As sailors, one thing we know for certain is that you can’t control the weather. Even so, I looked at the wind forecast for the day we were scheduled to sail the new Dufour 48 and was bummed to see it predicted at 6-8 knots in the morning, petering out to barely there by afternoon.
I needn’t have worried. Never underestimate the power of the sea breeze in Palma de Mallorca, where Dufour’s reps had spent the weekend showing the French builder’s latest model in the Palma International Boat Show. And never underestimate the people who design and sail these boats to always enjoy pushing them when the conditions beckon—which, with the forecast proved happily wrong, turned out to be the case for us. In 15-22 knots of wind on a sparkling afternoon with a short 2- to 3-foot chop now and then tossing the spray over the bow, the Dufour 48 was in its element.
Two years earlier, I’d sailed the then-new Dufour 41 in the same place in nearly the same conditions, and while that smaller version was an exuberant ride, at times the helm had gotten heavy and we’d had to depower the main to handle the puffs and keep her in the sweet spot. Not so, the 48. This new big sister rolled like a freight train on rails in the breeze even in the puffs. With significant pre-bend built into the 65-foot Z Spar mast and optional hydraulic backstays, the sailplan of 689-square-foot main and 108% genoa felt powerful and stable. In 15 knots true, she carved to weather at an apparent wind angle of 32 degrees making an easy 7.5 knots, picking up smartly in the puffs and never feeling overpowered.
Whether standing to steer at the windward helm or seated to leeward to better see the telltales, the feedback on the Jefa wheels handling the single rudder was the same—just enough weather helm to provide information, not enough to feel strained. It was fingertip sailing, and when I pinched too hard to weather, a slight correction down resulted in a quick response in speed. I appreciated the optional adjustable backstays, as well adjustable genoa cars and a mainsheet traveler on the cabintop just ahead of the companionway. To me, these choices speak to the idea that much of the fun of sailing is in having the ability to play and maximize trim—to do more than set it and forget it. (Although to be clear, a self-tacking 85% jib is also available for those who prefer that ease.)
Visibility forward was excellent, even for a shorter sailor, and keeping an eye on mainsail trim was no problem via the large skylights in the optional hardtop.
The other factor at play was that as we were charging along, we were also generating juice for the batteries. Our test boat was equipped with Dufour’s “ODSea+” hybrid electric propulsion system, a 27kW electric motor on a sail drive and 14kW Kohler genset (they are shifting this to Northern Lights, said Romain Lucat, head of design at Dufour) charging a 400-volt DC lithium iron battery bank. At 40% of throttle in re-gen mode, at these speeds we were generating just under 1kW of power back into the batteries; pushing the throttle to 100%, that number jumped to 2kW. Playing the throttle is part of this game; it controls the propeller, which is of course a brake. So, you want to adjust the amount of throttle to generate power while minimally affecting boatspeed.
Watching how these numbers played out on the easy-to-read and quite user-friendly monitor at the helm became quickly addictive; it was exciting to see how our sailing performance helped generate the power that would run the boat’s systems. Coupled with 1,300 watts of solar panels on the hardtop also feeding the system, it was clear that a great day of sailing could be so much more than just plain fun.
The system is a result of Fountaine Pajot’s Odysséa24 plan (Dufour is owned by FP). Announced in 2022, it set an ambitious bar to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030—putting the idea of sustainability in both sailboat construction and use front and center in the discussion of both. That’s one reason why 70% of the core in this boat’s deck is made of PET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate), with 40% in the hull to the waterline. The build is all infused, minimizing resin use, with stainless steel backing plates behind all stress areas like winches.
When FP studied its carbon emissions to find a baseline from which to work, it found that 80% of emissions came from how people used their boats, rather than how they are built. Changing how people sail their boats—encouraging more sailing—is a big part of shifting those numbers. At dinner the night before the test sail, Romain Matteau, FP’s deputy chief executive officer, talked about how the hybrid electric system on the 48 challenges the typical concept of motor sailing. Rather than a noisy, smelly diesel ruining the whole experience on a light-air day, the electric motor changes this dynamic, allowing for fume-free and near-silent motor sailing to increase apparent wind, enabling better sailing in very light air.
I thought we might get to test this idea with the light air forecast; instead, I just had a blast watching us seamlessly create juice while sailing powerfully on all points. Heading downwind, we set the bright gold Elvstrøm gennaker and blasted off, making 8-10 knots of boatspeed in 17 knots true wind at about 90 degrees AWA, engaging the re-gen and pushing the throttle to 100% just to see if it changed our speed on that point of sail—it knocked off about half a knot.
