Last Dance - 1976 DeFever 40 Passagemaker - Stabilized


Last Dance is a much newer boat than the manufacturing date would suggest. She has had major systems replaced and updated, including main engines, generator, air conditioners, electronics, sanitary system, and has had the interior updated. She may be the smallest boat equipped with Naiad stabilizers and is the lowest priced stabilized boat on the market.

The owners will be cruising on Last Dance summer 2019, from the Erie Canal in New York, down east coast to Florida and her hailing port. Current location is listed below right. Contact us for more information.

Great Loop and Maine Coast Veteran

After completing the America's Great Loop 2011 - 2012, Last Dance began the Loop again, a multi year trip. Two summers along the Maine coast and 6 summers in the Canadian Great Lakes, have proven this craft to be most capable of taking her crew safely to any waters. Her adventures along the waterways are documented in two blogs, linked in the right-hand column. New adventures on land have the current owners placing Last Dance on the market so that she may continue what she does best - making adventures on the water enjoyable and safe.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Last Dance Introduction


Last Dance has new Owners and is continuing her journeys making memories.

Last Dance is a 1976 DeFever Passagemaker 40, built in California.  Arthur DeFever was the first naval architect to design powerboats capable of offshore, blue water cruising.  His designs were based on his successful Tuna fishing trawlers that fished the Pacific waters.  Members of his San Diego yacht club encouraged him to design boats capable of taking them along the Pacific coast to Mexico and Alaska.  They proved to be most successful and his designs were often copied and other naval architects began to develop boats with blue water capabilities.

Last Dance has been owned by her current crew for 20 years.  She has completed many trips to the Bahamas, the Great Loop, two cruises to the Maine coast, and spent 6 summers in the Canadian waters of the northern Great Lakes.  She is a capable vessel and one whose beauty and salty lines inspire many admiring comments of those walking the docks where she is moored.

She is currently underway, launched in Brewerton, NY, beginning a journey south on June 1st.  Her plans for the summer are to travel south along the U.S. east coast, returning to her home port in St. Augustine, Florida.  Current position will be updated in the box on the right-hand column. She can be seen anywhere along that route and is available for sale at any time.  Until the next crew finds her and takes her on new journeys, the current crew will continue to enjoy beautiful waters from her decks and flybridge.

The above image is of Last Dance at anchor in the bay off Shell Island, near Panama City, Florida.


Construction



Image:  Last Dance at anchor, Fox Island in the North Channel, Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada, 2018.

Arthur DeFever designed many boats, but never was a constructor.  He worked with marine construction companies to build his designs.  The first two DeFever 40 Passagemakers were built in Taiwan, but Arthur was not satisfied with the quality.  A new yard to build the boats had to be found.  The fuel crisis of the 1970's made fuel-efficient trawlers big sellers, drawing many boat manufacturers to add trawlers to their line.  A U.S. builder wanting to expand their offerings picked up the Passagemaker design, building both the Passagemaker 34 and Passagemaker 40.

Last Dance was built at Jensen Marine Corporation in Costa Mesa, California.  Jensen was building high quality and high-performance sailboats under the brand name Cal.  They built 18,000 Cal sailboats.

Fiberglass was not used in the construction of larger boats until the early 1970's.  Grand Banks, a popular brand of trawler-type boats, moved from wood construction to fiberglass in 1974.  (An aside:  The Grand Banks Alaskan was a DeFever design.)  Jensen Marine had years of experience with fiberglass in building the Cal sailboats.  Designers and builders did not fully understand the strength of fiberglass, so the early fiberglass boats were built with hulls as thick as the previously built wooden boats.

Last Dance's hull is over an inch thick, solid fiberglass.  Contemporary boat design favors performance over strength with boat hulls constructed of a sandwich - two thin layers of fiberglass separated by a light-weight medium such as balsa wood or foam.  A grounding can fracture a sandwich hull or hitting a rock can hole the hull, either resulting in catastrophic failure and sinking.



A Special DeFever


Image:  Last Dance at the dock on Heart Island, Boldt Castle, 1000 Islands, New York.

The construction of Last Dance received special attention as she was built to be the Jensen show boat for the 1976 Miami Boat Show.  A number of upgrades in design and construction features were made during the construction.  One example:  On the flybridge, the instruments were moved from the front of the flybridge dash to the top, where they are much easier to see.  The instrument panel is embossed with the Passagemaker logo.  The original holes for mounting, in the panel behind the wheel, can be seen ghosting through the fiberglass repair.

DeFever's great design combined with the attention to detail for the boat to be shown representing the best produced by Jensen Marine combined to produce a very special boat.

Image:  Last Dance and Short Vacation float together in Georgian Bay, near Henry's Fish Restaurant, 2018.

Last Dance was purchased in 1987 by Bob and Barbara Dein.  They named her Scenic Pathway, cruising her to the Bamahas for 2 to 3 months every year.  In 1995, they began a mission to bring owners of Arthur DeFever designed boats together for support and enjoyment of their vessels.  DeFever Cruisers was born of their efforts and continues today.  In 1999, they sold their DF 40 Passagemaker and purchased a new boat, a DeFever of course.  Their new DeFever 44 was named Gondola, which went well with their home port of Venice, Florida.  Scenic Pathway became Last Dance and when Gondola was sold in 2016 she became Short Vacation, owned by the Shorts.  The Dein boats rejoined as both were on multiple-year journeys of the Great Loop in the summer of 2018.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Mechanical


Image:  Last Dance anchored in Waterfall Cove, Tennessee River.




