Single screw 44' DeFever

My parents owned a 1985 (purchased new) 44' DeFever Offshore named "At Last"; it had twin 135 Perkins and was such a superb cruiser. I seem to recall going on board a single screw 44' DeFever with a 120HP Lehman diesel.

Did this come as an option? I did some research and couldn't find much information on single screw 44' DeFever trawlers.

Since the GB 42 came w a single engine option I'll bet DeFever did too.

Perhaps Daddio or Sunchaser could chime in but recall one of them once saying that single engine was not only an option but his 48' hull was already set up to change from twin to single now. I can only assume that to mean a blanked off tube and hard mounting points are already molded in place from the factory.

I have a friend who has a Defever 49 Pilothouse with a single engine. He ordered it that way sometime in the late ninties. I talked to the Defever dealer at a boat show awhile back about ordering a Defever 46 pilothouse with a single engine and he said it would cost an extra $100,000 because they would have to change the mold. That seemed excessive to me but I couldn't afford it anyway.

Ron

When my Defever 49 was out of the water a few months ago you can see that the keel is set up for a single screw if wanted although I am not aware of any.

Thirty years ago the DF 44 you are thinking of could well have been the stretched and re-measured 38 which eventually became the 41/43 (dependent upon how and who did measuring) with most built as singles. Daddyo is currently brokering two 41s.

There are many DeFevers from that era that morphed into the more current 44 or stretched to 50 design with a cockpit. I saw a 44 aft cabin that was a smaller version of the 48 aft cabin two years ago in Ladysmith.

Most FRP DeFevers are built with a keel design that can indeed be single engine only. My 48 has the shaft log cutout in the keel for a single, although I can see no cost savings if trying to build one vs a already in the pipeline design for a twin.

Perchance a picture would shed more light on the question

Sunchaser is spot on. I do believe most if not all DeFevers could have been singles. Very, very few of the larger models were ever built as singles. I do not believe any 48 was a single yet as you can see from this pic of my hull she certainly could have been. If I ever re-power I will convert her to single with thrusters. I prefer the quiet and prop protection of the single although when I dock this beast I sure will miss the Lehman Brothers

While I've been told single-propellered boats can accomplish most any close-in maneuver, a single with a thruster is handier, and twins are even more so. While most prefer duplication (twins, despite the extra cost), I prefer "simpler/cheaper" with one propeller and rudder protection with the help of a bow thruster.

I just saw a 1990 Defever44 listed with a single engine. On Yachtworld. At least, that is what the listing says.

Wm Mayberry
OPTIMYSTIQUE
IP m37-30

Wmiii said:

I just saw a 1990 Defever44 listed with a single engine. On Yachtworld. At least, that is what the listing says.

Wm Mayberry
OPTIMYSTIQUE
IP m37-30

Click to expand...

Yes, several with single Lehman 120s. This popular flush deck design when built with a cockpit morphed into the even more popular DF 48/50 flush deck and still is being built today, alas with twins.

Wmiii said:

I just saw a 1990 Defever44 listed with a single engine. On Yachtworld. At least, that is what the listing says.

Wm Mayberry
OPTIMYSTIQUE
IP m37-30

Click to expand...

If you look into that listing you will see that the text goes on to mention the "twin" Lehmans.... it was a typo that he showed it as a single screw boat.

sunchaser said:

Yes, several with single Lehman 120s. This popular flush deck design when built with a cockpit morphed into the even more popular DF 48/50 flush deck and still is being built today, alas with twins.

Click to expand...

I am not saying a special order single engine boat has never been built. I can say though that I have been around these boats for many years and have never seen a single screw 43, 44, 48, 49 Cockpit or 49PH ever.

There is a 61 LRC here in Ventura with a single 3408.

I'm not even familiar with the 61. Which builder is that from?

The story I heard was that Arthur designed the 43 and later the 44 to be single screw. He found there was no market for them and adapted them to run twins.

There was one single screw DF44 built a few years ago and shipped to the Chesapeake. Before it was delivered to the owner it caught fire and burned. A few years later, someone bought the hulk and rebuilt her, but did not add a fly bridge. It looked really odd, not bad just odd. The new owner was shipping the boat to Europe and wanted to do the canals. Hence he wanted a low air draft. There were pictures along with his story in the Sounding magazine a couple years back.

Mark why would you want vastly reduced safety and significantly reduced maneuverability?

Just funn'in please don't respond.

Our 92 Defever 49RPH is a twin with a 5'7 draft, when last out of the water I noticed that there was an option in the hull to run a single shaft through the keel. Hence the long draft on our 49 I am not aware of any single 49s.