Dufour 41 with 3 Cabins - Sailing Yacht (2024) - Blue Dream 2

Very Good Fantastic week with a beautiful new boat only 1 year old. The boat was rented from Fyly Yachting where Vaso greeted us extremely friendly and inviting at Prevezoo harbour. The cruising area was really great although if you have to go south, you have to count half a day there and half a day back for the bridge that suddenly only turned 4 times a day. But after that you are on beautiful water and the Greeks are really very friendly people. You get good help with mooring although sometimes you are a bit bothered by folttiions that have reserved all the nice spots. You learn very quickly how to tie a boat to a rock and you often find a great anchorage there. Especially choose trips of 15 to 20 miles so you have time to explore the towns or beaches. They are really worthwhile. The guidance from Tubber and from Fyly is very good. Questions are answered very quickly and you immediately feel taken seriously by the approach. You also get a phone number from Alexandros, one of the Fyly supervisors, and you can always call if there is anything. He also apps you a few times during the week to see how things are going or point out the bridge operation times. Very happy with this landlord, it costs a bit but then you get something. Make sure you have cash with you, the Greeks love it and also the cleaning, linen package and insurance can only be paid for in cash with Vaso. Then a single critical comment or warning to future renters. The life jackets on board are really insufficient for that waterway. You get those orange Michelin things you have to put around your neck. In the Netherlands, you get fined if you take them out on the big water. The buoyancy may be theoretically correct, but if the wind blows 5 or 6Bf you really don't want to go overboard with it. Bring your own vest if you have one, they think it is sufficient there. The Blue Dream II is a nice boat from 2024 but still amazing what little things have broken down in the meantime. Not disturbing, just a shame about such a beautiful new boat. Alexandros gives you detailed instructions and shows you how everything works. Importantly, take lots of photos of the state of the boat yourself, also and especially of the hull, because the boat will be checked extremely carefully on your return. A diver even swims underneath to see if you have hit anything. Now, we hadn't hit anything but we had broken a plank from the bottom of the dinghy. We reported that and the inspection otherwise went fine. At one point, the "boss" was called on board. At went to look at the outrigger of the anchor (hanging over the pulpit, you really have to twist and turn to see it) and took a picture. He came to us and indicated that a piece of gelcoat was missing. How does anyone come to look there? I noted that there was indeed a very small sliver of gelcoat missing. According to the man, this happened very often on this boat, other boats had it too, I was allowed to go and look at it on a dufour boat further down the road. He suggested we pay 100 euros, 70 for the bench) and 30 for the gelcoat. I indicated that I wanted to pay for the bench but not the 30, simply because we did not cause that damage. (It was with me about the principle of earning money, to a "deal" like that you are naturally inclined to say "yes" immediately. I asked the man if he had any photos of the week for us but there were none. In turn, he would also consult it. You get the idea, 10 minutes later Alexandros came on board saying that he wasn't 100% sure the damage wasn't already there (he was almost sure though) and that's why they passed up the 30 euros. If it is indeed the case that this happens all the time at dufour, I would advise Fyly to always take a picture of it. If the damage can really be handled with 30 euros then maybe you should count this as depreciation and included in the 3680 euros you paid for the boat. That would be my suggestion because it is still a bit of a strange state of affairs.