* * *BOAT TEST

Cape Dory 40: The pride of the Yankees.BY ALLEN D. BERRIEN

I LIKE THIS BOAT. Even before I re-turned home from the test site, I wasthinking: Hmm, if I sold the house....

If, like me, you've grown tired of the end-less procession of boats that are essentiallyclones, you'll find Cape Dory's new 40Explorer a breath of fresh air. She's a fasttrawler yacht reminiscent of the expensive,one-off designs drawn by shops like HuntAssociates of Boston. It is aNew Englandvisage that's handsome and salty. And itsuits the red pants set: yacht club members,well-heeled former sailboters and the like.Remember, they're people, too.

LOOKS To KEEL

The differencebetween this boatand the rest of thepack is more than amatter of styling;it's a matter of de-sign. For starters,there's a keel be-neath the modified-V hull. You'll appre-ciate that whendocking in a breeze.The keel's long,straight run doesmore than resistsideslip. It allowsthe Explorer to runon one engine andbe steered easily to-ward the live en-gine. Try that witha clone. The keelalso protects run-ning gear.

The Explorertracks well in a sea-way, too. Responseto the throttles isstellar. When youpour on the coal,this boat leaps.How's two boatlengths and lessthan eight secondsto flank speed? Ofcourse, flank speed

is 25 mph exactly.Some boatmen will snort at that pace,

but the truth is, for the type, this boat isquick and economical. With a pair of tur-bocharged and aftercooled Caterpillar3116s (developing 291 hp at 2800 rpm),economy through the cruising range hov-ers around .8 nautical mpg. That's quite re-spectable for a 40-footer.

MASTERPIECE THEATRE

Inside, the Explorer has a very comfort-able layout. There are two private state-rooms, two heads and a bright salon withan efficient galley and a standard lower

helm station.The salon is a

forest of teak andholly with convert-ible settee, drop-leaf table and anentertainment cen-ter. A waterproofchair with built-inottoman is an ex-ample of CapeDory's conscien-tious, New Eng-land approach. Itsinsides are filledwith closed-cell up-holstery foam andthe fabric is anopen-weave syn-thetic. Bring on thescrub brush andthe garden hose ifsomeone spills thewine.

At the starboardforward end, thelower helm stationhas Hynautic con-trols and steering,VDO instruments,a big, Ritchie com-pass and B&GNetwork electron-ics (knot, log, depthcombination andVHF). Abaft thehelm seat, there's a

MEMBERS ONI.Y-With

her New England

styling, the 40 Explorer

is a natural on the

yacht club scene. It

handles as gracefully

as it looks. Response to

the throttles is stellar.

When you pour on the

coal, this boat leaps:

eight seconds to a flank

speed of 25 mph.

Inside, the Explorer has

two staterooms. The

master (left) has a teak

and holly sole and an

ash ceiling.

NEVER TOO FUSSY-A conscientious builder, Cape Dory provides a waterproof chair with ottomanin the salon and high, teak fiddles in the galley.

full-sized Norcold refrig-erator/freezer. To port,the L-shaped galley hasa double sink, three-burner Kenyon cooktop,convection/microwaveoven, plenty of stowageand the best fiddle railsI've ever seen-all teakand lW' high. .

WHO'S SLEEPING WITHWHOM?

PROPULSION AND PERFORMANCECape Dory 40 ExplorerStandard power: twin 291-hp freshwater-cooled Caterpillar 3116 TA diesel inboards

Optional power: noneTest boat power: twin 291-hp Caterpillar 3116 TA six-cylinder diesel inboardswith 403 cid, 4.12" bore x 5.00" stroke, swinging 24" x 24" four-bladed propellersthrough 2: 1 reduction

---speed--- -fuel use---efficiency-- -operation-% of % of naut. stat. n. mi. sound

rpm knots mph max. gph max. mpg mpg range angle level900 5.4 6.3 25 2.2 7 2.47 2.84 889 0.5 65

1200 7.4 85 34 5.0 16 148 170 532 1.0 721500 88 102 41 7.4 23 1.19 137 429 2.0 731800 9.9 11.4 46 11.8 37 0.84 0.97 302 3.5 762100 13.3 15.3 61 16.6 53 0.80 0.92 289 5.0 802400 16.7 19.2 77 20.2 64 0.82 0.95 297 4.5 802700 20.4 23.5 94 24.0 76 0.85 0.98 306 4.0 812800 21.7 25.0 100 31.6 100 0.69 0.79 247 3.8 82

Advertised fuel capacity 400 gal. Range based on 90 percent of that figure. Performance measuredwith three persons aboard, ,. fuel, full water. Sound levels taken at upper helm, in dB-A.

forward end. When yourelease a barrel bolt, itrises smoothly on a pairof gas struts. Impres-sive enough, but wait; itgets better.

