Build quality of new Dufour 382 and Jeanneau 389?

[GTom]

He refers to a surveyor friend (among ourselves here= 3rd hand "experience"...), even then I never saw him to deem Dufour as clearly inferior quality.

One single post mentioned "more issues" - which doesn't mean anything without first hand details. E.g. one looses rudder and leaves the crew stranded - single "issue" while the other has 10 smaller annoyances which can wait until the end of a TransPac. Also question if a single "issue" takes a lawsuit to force the support to deal with it or they come on short notice & patch things up.

Btw, his blog is quite interesting! http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.nl/search?q=dufour

[Emouchet]

If you can read French, there is not a month where some horrible stories pops up on the french Hisse Et Ho forum about waranty from all 3 boat builder: Dufour, Jeanneau and Beneteau.
Hisse Et Oh

Personnaly, I own a Dufour 39 Frers, 1994 that did 5 years of charter. Engine rebuild, new sails and minimal work makes it still a great boat.

[PaintedKite]

I've owned a new Dufour 382 for almost a year now. It's a solid boat, and I feel like it's well-built. I compared to equivalent Beneteaus & Jeanneaus and chose the Dufour. Key criteria were the design, displacement, interior materials, bowsprit, and availability. To me, the Bavaria 37 Cruiser is/was the closest overall, but their USA Sales organization was a shambles at the time I wished to purchase last year.

[Rohan]

No experience with these boats other than checking them out at boat shows. But they are different styles. The Dufour 382 is basically a response to Beneteau's 38, and so it also has a highly customizable interior layout. The Jeanneau 389 has a different style, is not as customizable, but it has the option of a swing keel, which is terrific.

[Tim Litchfield]

Hi, we took delivery of our new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 389 18 months ago. We are really happy with the boat and also with the after sales service. We love the flowing lines of SO389 and the attention to small details, like consider the cockpit deck below your feet at the helm, it’s curved to give support at a variety of healing angles, obviously more expensive to build than the crude batten that other boat makers provide, and that is just one example. After owning the SO and then bare boating a Dufour In Greece recently it made us appreciate the attention to detail on the SO. But even more important was the comparative sailing, the Dufour was sluggish and sailed poorly compared to the SO, this was probably due to undersized sail plan on the Dufour. We have only had a couple of minor warranty issues and both times the local agent arranged rectification under warranty. We are very happy with Jeanneau and will certainly look at their range of boats first when the time comes to buy another boat.

[PaintedKite]

Depends where you charter it out. BVIs get by far the most charter business in that region (and therefore also most wear-n-tear). Other places will be less.

And check-out tankage on both boats. Dufour has almost twice the potable water and diesel tank volumes. Holding tank on Dufour is a small 12 gal. Can't find info on Jeanneau. On the subject of diesels, you'll have the option for a 40hp engine on the Dufour, while the only engine on the Jeanneau is 29hp.

If you like flying a gennaker, the factory bowsprit on the Dufour offers very cool functionality and works great in-practice. Don't see any mention of a bowsprit for Jeanneau.

Swing keel option, twin rudders and dual bow rollers are definite advantages for Jeanneau.

Another poster mentioned sailplan. Definitely check that out. Can't find info for Jeanneau online. Dufour 382 with high mast option has 743 sqft. And I would definitely consider Dufour only with high mast option. Base sail plan is "light".

Finally, note that the Dufour 382 isn't as long as its name implies. It's only a 36'-37' boat by any conventional measure. But the beam is nearly 13', so it feels huge & spacious inside. And the cockpit is enormous.

Keep in mind that these are both production boats. They compete against each other every day, around the world. Regarding your original question of build quality, they're going to be about the same. So the decision comes down to features, design details and individual preference. You won't find an iron-clad argument for one being built better than the other, IMO.

[Terra Nova]

Don't know about the 382 Dufour, but went aboard a much larger Dufour at a recent boat show and was horrified to see one of the worst looking interiors I've ever seen on a yacht. It was veneered with a rather contrasty and striped grain which they had run horizontally! Just horrible looking.

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

Don't know about the 382 Dufour, but went aboard a much larger Dufour at a recent boat show and was horrified to see one of the worst looking interiors I've ever seen on a yacht. It was veneered with a rather contrasty and striped grain which they had run horizontally! Just horrible looking.

The good thing is you can choose a different type of wood for the interior.

[Terra Nova]

Choosing a different wood is not enough. The design, joinery and workmanship are sub par.

[crankysailor]

We are looking for our next boat in fact and visited a boat show last weekend. We got a chance to step on board Dufour, Hanse and Beneteau boats. To be honest to each his or her own but I simply did not feel like I would like to take my family on any of them out to sea. They all looked and felt the same: creaky plywood cheap plastic and badly finished. The 2017 Dufour had water in the bilge even.. for whatever reason. The only good thing about them was the space they offer and the low prices..

We gave up on looking at the Jeanneau cause the sales person apparently wasn’t interested but I doubt it would have been much different. The market asks for cheap ultra spacious day sailers..and that is what these brands are producing. Simply demand and supply economics. Discussing build quality differences amongst these boats might be like debating the build quality of a Ford vs. Chevrolet. Mostly anecdotal at best. It is really just all the same.

[keepondancin]

A friend was a dealer about 10 years ago and had about a 37' Dufour in stock. Did some work on it, and I am bothered by the fact the deck to hull attachment was adhesive and self tapping screws. Certainly not what I would have, or consider quality construction. It may be new technology, but then, I am a traditonalist.