Talk me outta this boat

For the first time since before 9/11 I am the cause for a Yachtworld Ad to Read ¨Sale Pending¨
https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1986/defever-rph-49-3650548/

I have done some crazy things:

• Owned a 1956 Chris Craft Constellation Convertible and restored it.
• Bought and cruised a 42 Classic Grand Banks woodie
• Lived aboard and cruised most of the Great Loop, (clockwise)
• Bought a 300 year old hacienda turned hotel in Old Mexico.
• Lived in Mexico, near the beach in San Carlos for over a decade.

Now I am talking myself into breaking a rule I made when I finally sold my last trawler: Never buy a boat too big to trailer unless you are going to live on it or cruise pretty much full time.

Now I have signed off on this 1986 DeFever RPH 49 Trawler that looks to be well suited for my eventual cruising plans. I need some of the devil's advocates and naysayers to tell me why buying this boat is a bad idea.

I have the cash to buy it, but it does put a whallup on my piggy bank. My wife is okay with it. We have our home paid off, our commercial rental property paid off and rented with solid renters for many years, had until Covid a solid income from our hotel & restaurant. And only hope that will return some day or some year. Have a decent 401k and IRAs. But I am currently still full time employed, but becoming less and less happy with my gig.

My wife is a nurse and has had 4-6 years off work to care for a sick and aged mother, that has now passed. We hope she can work one or two Travel Nurse 12 week contracts a year. I may continue what I do, as it is portable and may even do better if I explore the West Coast and PNW in particular. We can rent or lease out our ¨beach home¨ and could have between $4-7k in passive income per month.

Plan is to cruise the Sea of Cortez (Gulfo de California) for a year or two on and off. Meanwhile keep a slip in San Carlos and make that home base. Get our beach house set up for being a rental, hope the hotel & restaurant business comes back, become more sure the businesses that rent from me can weather the Pandemic Storm. And then head up the West Coast. Maybe making a migration with the Orcas that come to the Nursery of the Pacific every Winter and then back to pod-life in PNW. This too could be an annual or bi-annual event.

Please, tell me what I am missing on this acquisition. I know a boat struck person is at times, half blind. I also know I am bad to come up with rationalizations to allow me to do crazy things. These Crazy Things have made for an interesting and full life. Thanks in advance for your advice and counsel.

Congrats on the hopefully new boat. We will be in San Carlos in a little over a week to get Pairadice ready for the winter cruise down south. If we see ya down there the first “Adult Beverage” is on us!
Cheers

Well the 49 RPH is certainly a well respected boat within the DeFever community. And as far as I read on many forums it is sought after.

Only negative I see with this one, given your cruising grounds, is the lack of stabilization.

My sincere apologies !!!!!!!
There is NO WAY that I can talk you out of this boat.
I have been watching it and comparing it to at least a half
dozen others.
I think you picked well.

Ted

"Talk me outta this boat"

Okay, you should NOT buy this boat....

... ... ...

....so that I can buy it!

Seriously though, wow, suddenly the 30-footers I'm looking at for $90k just look silly.

Nice score!

The Ford Leman's are barely broken in??
It looks too nice??
It doesn't have screwed down teak decks??

Enjoy your new (to you) boat!!
Maybe one day we will cross paths here in BC.

Thanks Crusty Chief and Menzies,
Next on my wish list is stabilizers, active fin, fixed fin or paravanes.
It has a robust superstructure that might well be adaptable to paravanes.
I also love the way they look on a Pilothouse Trawler with Portuguese Bridge.
Do you think it is priced right?

Supposedly there are/were four others willing to make a play at it. The sellers have been out in the Gulfo de California cruising since April.

Compared to other similar on YW it seems to be the right number for a quick sale.

But it always nice getting independent confirmation from some pros.

Thanks Tom, Frosty and Ted too.

Ted said:

My sincere apologies !!!!!!!
There is NO WAY that I can talk you out of this boat.
I have been watching it and comparing it to at least a half
dozen others.
I think you picked well.

Ted

Click to expand...

Care to share the other 5 ?
I would be most interested.
If too much trouble, no worries, I can imagine.

Thanks again Ted!

Friends of ours sold their 1986 49RPH a few months ago up in Wrightsville Beach. It was in the mid 200s. I have been on board a number of times and she was immaculate. So, given the location of this one, and no stabs, it feels like a decent deal.

Here's a video of it:

https://youtu.be/dIzGKwq4Pns

OK, Captain DJ
Should I try to start another thread or send pm
so as not to hijack this one?

Ted

That looks fantastic! Enjoy!

Ted said:

OK, Captain DJ
Should I try to start another thread or send pm
so as not to hijack this one?

Ted

Click to expand...

Either way Ted.

I enjoy the discussion and the pros and cons of one boat vs another.

And where better than here and now?

Right!!!

