455 Dufour Grand Large

Source: David Lockwood, Boatpoint magazine

The Dufour 455 Grand Large released the carefree sailor in David Lockwood

While boat testing is serious business, there are moments when you have to pinch yourself. This was one of them.

Midday, sailing along Pittwater, a summer breeze kicking in. A dramatic storm building. Just two of us and a new French-made cruising yacht – exactly the kind of outdoor therapy professionals chained to mahogany desks would pay a motza for.

With a no-wash zone enveloping half of the Pittwater and no Manly ferries, jet tour operators, or 200-tonne cargo ships to contend with, we had the waterway pretty much to ourselves soon after departing Church Point – aided by the yacht’s bowthruster – for a mid-week frolic on the new Dufour 455 yacht, the flagship of the boatbuilder’s Grand Large range.

Winner of the 2005 Danish Boat of the Year award, the 455 boasts three (optional four) double cabins and two heads, 530lt of water, an upgraded 75hp Volvo engine with Saildrive, and 250lt of fuel for motorsailing, should the wind fizzle.

And, in this case, we had a generator and air-conditioning. Tropics, here we come.

With such capacities and comforts, the Dufour 455 would take some beating as a serious long-range coastal live-aboard cruising yacht. And beat it we did. After a slow start, a steady 10 to 12kt northeaster finally caressed Pittwater. It was enough wind to fill the Dacron sails without warranting any more crew than the yacht’s local agent, who I put to good use.

FRENCH FLAIR
In my experience, Dufour yachts are impressionable. I tested a 40-footer off Newcastle in 30 to 40kt of wind and I took a cute little 34-footer out for a day of two-up sailing on the harbour. But both those yachts pale compared to the much-improved finish and attention to detail of this, the yacht builder’s biggest model.

The marked improvement can be traced back to the new owners, Cantiere del Pardo, an Italian company that also builds the upmarket Grand Soleil yachts.

Since the new owners have taken the reins, Dufour yachts have gained a much-improved fit-out, with no obvious jigsaw-cut joinery, and a more hand-built seamless interior. Besides the aesthetics, the engineering now features thorough labelling of all through-hull fittings and primary engineering items, plus impressive supplied schematic diagrams of the coded wiring.

After discovering this, I felt a lot better about the longevity of the remodelled Dufours. And then there’s the hull. I removed the saloon cushions from their Velcro fasteners and took notice of the integral moulded grid stringer system, which is glassed to the hull for stiffness and, I observed, provides an anchoring point for the substantial chainplates holding the deck-stepped mast aloft.

While far from rocket science, the standard Sparcraft 9/10 fractional alloy rig has twin swept-back spreaders, fixed backstays, solid vang, and an easily managed sail area that can be reduced through a single-line reefing system.

While the halyards and lines don’t lead under a deck cover, as is essential these days, all the lines do lead back to the cockpit and the eager electric halyard winches.

The traveller sits on the cabin top, out of the way of the cockpit and the aftermarket bimini, while the boom is above head height and stops short of overhanging the helm.

There are twin wheels, thank heavens, to ensure an unfettered view forward. This is important since the boat has a comparatively small half-battened mainsail and instead acquires most of its power from an overlapping 140 per cent genoa.

The big headsail rig was a no-brainer to tack. Take up the slack manually then call on the electric primary winches to fine tune. Ah, the cruising life.

LIFE ON DECK
Before casting the lines I took an obligatory tour of the Grand Large deck. The twin wheel facilitates a walk-through cockpit, which greeted me with a Euro-style fold-down boarding platform. There’s the usual handheld shower, room to sit and wiggle your toes in the water, swim ladder, and safety lines.

The moulded cockpit seats are big enough to easily accommodate this yacht’s full cruising complement of six crew.

The lunch table, with folding leaves, has storage inside. There are also two sail lockers. The yacht has Shorepower, a battery charger and a separate vented aft locker for the 4kg gas bottle linked to the oven/stove.

