One thing that is important to note is that Art Defever is a naval architect, not a boatbuilder. He designed the boats, but they were then manufactured under license by a dozens of different companies. He started with American Marine in Hong Kong and Oriental Boatbuilding in Japan in the mid1960s, then moved to Taiwan in the mid-1970s. He also had some built in the US and in Mexico.
Scott Welch
Island Eagle
This is an excellent summation of the problems dealing with DeFevers built in the late 70s’ and and the 1980s’.
I have spoken at length with Mr. DeFever about it. When he and Jensen/Passagemaker agreed to market and produce his first production GRP boat the plan was to have the boats built in Taiwan. Jensen Marine would import them into the US and sell them through their dealers.
The warranty costs that Jensen had to pay out on the first 2 boats exceeded their selling price, so Mr DeFever and Jensen decided to have Jensen build new tooling for the 34, 40, and 48, and build the boats in Costa Mesa Ca.- coincidentally on the same street and same block as Willard, Westsail, and several others.
Mr DeFever sued in the Taiwan courts to have the hull molds destroyed (there were no deck molds - the Taiwan boats decks and house were all plywood), but the court ruled in favor of the Taiwan builder. They splashed dozens of illegal copies under different names.
I once saw a post on a internet boating forum (not TF) where the poster admitted that their boat was not a DeFever built under Mr. DeFevers watchful eye, but they we’re going to claim it was because “everyone else does.” I have seen more than a few non DeFevers listed as such by yacht brokers on Yachtworld. The problem is you can’t tell who the original liar is - the seller or the broker.
Due diligence is required. Insist on a Master Carpenters certificate. Of course the old caveat applies - after this much time has passed it’s more important how it was maintained.
Mike
DeFever 40