This one looks good. It had a sale pending, then came back with the 10 out-of-water
pictures

https://www.yachtworld.com/core/lis...rginiayachtbrokers&&ywo=virginiayachtbrokers&

This one is loaded,

https://everett.boatshed.com/defever_49_raised_pilothouse-boat-267621.html


This one is nice but overseas,

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1988/defever-49-pilothouse-3693339/


Last one still active,

https://marinesource.com/boats-for-...aised-Pilot-House-Plan-B&listingnmb=100785511


Happy looking

Ted

menzies said:

Friends of ours sold their 1986 49RPH a few months ago up in Wrightsville Beach. It was in the mid 200s. I have been on board a number of times and she was immaculate. So, given the location of this one, and no stabs, it feels like a decent deal.

Here's a video of it:

https://youtu.be/dIzGKwq4Pns

Click to expand...

I just watched the video of your friends boat. So happy to see another sister ship of the exact same year, litter, can show so we'll. If mine looks 75% as new and shiny when I see her in person I will be happy. If she shows as well, I will be over the moon.

Thanks for sharing this.

Some thoughts from a DF owner.

Based upon the ER pictures I would clean out everything and start over with a neat, clean and inspected look at everything. Ditto on the bilge and lazarette areas. DFs have voluminous bilge storage and no telling what is lurking down there.

Does the vessel have a tank to tank fuel transfer system? If not I'd suggest adding one. This will allow you to insure older fuel is consumed first and newer fuel can be separately filtered(polished)..

Have you closely inspected inside the anchor locker? Regular cleanings keep smells to minimum. Service the windlass by the book. An oft overlooked item.how old is the steering cylinder. If older than 20 years I'd suggest making it a running take out and installing a new one.

Be sure you know how to bypass the Magnum 2812, they are not bullet proof.

Good luck and enjoy one of Art's last forever vessels.

We looked at a 1990 49 RPH about 2 weeks ago. There were 2 things that I didn’t like and my wife agreed on one of them, the other she didn’t care about. First was the engine room access through a hatch in the galley and down a vertical ladder. It was very awkward for me but I am a big guy, my wife didn’t care since she would never be down there. But I couldn’t imagine climbing in and out of it multiple times a day. It would discourage me from doing any underway checks. The second was the access stairs to the bridge were very tight near the top. Not a deal killer but the engine room access was for me. One thing to check would be the fuel tanks since they appeared to be steel. It would be major work to replace them.

sunchaser said:

Some thoughts from a DF owner.

Based upon the ER pictures I would clean out everything and start over with a neat, clean and inspected look at everything. Ditto on the bilge and lazarette areas. DFs have voluminous bilge storage and no telling what is lurking down there.

Does the vessel have a tank to tank fuel transfer system? If not I'd suggest adding one. This will allow you to insure older fuel is consumed first and newer fuel can be separately filtered(polished)..

Have you closely inspected inside the anchor locker? Regular cleanings keep smells to minimum. Service the windlass by the book. An oft overlooked item.how old is the steering cylinder. If older than 20 years I'd suggest making it a running take out and installing a new one.

Be sure you know how to bypass the Magnum 2812, they are not bullet proof.

Good luck and enjoy one of Art's last forever vessels.

Click to expand...

Sunchaser,

Great points all. I am also in AZ and Sonora. Since you have experience, I want you to be my new BF. Another DeFever 49 RPH? Where do you keep her?
I am flying over to La Paz to see her in the flesh, next week or the week after at the latest. Pending flights.

I will check all the things you have told me. I designed and installed a fuel polishing system, day tank and automated manifolded transfer system in my GB that held 800 gallons before the 40 inch high, 40 gallon day tank with sight gauges. That way Noon refills and visual confirmation of inches used was spot on accurate in gallons consumed, so 6 flow meters were not required.
With 2 micron filtration and high volume flow it kept all 840 gallons in tip top shape. Gotta check the chain locker, organize the Laz and the Holy Place, Check service history and spare on Windlass, dito Steering Cylinder, then check into bypassing the Magnum 2812 Inverter. Why is this recommended? Just for reliability?

HYD stabalizers

DJ
We keep our DF48 in Sidney BC. The charger portion of an inverter has 110 feeding it. Dependent upon your wiring setup, if your charger goes bad there may not be an easy path for 110 to get to downstream users. Many install a bypass setup, whether via a pre installed wiring redux or a switch. Our Magnum charger has not been perfect so I'm a bit cautious.

We get back to AZ in early October. I'll PM you contact information.

Great boat! Love it.

Only thing - engine room looked cluttered with a lot of stuff loose and sitting out. Would be a real mess in any kind of sea. But a good clean up would fix this.

Just curious, did you purchase the Emma Jo?

Photos of the engine room clutter in a listing so un-professional, as if this is a norm, makes me wonder about maintenance.
Gypsy would be calling me with more information on the haulout survey photos or sharing the survey information. The newer design, Lugger engines and stabilizers easily make up the difference in the listing amounts.

HiDHo said:

The newer design, Lugger engines and stabilizers easily make up the difference in the listing amounts.

