We have twin John Deere 225's. Ours was built by Pocta in 2002. For the first few years, we ran the
boat at 1800
RPM which pushed us as 8.9 kts. We burned 7.5 gallons per hour giving about 1 mile per gallon. That's considered pretty good for a larger boat with twins. As
fuel got more expensive, we started slowing down. Now we run at 1500 RPM's which pushes us at 7.6 kts. We now burn around 3.5 - 4.0 GPH yielding around 2 miles per gallon which is considered really good.
The boat is super-comfortable and incredibly safe. DeFever's are
tanks. They aren't finished (interior
wood, etc) as finely as Flemings or the higher end
Grand Banks. But they are less expensive because of it - about half the cost.
The DeFever Cruisers club is very active. You should poke around the web site and look at the different models that exist.
All in all, we've been very happy and continue to use it and
live aboard it for most of the year. I would definitely consider another DeFever in the future if I ever wanted another boat.