44 Flush Aft Deck

The company’s most popular boat from 1978 until a factory fire destroyed the molds in late 1996, the Island Gypsy 44 Flush Aft Deck is a heavily built, long-range cruiser with a traditional trawler-style profile and unusual galley-up interior. The 44 was built in China on a solid fiberglass semi-displacement hull with fairly high freeboard, hard chines, and a prop-protecting full-length keel. Inside, the three-stateroom floorplan is arranged with two small staterooms forward of the salon and a spacious master stateroom aft. The L-shaped galley is located aft in the salon, next to companionway stairs, where it’s easily accessed from outside. Both heads have stall showers, and the interior is lavishly finished with Burmese teak woodwork. The decks, including the aft deck and flybridge sole are teak as are the handrails and transom. Additional features include wide side decks, folding radar mast, and a large flybridge with the helm forward. Older models with 135hp Lehman diesels cruise at 8–9 knots. Twin 210hp Cummins diesels eventually became standard (10 knots cruise/14 knots top), and 375hp Cats cruise at 16 knots.