'78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

[Jauncy]

Comments pls. on this veteran Taiwanese trawler. Re-engined in '97 with 155 h.p. Cummins 4BT's, 1275 hrs. Who is Davis? Possibly the importer? Minimal history available, it was in charter at least once in its life. Fiberglass decks. Fully enclosed bridge (It's in Anacortes) Onan 5 kw genset with 800 hrs. It appears decent + in the website photos. Use area will be San Juans and Gulf Islands to Prince Rupert. Last survey 2000. One wonders if it's worth looking at, we're in the SFO area. Thanks for your help! Jon

 

[Ryoken]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

it certainly wont be a Buddy Davis i would think <br /><br />one thing i would watch out for is stresscracking, water intrusion and poor stainless.. lot of chopgun stuff with bad metals float into our marina from Taiwan.. just did a $30,000 bottom gel plane job on a 50'last year. matter of fact i'm in the midst of a 300 hr stresscrack disaster Taiwan gig at the moment. i'll post some pics soon..<br /><br />funny thing about those Taiwan trawlers is they usually have very nicely laid out interiors that are very pretty..

 

[Jauncy]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

Thanks, Ryoken! I know just enough to be dangerous. Grand Banks are built in Taiwan, right? It sounds as though one has to know the construction practices of the boatyard. I think what your saying is that hand laid if done right is better than any chop gun boat. Where do the stress cracks usually appear? Exterior hull? Bilge? Where is our marina? E-mail me privately if you wish. Thanks again, Jon

 

[Ryoken]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

Grand Banks are the exception to the rule. to tell ya the truth i'm not certain where GB's are made. i always thought they where a Taiwan, but i seem to recollect someone mentioning to me recently that they actually wheren't made in Taiwan. either way, huge dif between GB's and most other Trawlers. i have a couple customers with very, very nice GB's.<br /><br />as far as stresscracking, it varies from boat to boat, but its usually on the topsides, on radius's, any place with heavy loadups of gel during construction or subject to water intrusion. <br /><br />surprisingly, most of those issue tend to be on the exterior, most of the structural stuff in the bildge seem pretty good. below the rubrail, the boats tend to have blister issues..<br /><br />and absolutely, handlaid is vastly superior to chop construction. that 50 bottom strip was a couple handlaid layers, than a heavy dose of chop. a gazillion blisters, had to plane the gel and a layer of glass off the bottom. some boats have a lot more chop construction than others too...<br /><br />i have to mention the metals again too... i don't know what their deal is over there, i assume they just get crappy metal. but you really have to look at things like strainers, muffs if metal, etc, for signs of corrosion, etc, we've seen lots of horrible hardware in that department.<br /><br />don't let me scare you off this or anything, these are just some general observations we have made over the years concerning probs encountered with vessels made in Taiwan. and also alot of the Taiwan stuff we see are very large aftcabs, not just trawlers..<br /><br />east coast here btw, Jersey shore...

 

[BillP]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

Art Defever's office used to be in San Diego. If he's still around I'm sure he knows the scoop on that production run. <br /><br />Don't think high quality boats don't get blisters. They all get blisters. I saw a Grand Banks 50 and a Hinckley Bermuda 40...both had 1000s of blisters. The B40 was documented in the National Geographic during the late 70s with articles on their around the world cruise.

 

[Ryoken]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

hey Bill,<br /><br />i hope your not interprating my message to mean that a quality boat doesn't get blisters. i have firsthand knowledge that there have been quite a few Hateras runs that where notorious for blisters, as well as GB's.. <br /><br />believe me, i've done about 70 bottom jobs from 30 to 50 including a 46 GB and 2 Hateras's in recent years. see lots of bad Vikings and Flexible Flyers aka Oceans with bad bottoms too..<br /><br />all i know, is that chop Taiwan boat was one of the worst i've ever seen. if you ever ran a gel planer for days on end, you'd understand.

 

[BillP]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

Ryoken<br />We're on the same page. I didn't take it that way but just thought it was worth a mention. The truth is those high end boats probably have better barrier maintenance from the owners anyway. <br /><br />I agree 100% on the Taiwan boats. Some are good but most I've seen and heard about have problems, no matter if power or sail. They sure do look like a lot of bang for the buck though.<br /><br />I may be needing some peeling advice in a few months. I'll be contacting you! Did you ever think of moving to Florida and starting a peeling business? There's plenty of boats needing it.

 

[Ryoken]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

cool... i was serious about the interiors too, i've always been impressed with the inside of the Taiwans.. very nice usually..<br /><br />funny thing about the highend boats as you mentioned, you can have a gorgeous Hat or something, beutiful in every aspect, but will have a million blisters <br /><br />i've unfortunately got 3 bottoms waiting on me at the moment, 2 Vikings and a Silverton. they'll be waiting a bit tho, got that stresscracking Taiwan (and yeah, the guy got it super cheap, its like 56 or 60 and i think he paid like 120 for it) and a 40 Bert who ripped his struts out before i can get started on them.. thats fine tho, one of my least fave jobs for sure..

 

[airman]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

Jauncy,<br />Also take a good look at the tanks. If they're steel, they're probably just about rusted through by now. Not a write-off either, but something to budget for if they haven't been replaced yet.

 

[Jauncy]

Re: '78 42' Defever Trawler (Davis)

Thanks for all your comments! As a nautical newbie it really helps. Methinks I'll lie down and let the feeling pass until I learn a bir with a newer, simpler craft. Jon