Wide bulwarks make accessing the bow a snap and the flat cabin profile, even when heeled, is easy to negotiate. There are moulded toe rails and flat deck areas for lashing a tender fore or aft of the mast. Further forward is a separate bowlocker, which I assumed was waterproof, in which the 6kW Panda generator lives.

There’s actually room to crouch down beside the gennie, which has a sound shield, excellent access to the sea strainer, dipstick, fuel filter and coolant.

A windlass was fitted to the yacht as part of the Cruising pack, and the chain locker is huge.

CRUISING BEAUTY
Back in the cockpit, on the trimming front, you can’t miss the two-speed electric Harken 53 primary winches right beside the wheel, perfect for solo sailing, and the two-speed Harken 44s for the halyards on the cabin top.

Extending a mere digit hoists sail. With the motor cut, we enjoyed listening to nothing more than the melodious tinkle of water playing on the bow and the occasional cry from a little penguin.

From salty Newport, where masts poke into the sky at the marinas like the back of a porcupine we could have circumnavigated Scotland Island.

But experience has taught me that the doldrums lurk around the back in a northeaster. We could’ve also ranged north to Queensland and gadabout the Whitsundays, but for a lack of time.

Made for the open ocean, the Dufour 455 did feel stoic and steady from the start, but in no way a laggard.

We pointed down to Longnose Point doing a very respectful seven to 7.5kt, which is impressively fast considering the volume of this yacht and, I should add, the fixed three-blade prop.

Push-button electric primary winches made tacking a snap and, after two tacks, we had sharpened our teamwork and were back in the groove.

With the genoa sheets leading to the primary winches by the wheel, I could tack and helm this boat myself. On the calm western side of Pittwater, I took in the views of pristine bush and even contemplated anchoring off Portuguese Beach, which is sun-drenched and wake-free mid-week, for a swim.

With a shoal-draft cast-iron keel, the Dufour 455 draws just two metres, so it would be handy for getting in close to the shore. But we kept sailing and, I noted in respect of the shoal-draft keel, that the yacht didn’t feel unstable, thanks to its moderate sail area and 3000kg of ballast.

Sailing at about 35 degrees, I managed to pinch from point to point before tacking across to Stokes Point and hooking into the ‘Careel Bay Express’, a term I coined to describe the gusty wind that funnels through the bay with much greater intensity than most other parts of Pittwater. Local twilight racers know it well.

With the sails eased out a fraction or cracked, as they say, we reached down to the Basin and then sallied past Currawong, Mackerel, and Resolute beaches, before venturing into the wilds of Broken Bay. We charged along at speeds from 8.2 to 8.5kt, which is terrific for such a wide-bodied 11,000kg yacht, albeit sans provisions, and perhaps with the help of the outgoing tide of the Hawkesbury River.

Though the Dufour 455 launches off the crests and spears through the troughs, it has high freeboard and spray never reaches into the beamy cockpit. Satisfied, I turned for home and overtook the only other yacht on Pittwater, an Arends 33, before a summer storm cracked overhead.

Lightning bolts speared from the heavens and it was all very dark and spooky.

I tugged on a line or two and stowed the sails in the furler and the lazyjacks. My crew zipped the bag closed and we motored for safety using the powerful 75hp Volvo engine, which drove this yacht to 8.5kt.

Before we knew it, we were back at the marina from where our token tour of Pittwater began.

INDOOR LIVING
The exceedingly beamy saloon feels warm and cosy, lined as it is in Moabi timber joinery.

Both aft cabins have hanging lockers, shelves, dressing space and cross-flow ventilation.Various removable panels reveal access to all the primary servicing items on the Volvo engine.

I also discovered an impressive 12V system with generous house, engine-start, and generator banks.

The portside head doubles as an ensuite to its nearby aft cabin, though its primary purpose would be as a dayhead.