DESCENDING ORDER

When I look at enginerooms I think aboutwhat I'd have to add tomake it my engineroom. Not much, in theExplorer's case. Hereare some highlights:The removable, dia-mond-plate deckingover the bilges is Ya"-thick aluminum-thereal thing, not the sheetaluminum/plywood stuffyou can dent with ascrewdriver; Racor fil-ters have vacuumgauges; there are threediscrete bilge compart-ments, a total of sixpumps; Perko seacocksand Groco strainers arefitted; and perforatedaluminum is installedoverhead to protect thesound-deadening mate-rial against "ratbites."

Down four steps for-ward are two stateroomswith teak and holly salesand ash ceilings.Curiously, on hull num- 35 35 SPEED & FUEL USE vs. RPM

ber one-the test boat-the ash strips were 3030

painted white. I wouldprefer a simple Danish 25 25

oil finish because theblond color of ash makes 20 20

a handsome contrast toteak. Both cabins have 15 15

hanging lockers linedwith aromatic cedar. In 10 10

the staterooms-andthroughout the boat-there are attractive iE iE~~brass reading and over- 0 900 1200 150~p~8oo 2100 2400 270~8oo

head lamps.The guest stateroom,

amidships to port, ac-commodates two with apair of roomy berths. (Ifyou prefer, a doubleberth is a no-cost op-tion.) The forward cabinincludes an island-typeberth with steps on eachside.

Only the forward head Beam

has a shower; bothheads have a MansfieldVacu-Flush toilet, lava-tory and enough teaktrim to satisfy even themost die-hard tradition-alist.

If I were ordering anExplorer, I'd forego theaft (guest) head andhave a passageway dooradded to the forwardone. Some might ques-tion the wisdom of relying on onehead, but it depends on who youcruise with, family or guests. Second,these Vacu-Flush toilets are reliable.They don't have the dreaded jokervalve, or a pump, or any other prob-lematic moving parts. In fact, theyhave very few moving parts. If thereis a failure, which is rare, it probablywill be in the "system," in which caseneither toilet would be working.

Draft

Displacement(Ibs., approx., wet)

Freeboard forward

Freeboard aft

13'10"

3'9"

25,000

LIBRARY QUIET

That sound-deaden-ing material-a five-layer sandwich with twolayers of lead alternat-ing with foam-de-serves special mention.The material is excep-tional, but the soundcontrol measures in theExplorer go beyondeven that. In fact,they're unlike anythingI've seen in a boatunder 80'.

For example, the en-gines are on isolationmounts, which is prettytypical, but puck-shapedpieces of rubber-de-signed to interfere withsound transmission-

sandwiched under the stainless-steeldeck beam supports are not. The stan-dard 5kw Onan generator also is onisolation mounts in a Sound-Shield;again common. However, the wholeensemble is put on another set of iso-lation mounts.

One more important component ofthe sound control system is mountedaft, under the removable cockpitsale: fiberglass mufflers and an un-

Bridge clearance(to windshield)

Fuel capacity (gal.)

Water capacity (gal.)

Base Price

Designer

400

170$299,000

Clive Dent

Standard equipment (major items): ssrails; teak bow pulpit w/double anchorrollers; teak swim platform w/boardingladder; salon mini-blinds; cedar-linedhanging lockers; microwave oven; re-frigerator/freezer; three-burner electriccooktop; two Mansfield Vacu-Flush toi-lets; lower helm station; Brookes &

Gatehouse Network knot/log/depth-sounder and VHF (at both helm sta-tions); Ritchie Powerdamp compass;Hynautic controls; VDO instruments;freshwater-cooled 5kw Onan genset;Bennett trim tabs; freshwater faucet inengine room; Fireboy automatic/manu-al halon system; 6 auto. bilge pumps.