Last Dance is powered by a pair of 135 hp Perkins diesels.  They were installed in 1995, replacing the original 1976 130 hp Perkins.  The port engine carries a 100 amp externally regulated alternator charging the house bank of batteries.  A Balmar regulator provides proper 3-stage charging.  A spare externally regulated alternator is aboard in the spares collection.















The starboard Perkins carries a 60 amp internally regulated alternator charging the starting battery bank.  A spare is aboard.  It also carries the hydraulic pump that powers the stabilizers.  There are about 4500 hours on the main engines.











Custom made stainless steel exhaust elbows/mixers were fabricated for Last Dance.













The original cast iron elbows suffer from rust caused by hot salt water running over the cast iron.  The rust can clog the water passages eventually causing the engines to overheat.  Eventually, the walls of the cast iron elbows will rust through.  The stainless steel elbows do not suffer these maladies.








And, the stainless steel elbows just look better.  The new elbows are just one example of quality parts being used to maintain and improve the function and reliability of the vessel.











An 8 kw Westerbeke generator provides the 120v electrical power when at anchor.  Westerbeke is a well-known generator in the marine environment, with many boat yards having parts in stock and mechanics practiced on that unit.  The generator has just over 1000 hours of run time.
















                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Borg Warner Transmissions have been recently rebuilt, the starboard in 2016 and the port in 2019, by Transmission Marine in Ft. Lauderdale, the premier rebuilder of Borg Warners.

Heating and air conditioning are provided by two 16,000 btu Crusair split systems, with the compressors located in the engine room and air handlers in each of the berths.  Having the compressors in the engine room reduces the noise level in the living areas of the boat.


Thursday, January 17, 2019

Naiad Stabilizers


On both sides of Last Dance's hull, a fin protrudes below.  The sun just catches it in the image above.  This appendage is important to the performance of the boat.

Powerboats traveling at displacement speeds tend to roll in a beam sea, creating a sensation that makes some uncomfortable.  Large cruise ships have the same roll action, but they stabilize the boat with roll stabilizing fins.  Last Dance is equipped with the same type of system found on large yachts and cruise ships.

The system is controlled by a gyroscope, sensing any movement side-to-side and correcting the movement by moving the two fins under the boat.  The movement of the fins is powered by hydraulic fluid pressurized by a pump on the starboard engine.  The system is one designed and manufactured by Naiad Marine, the major manufacturer of such systems.

Stabilized Marine, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, installed the Naiad system in Last Dance and has performed maintenance on the stabilizers.  Their business is focused on only stabilizers and they are seen by many as THE experts.  Many a DeFever has had Stabilized Marine engineer and install the Naiad systems on their boats.  Check out their website below.

Stabilized Marine





Since we are under the boat, a couple of additional pictures should illustrate the design of the DeFever 40.  She has a full-displacement hull which provides efficiency and a sea kindly behavior.  The full keel provides inherent stability and protects the props.  Boats with the props as the lowest part of the boat can often be seen in boatyards getting needed repair to bent props and shafts.





The props on Last Dance were custom designed and constructed by a company which makes propellers for recreational boats through large commercial boats, such as tugs, shrimp boats, and cruise ships.  The new shafts and props were made in 2010.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Galley and Salon


The Passagemaker 40 incorporates a "Galley-Up" design with the galley located on the main, salon level.  This provides for a larger and more open galley with wonderful views out the large windows.  The construction of the cabinetry is solid teak with 18 drawers and 7 cabinets, more storage than found on much larger boats.  There is also a large cabinet under the refrigerator, located just to the right in this image.  The fridge is an 8.0 cu ft Tundra with ample freezer room to provision for a long trip to the Bahamas.  The range is a Princess with 3 electric burners on top and a good sized oven below.



One of the cabinets was designed to hold liquor bottles, a common feature at the time.  This cabinet has been updated with a custom, slide-out pantry which holds more groceries than can be imagined.  This image was taken before the floor on the main level was converted to holly and teak.







The galley-up arrangement allows the galley work area to expand into the salon and the salon area to expand into the galley.  Expandable space.  The settee has storage below.  The table opens to double in size, slides toward and away from the settee, and is adjustable in height.






















Tuesday, January 15, 2019

V-Berth



The forward v-berth has two 78-inch long bunks with storage drawers and cabinets underneath.  A unique feature was designed over the bunks.  Most v-berth layouts have the interior walls following the flare of the hull, giving a much wider, but useless space above.  Last Dance has verticle walls with storage cubbies, providing a great amount of storage.

Note the heavy duty stainless steel port light.  The v-berth and aft cabin both have stainless steel ports, replaced in 1995, for ventilation.





The forward berth has its own head with a large storage cabinet and a freshwater Raritan Marine Elegance toilet  - simple, powerful, attractive, and low water use.