production building.

The test team had two complaints. The engine panel and throttle sit low and aft under the rear seat, making the panel hard to read and the lever awkward to reach while watching the dock. And all sheets and halyards were the same color, which slows new crew. The second is solved with colored line or labels; the first is worth checking on any used boat, since some owners have relocated the controls.

500, 512 and 520: one family, three badges

Dufour's big Grand Large cruisers evolved in steps rather than clean-sheet redesigns. The 500 Grand Large appeared in 2011, and sailboatdata records about 100 built through 2015. The 512 Grand Large followed in 2016 and the 520 Grand Large made its world premiere at the Cannes and Genoa shows in 2017. Sailboatdata lists the same waterline, beam, displacement and ballast for all three, so the changes were to deck, styling, cockpit and interior rather than to the underwater shape.

That helps buyers. If a 520 is beyond budget, a well-kept 512 delivers most of the sailing character for less, while the 520 adds the folding terrace, sun-lounger coamings, sliding nav desk and updated interior. The Dufour 530 replaced the 520 in 2020 on an all-new hull with Easy, Ocean and Performance versions.

Dufour 520 Grand Large ownership costs and resale

A 50-foot slip, insurance, haul-out, bottom paint, engine service and routine repairs put a 520 GL at about $28,000 to $50,000 a year in the US, more with a generator and air conditioning or a paid captain. Used asking prices run from about $320,000 for early or charter-spec boats to around $480,000 for a late private-owner boat with the bigger engine.

Resale is the 520's soft spot compared with Beneteau and Jeanneau, which have deeper US dealer networks. You buy for less and sell for less, which is fine if you plan to keep the boat for years.