G'day Sammy,
I can't speak to the Defiance but I had a Yankee 30, an &S design from the late 60's. I did a lot of miles in her, caring and cruising, and found her to be a sweet sailing craft. I did a lot of
single handed ocean
racing out of
San Francisco in the early 80s, a number of coastal cruises to So
Cal, and Ann and I did a round trip to
Hawaii in 1983 which is a proper long ocean
passage each way.
The boat was fine with all of this, but we discovered that her habit of sailing at circa 20+ degrees of heel, while ok for short trips and day hops, was kinda fatiguing for long passages, and we
sold her when we set out
long term cruising in 1986.
I know that they are similar, don't know what the relationship of the two 30s might be, nor about the build quality of the Defiance, so I dunno if our experiences are relevant to you... but I was very fond of that boat and viewed it as adequately
seaworthy for mid latitude passages. Stowage was meager, but that's a quality of most 30 foot yachts! i added a auxiliary
fuel tank (Atomic 4 gas engine) but kept the original
water tank... plus some
emergency water in jugs.
Anyhow, i'd be happy to answer any questions that my long ago experience might bear on.
Good luck in your planning.
Jim