Dufour 560 Grand Large Review for Used Boat Buyers

A 56-footer designed around the professional skipper

Dufour told SAIL something revealing about the dufour 560 Grand Large: a key reason for building it was a small crew cabin in the forepeak, reached through an overhead hatch. American buyers tend to run a boat this size themselves, but Dufour said that elsewhere in the world up to 70 percent of owners in this class have a professional captain look after the yacht. The 560 was its answer, a flagship cruiser where the skipper has a bunk and the owners keep the rest of the boat.

Launched in 2014 as the largest Grand Large to date, it won Cruising World's 2015 Boat of the Year award for Best Full-Size Cruiser Over 50 Feet. Two seasons later Dufour refreshed the same hull as the 56 Exclusive. For a US owner who sails without crew, the forepeak simply becomes an excellent sail locker.

Why the engine faces backwards

The most interesting engineering decision on the 560 is out of sight. Dufour fitted a 110 hp Volvo Penta with a V-drive, the engine turned around so its front faces aft and the transmission sits forward of it. On a conventional shaft installation, achieving the right shaft angle would have put the engine about four feet farther forward, in the middle of the saloon. The V-drive keeps it aft and the living space unbroken.

A 150 hp upgrade was optional, paired with a five-blade feathering Max-Prop instead of the standard four-blade folding prop. SAIL's test boat had the bigger engine and motored back to its slip at 9.4 knots at 2,800 rpm on flat water. A retractable Side-Power bow thruster made leaving the dock quiet and easy. On a used boat, the V-drive unit, its oil and its coupling deserve their own line on the survey.

The Delphinere, and an anchor that drops itself

On the earlier Grand Large 500, the anchor had to be lifted out of its locker before you could drop it. The 560 fixed that with an integrated bowsprit Dufour called the Delphinere, a strong stainless structure skinned in fiberglass so it blends with the hull. It carries a proper anchor roller and the tack point for a gennaker.

The rig is a 7/8 fractional Z-Spars mast with double swept spreaders, set well forward to allow a large, manageable main. Standard sail area was about 1,400 square feet split between an 87 percent self-tacking jib and a traditional or furling main, both from Elvstrom. Owners could add deck tracks for an overlapping genoa or an inner forestay for a hank-on or furling staysail, so the same boat could be set up for coastal cruising, club racing or offshore passages.

A cockpit split into working and lounging halves

SAIL described the cockpit as two zones. Forward is the comfort zone, with twin settees for up to eight around a table that can hold an optional sink and Isotherm fridge. Aft is the maneuvering zone, where each wheel has a Lewmar primary within reach and the mainsheet is double-ended so it can be trimmed from either side. Jib sheets run to the coachroof winches; genoa sheets, when fitted, come aft to the primaries or secondaries.

Aft of that, Dufour's tower holds an Eno plancha grill, sink and prep surface usable from the drop-down transom, and the transom top is broad enough for a big sun pad clear of the working cockpit. SAIL had ten people aboard for its test and nobody was in the way.

Pointing high off Marina del Rey

SAIL's sea trial took place off Marina del Rey in southern California, with an estimated 8 to 10 knots of breeze, uncalibrated instruments on a freshly launched boat, in-mast main and self-tacking jib. Even so, the 560 pointed impressively, slipping along at 8.5 knots at about 40 degrees apparent with a tidy slot between the sails. A borrowed, slightly small asymmetric added about a knot off the wind.

The steering was one-finger light, tacks were quick and easy, and the reviewer concluded the boat was no harder to sail than a 30-footer. That is the core of its appeal: almost 39,000 pounds of cruiser that a couple can handle.

A familiar saloon and a very French wine cellar

Anyone who knows the Grand Large 500 will recognize the saloon: 6 ft 7 in of headroom, a U-shaped settee and convertible table to port, an L-shaped settee and fixed forward-facing nav station to starboard, and the galley running athwartships ahead of the saloon behind two half bulkheads. On the 560 the sink moved to port near the Eno stove, shortening the walk with a hot pot. A Nespresso maker hides in an overhead locker and a pop-up flat-screen sits in one of the dividers.

Wine storage is taken seriously. The underfloor cellar holds 15 bottles lying down and 10 standing, a drawer under the settee takes eight more and the galley divider hides another six. Forward, owners chose among four sleeping arrangements: a centerline island berth with split head and shower, a Pullman berth to port with a combined head in the bow, an island berth offset to port with an outboard lounge, or a split into two cabins for charter.

• Centerline island berth with separate head and shower compartments
• Pullman berth to port, head forward
• Offset island berth with lounge, the likely owner favorite
• Two forward cabins for charter use

How Dufour built it

The hull is a one-piece hand-laminated, vacuum-bonded sandwich of polyester and foam core, solid glass below the waterline, with an inward flange at the hull-deck joint for a solid bulwark. An integral grid is fused to the hull and over-laminated in high-load areas. The L-shaped cast iron keel with its large bulb echoes Dufour's first boats of the 1960s, and the balanced elliptical rudder holds well when heeled.

Tankage is 500 liters of fuel and 730 of water by Dufour's figures, about 132 and 193 gallons; SAIL counted 180 gallons of water in three tanks, matching the GL 500.

Buying a 560 now, or stretching to a 56

Only three model years of 560 were built before the 56 Exclusive took over, so the choice on the brokerage market is usually between an older 560 and a newer 56 on the same hull. The 56 brings refreshed styling and later interior options; the 560 usually costs less and sails the same. Expect US asking prices of roughly $330,000 to $470,000 and annual running costs of about $38,000 to $70,000 including a deep-water slip, insurance, haul-out and generator and V-drive service.

Whichever you buy, the inspection list is similar: the V-drive, the bow thruster, the self-tacker track and the electric winches.