Explorer 39 hull # 1 ready to go sailing

This March we had an important inauguration. The first Explorer 39 was finally delivered. Caroll, the Explorer 39 custom built by Estrutural Boatyard, marcosdelamare@hotmail.com, for our client Raimundo Nascimento is already in Yacht Club Rio de Janeiro ready for the first sea trials. This launching had been anxiously awaited by us, since the Explorer 39 is the most advanced cruising sailboat design we ever made.

Caroll ready for the delivery trip. Artificial teak is laid all over the deck; a beautiful,
long-lasting and maintenance-free solution.

With state of the art hull shape, two rudders, swing keel and simplified rig for shorthanded sailing, the Explorer 39 is our bet in offering to the cruising sailor a versatile shallow draught yacht for any sort of cruising requirement.  We envisage the Explorer 39 being used in areas of significant tide ranges, or getting refuge in shallow waters inaccessible to fixed keel yachts.

Caroll, the first Explorer 39 to be completed,is superbly built. Being a foam-core sandwich construction, she is light and rigid. Not loosing in mind the need to keep her light, but wishing to enhance the looks of his yacht, the owner decided to apply artificial teak all over the deck, providing a maintenance-free, long-lasting anti-skid surface of outstanding beauty. The boat has been fitted with top of the line equipment throughout, like Fisher Panda auxiliary generator, desalinator, HF SSB radio, top quality electronics and so on. 

Last day inside the building shed. Important: the swing keel is already in place

Caroll’s  swing keel is lifted by means of a hydraulic jack propelled by a pump run by a twelve volts electric motor with backup manual operation. The piston is linked to the swing-keel by means of two spectra cables dimensioned so that in the very remote case of failure of one of them, the system can be operated by a single one.

In December 2009 Luis Gouveia flew from Singapore to Brazil to spend Christmas holidays in family. On that occasion he paid a visit to Caroll. Here he is inspecting the lifting mechanism inside the swing-keel trunk

 The key factor in installing spectra ropes to lift the keel is the safety it represents in case of accidental collision, leaving it free to lift without causing any damage to the system.

With its keel already installed, Caroll is on the way to Yacht Club Rio de Janeiro

One feature that became evident in the Explorer 39 design was its easiness of transportation by road. With moderate beam and minimum overall height for a boat this size, there remained no hassles to take the boat to the club in a two hundred kilometers trip. The most asked question on this occasion was if the “keel” would be installed later when arriving in its final destination.

The navigation table is equipped with electronics having dual stations in the cockpit. The
athwart table with the pilot seat abaft is an alternative solution

Our client made a few changes in the interior layout which were interesting. One of them was changing the orientation of the navigation table. In Caroll, the navigation table is placed athwart-ships instead of longitudinally, as we specified. Both options have their merits, so each owner may choose which solution pleases him/her most. A detail in favour of our client’s option is the fact that he found a handy place to install the desalinator: just inside the locker under the fore part of the table.     

Caroll laying on the club’s travel-lift yard. Darke de Mattos, the one wearing a white shirt,
is a collaborator in the development of the project

When the boat arrived at the club, the very news that she was there stirred a general excitement in the club’s verandah. Since the boat construction was practically unheard of by most of the club’s members, as the gossip spread, people went strolling to the yard to learn what in hell was that strange sailboat without fin-keel. Our poor friend, the boat builder Marcos Toledo, hardly could keep progressing with his working schedule in preparing for the great moment of delivering Caroll to her natural element; so many times he had to interrupt his tasks to chat with a curious passer-by.

Deck and cabin trunk details. Estrutural Boatyard took the utmost care to accomplish
a painstaking work of installing the artificial teak.

The Explorer 39 was designed for shorthanded offshore cruising. For that matter she is a light and rigid composite construction. Her sail area is of moderate dimensions and the inner foresail is self-tacking. Our client, besides the electronic auto-pilot, is installing an Aries wind-vane. The windlass and the cockpit winches are electric. So, he feels he is prepared to control his boat without requiring assistance from anybody.

Acknowledgments: We from B & G Yacht Design are particularly grateful to three persons:
Darke de Mattos: for his invaluable contribution in defining the design. Darke had owned a one hundred foot Hereshoff schooner in his youth, had raced as navigator in innumerous ocean races, like Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro and Bermudas races, and now, as an old salt, he praises modernity, especially sandwich construction and shallow draught capabilities for a cruising sailboat of unlimited scope of usage.
His advice was precious during the development of the plans

Marcos Toledo: for his competence in building such a super-sailboat with a standard of finishing worth being exposed in a booth of any renowned boat show

Click here to know more about the Explorer 39