Shannon Defiance 46

By Chris Landry

July 30, 2014

Custom builder Shannon Yachts has launched the Defiance 46, a Down East-style two-stateroom boat and an offshore cruiser through and through. Its traditional appearance, however, masks an untraditional hull design.

Company owner Walter Schulz designed the first Defiance in 2003 — a 38-footer — based on his patented Schulz Reverse Deadrise hull. “My goal was to come up with a design between a semidisplacement and deep-vee planing hull that was stable, fast, seaworthy and fuel efficient,” says Schulz. “The patented hull is a combination of four shapes, with a reverse deadrise in the aftermost 10 feet.”

It begins with a fine entry. “A twist in the midsection … creates a constant hydrodynamic flow to direct lift to the pronounced concave aft sections,” says Schulz, who chose the model name Defiance because he says the design contradicts conventional wisdom that most owners don’t use their powerboats for long-distance offshore cruising.

The boat can be powered in several ways: twin 480-hp Cummins diesels, diesel pod drives or a single 600-hp diesel teamed with twin saildrives (with folding props) hydraulically coupled to an auxiliary 220-hp diesel. With the latter, the boat uses the big diesel to cruise with a low fuel burn at high speeds (20 knots), while the secondary diesel and saildrives take over at lower settings (8 knots) for even greater fuel economy, says Schulz. The saildrives also work with the bow thruster for docking maneuverability, he says. The owners of the first Defiance 46 chose the “three-prop” configuration because it suits their plans to cruise the Intracoastal Waterway and the Bahamas, says Schulz.

The Defiance draws just 3 feet, and Schulz says he made sure it was well under the 10-foot, 6-inch maximum height for European canals. She has wide side decks and a tall bow rail.

The underway price of $1.437 million includes a lengthy list of standard equipment, such as a Side-Power 10-hp 12-volt bow thruster, 9kW Onan generator and a Simrad A-24 autopilot, as well as an allowance of $10,000 for the owner’s choice of electronics.

SPECIFICATIONS