I noted a big Lewmar hatch, solid vanity top with sink and access to the plumbing manifolds below – there’s very good access to all engineering items throughout the yacht – a hook for hanging wet-weather gear, manual-pump toilet, and shared shower area behind a half-screen.

The longitudinal galley is also to port, with a big Corian counter for food prep, workable at sea with a brace, and boasts 250lt of serious long-range top-loaded refrigeration/freezer space.

There are twin sinks, a saltwater foot pump, and lots of cupboard space. The stacks of Tupperware are a nice touch for stowing dry goods, but I would like to see an opening portlight instead of the fixed one behind the stove.

Speaking of stoves, the yacht had a gimballed gas three-burner.

There’s a subtle grip finish on the Moabi timber flooring, which assists with your footing as you move through the wide-bodied saloon, and sufficient grabrails to assist in a seaway. The huge U-shaped lounge and settle opposite the galley can easily seat eight for dinner around a generous timber dinette.

The ceiling liner, made using vacuum injection moulding, provides a seamless look and includes a fair number of hatches and portlights.

A library space is near the dinette, too, and on port tack you will find a reasonable seaberth here. Behind the lounge is the obligatory nav station with pigeonholes, cupboards and a sub-chart table locker for storage.

The timber facia was crying out for flush-mounted electronics, but the supplied 12V/240V switch panel was very well done. You can also check on water, fuel, volts and amp levels here.

Finally, the bow area is taken up by the air-conditioned master stateroom, which has full headroom, an island king-size bed, two built-in settees, a decent hanging locker, and drawers. Big escape hatches provide light and natural ventilation at night and access to the yacht’s second air-con unit and for’ard watertank were nice and direct.

The ensuite was functional enough, but I would like to see an electric loo to augment the manual loo aft, a bigger shower screen to create a separate shower stall, and a hook on which to hang the showerhead. Dufour yachts have improved immeasurably in recent years. Besides it needing electronics, a tender, entertainment gear, a desalinator, and some bedding, all that I was left wanting was the time to range much farther afield. But even a mere mid-week gadabout on Pittwater in the accommodating Dufour 455 Grand Large awoke the footloose sailor in me and kindled feelings of wanderlust. One day.

HIGHS

• Improved finish
• Excellent engineering
• A huge volume cruising yacht awaiting some personal touches
• Easy to sail shorthanded
• Performs surprisingly well for such a beamy yacht, with modest sail area and shoal-draft keel
• Generator and air-conditioning
• Three big double cabins and two ensuites
• Easy boat in which to get around

LOWS

• No opening galley portlight
• No electric toilet in owner’s ensuite
• No hook for hanging the showerhead
• Lack of 240V appliances
• The interior needs some style touches

Boat Specification: 455 Dufour Grand Large

DUFOUR 455 GRAND LARGE

Options fitted: Engine upgrade, Arpege Ltd Edition Cruising Pack and 40th Anniversary Edition Cruising Pack including Shorepower, battery charger, windlass, lazyjacks, soft furnishings and more; electric genoa and halyard winches; lifeline gates; air-con/heating outlets in cabins; extra holding tank; generator; freezer; teak cockpit floor; bowthruster and more

GENERAL

Material: GRP hull with cored decks

Type: Monohull

LOA: 13.76m

Hull length: 13.45m

Waterline length: 11.91m

Beam: 4.3m max.

Draft: 2m w/shoal-draft cast-iron keel

Displacement: 10,426kg light

Ballast: 3000kg

Genoa area: 55sqm

Main area: 41.2sqm

CAPACITIES

Berths: 6+1

Water: 530lt

Fuel: 250lt

Fridge/freezers: 150lt+100lt

ENGINE

Make/model: Upgraded Volvo D2-75

Type: Four-cylinder diesel inboard engine

Rated power: 75hp

Drive: Saildrive

Prop: Fixed three-blade