Click to expand...

Which boat are you talking about?

Ted said:

Right!!!

This one looks good. It had a sale pending, then came back with the 10 out-of-water
pictures

https://www.yachtworld.com/core/lis...rginiayachtbrokers&&ywo=virginiayachtbrokers&

This one is loaded,

https://everett.boatshed.com/defever_49_raised_pilothouse-boat-267621.html



This one is nice but overseas,

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1988/defever-49-pilothouse-3693339/




Last one still active,

https://marinesource.com/boats-for-...aised-Pilot-House-Plan-B&listingnmb=100785511


Happy looking

Ted

Click to expand...

The first listing.

HiDHo said:

The first listing.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I always have my ears open to any boat with twin luggers as I rarely see them - I think i saw one other a few years ago.

Captain DJ said:

For the first time since before 9/11 I am the cause for a Yachtworld Ad to Read ¨Sale Pending¨
https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1986/defever-rph-49-3650548/
Thanks in advance for your advice and counsel.

Click to expand...

OK, I will try:

1 Dinghy, crane, outboard are all way too small. You can carry at least a 12' with a decent outboard, but you will need to upgrade the crane to hoist it.
2 With 3x360 w solar, you have the capacity to keep up with all of your electrical use, but the 110v fridges will still be a challenge. You should change those out for DC only fridge and freezer ASAP, then you will never worry, and you will find that you only use the Genset to make hot water.
3 that's all I have...sorry
oh, the posted cruising speed of 7 knots is low for that 42' LWL. at 7, you will hardly make a wave, so will get amazing mpg. I cruise at 8 on a 40'LWL and I get ~2 mpg.

koliver said:

OK, I will try:

1 Dinghy, crane, outboard are all way too small. You can carry at least a 12' with a decent outboard, but you will need to upgrade the crane to hoist it.
2 With 3x360 w solar, you have the capacity to keep up with all of your electrical use, but the 110v fridges will still be a challenge. You should change those out for DC only fridge and freezer ASAP, then you will never worry, and you will find that you only use the Genset to make hot water.
3 that's all I have...sorry
oh, the posted cruising speed of 7 knots is low for that 42' LWL. at 7, you will hardly make a wave, so will get amazing mpg. I cruise at 8 on a 40'LWL and I get ~2 mpg.

Click to expand...

Spot on about the dinghy, outboard and crane. I have plans to upgrade all three and add paravane stabilizers, a crows nest and a huge mast and boom to lift an deploy a 14-16 center console. Over next two years. May add davits at transom for small (existing dinghy) and use the current crane as a back up. Maybe still have space up top deck for small and large dinghys, or a PWC and the extra large dinghy. Keep the small one at transom on davits?



I mocked this up to see what she might look like.

Captain DJ said:

Spot on about the dinghy, outboard and crane. I have plans to upgrade all three and add paravane stabilizers, a crows nest and a huge mast and boom to lift an deploy a 14-16 center console. Over next two years. May add davits at transom for small (existing dinghy) and use the current crane as a back up. Maybe still have space up top deck for small and large dinghys, or a PWC and the extra large dinghy. Keep the small one at transom on davits?

I mocked this up to see what she might look like.

Click to expand...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/m9mX82ZQKenjqHy19

HiDHo said:

Photos of the engine room clutter in a listing so un-professional, as if this is a norm, makes me wonder about maintenance.
Gypsy would be calling me with more information on the haulout survey photos or sharing the survey information. The newer design, Lugger engines and stabilizers easily make up the difference in the listing amounts.

Click to expand...

The Lehmans are very tried and True. Luggers/John Deere are great, but the Virginia boat is somewhat over powered in my opinion. These 135 hp engines are plenty for our style of cruising. Those Luggers at 225 hp vs the Lehmans 135 hp is just too much power. I had 4-53s on my GB 42 and really like the more full displacement sized engines vs semi planing power engines others opt for.

Plus if you check out the sketch here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/m9mX82ZQKenjqHy19
And know $89,000.00 does a lot for cleaning, organizing an engine room and lazarette. It might even have enough left to help me with the paravane and crows nest/big mast & boom idea since I have a crew in Mexico. It will get me part of the way there. Transporting that Virginia boat would easily make it a $100k difference.

The Sellers had transited the Panama Canal and brought Emma Jo from Ft. Lauderdale to La Paz. They have used her, but cared for her. Living aboard can make some clutter accumulate. But that just gives me some tasks to tackle right off the bat.

Thanks for your opinion. Enjoy the Tennessee Valley, and River. I have cruised every mile of her from Start in Knoxville to the cut through to Cumberland at Land Between the Lakes on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Did a good bit up to Nashville too and the TomBigbee, all great cruising. Enjoy the Fall colors. I always looked forward to what I called Second Saturday in September on the River. Always had better weather than Labor Day and seemed like I had it mostly to myself.

Cheers Mr. KK