GL: Defever 49 for Loop

[Jeffrey Siegel]

> That's an awfully large boat, hopefully you have crew to
> help handle it.
>
> With a little practice and good communication skills,
> two people should be able to handle that size vessel
> no problem.
>

What's with all this dis'ing of the DeFever 49!!??

Our previous boat was 28' and the previous largest boat I ever owned  
was 30' LOA.  When we got our DeFever 53 pilothouse trawler (called a  
"stretch-49") 6-1/2 years ago, sure, we knew we'd need practice.  We  
hired a professional who stood by and helped give on-the-spot tips and  
techniques over 3 days of full time practice.  Since then, we've had  
no problem taking the boat anywhere we've wanted to go under any  
condition we found ourselves in (Maine to Key West, Bahamas, etc -  
about 15,000 nm so far with many more to come).  OK, one bent anchor  
shank from a situation I won't talk about, but everyone has had those  
days.

Our total crew is me, my wife, and our dogs.  The dogs don't do much  
to help.  I've tried to teach one to grab the eye of a line and put it  
over a cleat.  A retriever only wants to bring things back though,  
completely failing as an extra dock hand.

DeFever's are solid tanks.  Many have done the loop, the Bahamas, deep  
into the Caribbean, and all over the rest of the cruising  
destinations.  There are plusses and minuses to every boat design and  
tradeoffs with every boat.  What I like about my boat is that I can do  
the loop as well as cruise very comfortably offshore and to the  
Caribbean with the same boat.  They are extremely safe, overbuilt, and  
very comfortable.  I prefer twin engines now that I've experienced the  
handling - never thought I would like it and was originally looking  
only for a single engine trawler.  We currently experience about  
3.5-4.0 GPH of fuel use total at 8 kts - about 2 nm per gallon.   
Bumping up to 9 kts burns 7.5 GPH.  A larger boat allows more  
resources - we carry 1,000 gallons of fuel, 400 gallons of water, and  
a ridiculous number of computers, communications equipment, and  
electronics.

The 17' minimum height seems odd to me too.  There have been various  
models over the years but most current DeFever pilothouse models have  
an arch that folds down specifically for loop traveling.  My arch can  
fold forward or backward providing a 14-15' air height depending on  
which way it's folded and the dinghy configuration.

I know Skipper Bob's old adage about getting the smallest boat you  
feel comfortable in.  I've also never known of anyone in rough  
conditions who wished they were in a smaller boat.  We continue to  
travel further, experience more, and enjoy our boat because we feel  
extremely safe in her.  Aren't those some of the most important  
qualities for having a boat in the first place?


====================================
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook

Our cruising blog:
http://takingpaws.blogspot.com


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