Overview
The Brewer 44 is a Ted Brewer center-cockpit cutter built by Fort Myers Yacht and Shipbuilding in Florida from 1984. It grew out of the Whitby 42 and the Brewer 12.8, and Practical Sailor reported 33 sold by 2000.
Design and Construction
Buyers could choose a shoal fin keel, the same keel with a high-aspect centerboard, or a slightly deeper fin. sailboatdata.com lists 44 ft overall on a 35 ft waterline, 13.5 ft of beam, and 4.5 ft of draft with the board up and 9 ft with it down. Displacement is 29,000 lb with 12,000 lb of ballast, and the cutter carries about 955 sq ft. Practical Sailor notes that early boats had 11,000 lb of ballast. Practical Sailor says the 44 is the 12.8 with the stern extended slightly, which enlarges the aft stateroom and allows a permanent fore-and-aft double berth, and that the 44 replaced the 12.8 as the standard model. Both were semi-custom boats built to order, and the yard built 33 of the 44.
Under Sail
Practical Sailor expects the extra ballast to make the 44 a better performer than the 12.8 in winds over 15 knots, at some cost in very light air, and says its cutaway underbody makes it maneuver much better than the Whitby 42. The standard 62 hp Perkins and 135 gallons of fuel give a range under power of about 700 miles. The center-cockpit layout leaves room for a private aft cabin and a full engine room beneath the cockpit. A wide cabin trunk gives exceptional interior volume but narrows the side decks and forces crew to step over the cabin around the shrouds. The reverse transom makes it harder to lower a dinghy from davits than on the 12.8’s vertical transom.
Buyers Notes
Practical Sailor found the genoa leads and traveler controls awkward on the boat it examined (see Known Issues). It still calls the boat a good, solid value. The reviewer rated the finish on the 44 it examined as a very good production boat and its galley as improved over early 12.8s, with larger sinks and better fixtures, though the deep dry-storage well is hard to reach. The main halyard on the boats examined had a poor lead, and the owner of the 44 had ordered a larger main halyard winch to overcome the friction.