A few more notes about this system: Depending on sea conditions, the electric motor will push the boat at 6 knots for 6 hours on a full charge, Lucat says. If the batteries drop below 40%, the genset immediately kicks on. From 40%, it takes about two hours for the genset to top the batteries. When we left the marina, we were at 78% battery charge; with the fridge running all day, and the motor in vigorous—if quiet—use as we maneuvered in an anchorage for a time to accommodate some photography, we never dipped below 72%.
The Dufour 48 debuting in the U.S. this fall will be powered with a standard diesel, Dufour reps said, because the American market is slower to adopt the electric technology than the Europeans at this point. That said, having spent the day watching this system work, I’d choose the hybrid system in a hot minute.
Our stop at the aforementioned anchorage gave us a chance to see the highlights of this boat’s outdoor living concept. Other models in this range have an outdoor grilling area accessed by the swim platform once lowered, but the 48 has expanded this to a full outdoor galley with plancha grill, large sink, fridge, and plenty of storage. It’s all cleverly stashed inside the central aft bench when underway; at anchor, the bench top lifts and slides forward to expose the galley and provide a workspace for the chef who stands on the swim platform.
A shower head emerges from the starboard aft seat of the cockpit; mounted on a nifty removable carbon pole it instantly creates a stand-up shower here for post-swimming rinses. The robust hardtop frame enables a simple and effective dinghy davit system that drops the dinghy just aft of the platform.
The cockpit is thoughtfully laid out and moving around is safe and simple. From behind each helm or just ahead of it, a small step up leads directly to the wide side decks (the forward step lifts to store line spaghetti). Access fore and aft and to all sail controls is wide and clear, with two tables attending either settee that lower to form ample lounging spaces. A combination of six Harken electric and manual winches—one on either side of the companionway on the cabintop, two on each side of the cockpit coamings—manage the linehandling tasks.
A central hatch in the aft cockpit floor provides clear top-down access to the rudder quadrant, autopilot mechanicals, and genset; for full side access to these spaces, it’s a matter of opening the hatches behind each helm and removing the soft storage bins placed here for stashing things like fenders. In fact, mechanical and technical spaces throughout the boat are easily accessed, including all batteries as well as controllers for the solar panels under the salon cabin sole.
Belowdecks, the 48 is offered in four layouts, including an owner’s cabin forward with ensuite head and shower and two aft cabins sharing a main salon head (as on our test boat); or a full four-cabin layout that splits the forward cabin. There’s a choice of a C-shaped galley forward to port in the salon (as on our test boat), or a linear galley, whose arrangement enables a full house-sized fridge.
The only thing that caught me here was the slight step down as one moved toward the forward cabin. Its purpose, Lucat says, is to increase headroom in the owner’s cabin where the cabintop slopes down, as well as to lower the galley countertop and offset the galley from the salon.
The owner’s cabin forward is spacious and bright with lots of storage; my favorite notes here were two hatches over each side of the bed for natural ventilation and two skylights as well, so if the boat is closed up, you can still see the sky.
On our test boat, an area just forward of the port aft cabin provided room for a washer-dryer and piles of storage. Forward of this, a cabinet housed electronics, the electrical panel, and interfaces that allow a technician to plug into the boat’s hybrid system for maintenance and diagnostics. There’s no nav station as such.
Long side windows (even in the heads) provide tons of light, and a multitude of hatches oriented in fore and aft directions maximize natural airflow throughout the salon.
As with other Dufours in this range, this boat comes with easy, ocean, adventure, or performance packages, each offering choices that can keep things simple (self-tacking jib, for example) or amp up the fun a bit with more winches, overlapping genoa, and bigger mainsail.
On some of Dufour’s smaller models in this range, I sometimes got the sense that the builder was trying to shoehorn too many goodies for the boat’s capacity, with occasional awkward results (such as the only access to the anchor locker via climbing over the owner’s cabin bed). On the new 48, all of the innovative ideas of the designers and engineers and the expected desires of the target audience of sailors have achieved a noteworthy equilibrium. Technical spaces are well accessed, movement in every part of the boat is seamless and safe feeling, luxury is real but without excess, and the boat is a powerful, responsive performer that should go a long way to achieving Dufour’s goal of encouraging people to spend more time on the water and sail, sail, sail.
Specifications
LOA/LWL 50’2’/43’1”
Beam 15’1”
Draft 7’11” (5’10” shoal)
Mast Height 65’7”
Displacement 30,644 lbs (light)
Ballast 8,487 lbs
Sail Area 1,249 sq ft (main, genoa)
Power 57hp diesel (optional 80hp) or 27kw electric motor w/14kw genset
Designer Felci Yachts
Price $408,520 (base) $500,000 (average w/diesel), $570,000 (average w/ODSea+ hybrid electric)