With the freed-up space, I'd haveCape Dory give me a small work-shop/utility room with a bench, spacefor tools and parts, and a washer/dryer. (Cape Dory can do customwork, provided it doesn't require mov-ing bulkheads.) The door to the work-shop would be next to the engine roomaccess door. How convenient.

The engine room door is actuallythe four-step staircase at the salon's

derwater exhaust system. Mufflersare isolated from their mounts andalso from exhaust lines. The systemis elegant and works well. It keepsthe transom clean and provides anextremely quiet WOT sound-levelreading of 82 dB-A. You can evenhear the bow wake at a fast cruise of23.5 mph.

The underwater exhaust port is afew inches below the waterline butabove the chine. It injects smoke-amodest puff on acceleration-fromthe Caterpillars into the wall ofwater displaced by the boat. As a re-sult, even at trawler speeds, cockpitoccupants don't smell diesel smoke.

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

Almost all the fiberglass used in theExplorer's construction is knitted, bi-axial fabric. The topsides are cored;the bottom is solid glass. Beefy, fiber-glass stringers run full-length and thechine is reinforced with a triangulargusset section. The isolation mountsunder the engines are attached to fab-ricated steel rails that are bedded inepoxy/micro balloons and through-bolted to 4"-thick engine bearers.Nothing slapdash here.

FOR THE MONEY,ICAN'T THINK OF

ANY BOAT THAT GOESAS FAST AND HAS

THE NEW ENGLANDCRAFTSMANSHIP.

Deck hardware is similarly robust.Stainless-steel rails of 1"tubing and 6"-high bulwarks forward make maneu-vering on deck a snap, even in nastyconditions. Cleats-all eight of them-are four-hole 12-inchers with appropri-ately-sized hawses and chocks. At thestem, there are stainless-steel chafestrips to prevent scuffing the bright-work with a barnacle-encrusted moor-ing. A Lewmar 1000 windlass is a$2,500 option. Ground tackle-CQRanchor, 20' of chain and nylon rode-isstandard.

In the cockpit, the teak sole (with

three gasketed, dogged-down hatch-es), transom door and teak swim plat-form are standard.

The Cape Dory's list price is$299,000.For the money, I can't thinkof any boat that goes as fast and hasthe New England craftsmanship. Ifyou don't mind spending more, thereare custom boats, like Hinkley's 42-footer with 412-hp Caterpillars.Performance rivals that of theExplorer, but it costs anywhere from$400,000 to $600,000. To spend less,the Grand Banks 36 Europa is an al-ternative, although it's a foot shorter.Base price with a pair of 204-hpCummins is $248,000,but because it'sa trawler-style boat, it's not up to theExplorer's pace.

The 40 Explorer is a civilized, long-legged qruising boat. A truly stalwartvessel, capable of carrying family,friends and gear any place you'd careto go.

There's a definite niche for it. Iknow...!want one. Anyone in the mar-ket for a house in Connecticut? .:tFor more information, contact: CapeDory Yachts, 334 South Bayview Ave.,Amityville, NY 11701. Tel. (516)264-1313.

Perfection ... some people simply will notsettle for less. To those, we introduce the

Cape Dory 40 Explorer. Her timeless beautyconceals a responsive full keel hull powered

by a pair of CAT 3116 diesel engines toexcite you with speeds of 24 knots.

Cape Dory 40Explorer

Cape Dory Power Yachts

The CD 40 ideally combines seaworthinessand liveaboard comfort with amenities such as2 private staterooms, 2 private heads plus anupper and lower command station. A largecockpit with a transom door and a swimplatform add to your comforts.Built by our skilled craftsmen, theCape Dory 40 Explorer will be areflection of your discriminating taste.The point is clear-the Cape Dory 40Explorer comes to you with a heritage ofunmatched excellence and value.

33'Explorer 36'Explorer 300Motorsailer 310Sloop 40'ClassicFor more information, contact:

CAPE DORY YACHTSAnother division of Newport Shipyards Corporation

334 South Bayview Ave., Amityville, NY 11701 Tel. (516) 264-1313