The DeFever yacht name originated from Arthur DeFever. Arthur DeFever spent his early years designing commercial tuna clippers for the San Diego fleet. These vessels proved highly reliable and seaworthy.

In the early 1960s, Arthur joined the Offshore Cruising Society. The Society retained Arthur to design a series of seaworthy cruising powerboats in the 38 to 54 foot length that would have sufficient range to make the long runs up and down the Pacific coast into Mexico or to Alaska.

In the 1970s,the customer’s desire for increased speed led Art to design the 51 POC (Performance Offshore Cruiser).Along with several megayachts and sailboats, Art's designs are admired for their traditional lines, sturdy construction, long range, sea-keeping ability, and practical layouts that make them perfect for extended cruising.

During the mid-80s,the customer’s desire for increased speed led Art to design the 51 POC (Performance Offshore Cruiser).Along with several megayachts and sailboats, Art's designs are admired for their traditional lines, sturdy construction, long range, sea-keeping ability, and practical layouts that make them perfect for extended cruising. The mega-yacht, SOUTHERLY,

The mega-yacht, SOUTHERLY, is a DeFever design.

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Jimmy Ma, chairman of the board, has been doing business in the global yacht industry for over 45 years. In 1973, he started his trading business by running a freight-forwarding company. Later, he cooperated with several U.S. yacht importers and founded the first yacht exporting company in Taiwan. During this process, he met Arthur DeFever, the founder of DeFever, and developed a strong interest in the yacht manufacturing.

In 1994, Jimmy put great faith in the Chinese yacht market and founded his first yacht manufacturing company - Dafeng Yachts Industrial Co., Ltd. in Fuzhou, Fujian, China, as he became the second Taiwanese investor in the Chinese yacht industry. Dafeng Yachts Indsutrial Co., Ltd later became the first Chinese yacht builder who exported yachts to the United States and whose build quality was recognized and accepted by the U.S. market.

With the development of the market and the expansion of the enterprise, Jimmy has successively established Shanghai Defever Yachts Industrial Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Defever Yachts Industrial Co., Ltd., and Qingyuan Defever Yachts Technology Co., Ltd. in China under the help of Arthur. The excellent production concept of DeFever Yachts was introduced into China, and a large number of excellent yacht manufacturing workers and professional managers were trained during this period.