T&T: 1980's DeFever 49 Pilothouse?

[Jeffrey Siegel]

> Are the DF49s and DF53s full displacement blue water
> trawlers or are they more suited for coastal cruising?

Our boat loves being offshore.  The 49 generally has about a 5'  
draft.  Ours has a little more draft than the original 49 - it's  
almost 6'.  It's a very heavy boat.  I believe that it's weight and  
ratios put it into the full displacement category although our engines  
can push the boat over it's own bow wake to go faster if we want (at  
much greater fuel cost).  Full-displacement/semi-displacement is a  
difficult and touchy subject and few people will agree on all aspects  
of it.

Many people have taken their DF's throughout the world.  That said, I  
really don't consider our boat to be a bluewater boat.  We make  
passages of 1-2 overnights, 20-60 miles off the coast.  If I ever  
wanted to take aCappella to the Med, I'd ship her.  With 1,000 gallons  
of fuel, it would be difficult to make the long passages without extra  
fuel onboard.  When cruising at 8 kts, we burn 3.5 to 4.0 gallons per  
hour (total for both engines combined).  At 9 kts, we burn 7 to 8  
gallons per hour.


> How do they handle a following sea?

I've never experienced any issues with large following seas.  She  
seems to maintain steering better than other boats I've had in  
following seas.  We have stabilizers - something that most DF's going  
offshore have (or eventually put on).  Without stabilizers, DF hulls  
can have a roll that most people can't handle for very long.  With  
stabilizers, it's a dream.


> What kind of performance (speed & economy) are you seeing
> from your boat?

We generally cruise at 1,500 RPM at 3.5 GPH moving us at 8 kts.  1,850  
RPM will pop up to 9 kts and double the fuel use.  Going up to  
2,300-2,400 RPM will pick up the speed to 10 or 11 kts.  I don't do it  
very often and don't really have an accurate fuel use for it.  The  
only time I've ever pushed that hard was during the sea trial and  
running to catch a bridge opening.

We have twin engines.  All fuel numbers are fuel use for both engines  
together.  I tend to think that we get 2 nm per gallon at 8 kts.  We  
have about 15,000 nm on her.

I originally wanted a single engine trawler.  This is my first twin  
engine boat.  I'm not sure I could ever go back.  I love the control  
especially in reverse and docking.


> "many older DeFevers (including the popular Alaskan series
> from Grand Banks) were built of wood."

They haven't built DeFever's in wood in a very long time.  You still  
can find them, however.


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

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