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Model profile · for Great Loop buyers
DeFever Pilothouse
What the published record establishes about this model, what owners report,
and the questions worth asking while a boat is still a listing. This page is about the
MODEL — a specific hull always gets its own homework.
A heavy full-displacement trawler that suits the Loop at hull speed. But "DeFever Pilothouse" covers materially different boats and builders — pin down the exact hull, yard and engines first.
The DeFever Pilothouse is a heavy full-displacement trawler built for 7–9 knot passages — owners report around 4 GPH at 7–7.5 kt — which suits the Loop's pace well. Identity comes first: “DeFever 49” covers materially different boats, the 44+5/49 Cockpit Motor Yacht versus the 49/50 Raised Pilothouse, and DeFever was never one builder. Art DeFever designed; licensed yards built, and the yard chronology decides it, with the late-2000s hulls most likely POCTA boats. Confirm variant, yard and engines before anything else — later hulls are more likely to carry John Deere, Cummins or Cat, where earlier boats carry Ford Lehman or Perkins. For the Loop the deciding number is air draft: one RPH owner reported about 22 feet antennas-down, coming to roughly 15'5″–16' with the radar arch and Bimini folded, so what is fixed above the arch is what decides whether she clears.
How to read this: 🟢 Fact = confirmed against a document, spec sheet,
or owner. Everything else — Claim, Pattern, Question, Context — is not yet
verified: things to check, not settled truth. Sources are linked where published.
Builder status
CONTEXT
DeFever was never one builder — and the yard chronology narrows which one built this hull.
Art DeFever designed; licensed yards built. He died in 2013 and nothing is in production. The chronology: Jensen Marine (California) → Sen Koh, Taiwan (to 1989) → CTF / Wilson Lin, Taiwan (from 1986) → POCTA, China (late 1990s onward). A 2008 hull most likely came from POCTA. Build quality varies materially between yards, so 'it depends on the yard' is an answerable question rather than a vague caution.
src:
DeFever owner community; builder/yard histories
Your move: Ask the broker which yard built this hull, and match it against the chronology.
Model identity
QUESTION
Which DeFever variant and builder is this 2008 hull — 44+5/49 CMY or 49/50 RPH, and which yard?
Trawler Forum notes at least two very different boats are badged 'DeFever 49': the Cockpit Motor Yacht (essentially a 44 with a 5' cockpit grafted on, sometimes called a 44+5) and the Raised Pilothouse, which has a completely different hull and layout. RPH layout also varies by yard — early Sen Koh boats have the flybridge forward with a mast; later POCTA versions have the flybridge further aft with a foldable radar arch. Confirm exact variant, builder, and hull to make sure other findings apply.
src:
Trawler Forum (DeFever owners / '49' discussion)
Your move: Ask the broker for the exact model designation, hull number, and building yard, and match the layout to photos.
Systems
QUESTION
What condition is the DC cabling/battery wiring in — any crumbling insulation?
A DeFever owner reported cable insulation that started to crumble and break away with age, raising the concern of cables shorting in a seaway. Given a 2008+ hull's age, inspect battery and engine cabling for aged insulation and address before extended cruising.
src:
Trawler Forum (DeFever owners thread)
Your move: Have the survey include a close look at battery cables and engine-room wiring insulation.
Range & fuel burn
CLAIM
Real-world burn is roughly 4 GPH at ~8 knots on the larger hulls
Owner reports cluster around 7–7.5 kt at ~1500 rpm and ~4 GPH on a 49, and ~3.7 GPH at 8.5 mph on a 44 with older Lehman 120s. Smaller/lower-rated installs can burn under 2.5 GPH at 6.5 kt. Actual burn depends on the specific engine, load, and speed — treat these as ballpark and confirm against the boat's own logs.
src:
Trawler Forum (Perkins 135HP fuel consumption; DeFever 44 vs 49; Defever 41 fuel consumption)
CONTEXT
Large tankage gives comfortable range at displacement speed
DeFever 44 is quoted with a design range around 1,500 nm; the 44+5/49 variants carry roughly 1,000–1,150 gallons. This is generous for the Loop, where fuel is available almost everywhere — one long fuel-scarce stretch on the rivers is the main planning concern. Verify actual usable tankage on the specific hull.
src:
HMY Yachts (DeFever 44 spec); Trawler Forum (Loop fuel discussion)
Air draft
CLAIM
RPH boats sit tall — plan on lowering the arch/Bimini and measuring actual air draft
A DeFever 49 RPH owner reported an antennas-down air draft around 22' driven mainly by a fixed anchor light, but could get down to roughly 15'5"–16' by folding the radar arch and Bimini. Brokerage listings show wide variation depending on config, and often quote both a fixed height and a lowered height (e.g. to the top of the satellite dome vs. arch lowered). Identify every fixed thing above the arch and what can be folded, and measure the real air draft on this hull.
src:
Trawler Forum (Boat Dimension thread); Curtis Stokes brokerage listings
Your move: Physically measure air draft with antennas/arch up and down, and note what is fixed (anchor light, satellite dome) versus foldable.
Handling
CONTEXT
Heavy full-displacement hull cruises comfortably but slowly
These are heavy trawlers (a 44 quoted around 56,000 lb loaded) designed for economical 7–9 kt passages. Expect stable, easy motion and modest speed rather than planing performance — a good match for the Loop's pace.
src:
Trawler Forum (Perkins 135HP fuel consumption)
Reading the boat
CONTEXT
Confirm draft on the loaded, real-world hull
As a heavy displacement trawler, the DeFever carries a fair amount of loaded draft; confirm the actual loaded water draft on the specific hull rather than relying on brochure figures, since tankage and gear affect where she floats.
Engines
The engines research — factory options, tested performance,
and the engine-specific questions our members' dossiers carry — is part of the
full profile inside the product. It travels with every dossier and survey brief
built on this model.
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