40 Cabo

Source: Lenny Rudow, Mad Mariner Magazine

Offering the Brawn and Brains to Out-Fish the Competition

Are you psyched to point the bow at open water and cruise for the canyons even when weather conditions are less than ideal? Then you’ll want a brute of a boat that can take on serious seas without flinching. Case and point: Cabo’s 40 Flybridge. Usually you’d want a boat of 50 feet or better to run offshore when the wind is honking, but this Cabo has the brawn and the brains to out-fish the competition even when the wind forces most 40-footers to sit at the dock

GET TOUGH

When I tested the 40 its seakeeping abilities were by far the most impressive aspect of the boat, and a good part of the reason lies under the Cabo’s skin: it’s constructed like a brick you-know-what. The bottom is solid glass, and the hullsides are foam cored from the waterline up. Cabo takes this common construction method a step farther, however, by vacuum-bagging cored areas of the hull, ensuring the optimum resin-to-glass ratio for maximum strength with minimum weight. That same ideal ratio is also in the hatches, which are built using the resin-transfer molded (RTM) method. Not only does this ensure that they are light and strong, it also creates a part that’s fully finished inside and out.

Standard Equipment: Aluminum fighting chair cockpit reinforcement, bait prep center with sink, tackle stowage, and rigging board, cockpit coaming bolsters, cockpit courtesy lighting, two integrated and insulated fishboxes, under gunwale rodracks, four gunwale-mounted rodholders, fresh and raw water washdowns with quick disconnects, five bridgedeck rocket launchers, recessed trim tabs, 24-v windlass with remote switch, anchor pulpit with roller, anchor with 20’ chain and 250’ line, compass, crash pump, oil exchange system, 11 gallon water heater, power steering; 10-kW generator 50 foot shorepower cord with retractor, 220-v, 50-amp battery charger, flat screen TV, air conditioning with dual zone heat, two-burner ceramic cook top, microwave/convection oven, refrigerator/freezer, stateroom flat screen TV, electric vacuum-flush head, berth reading lights, USCG required safety gear, first aid kit.

Decks and the stringers are also cored with foam but high-stress areas get some extra beef. In the engineroom, solid fir replaces the foam. Then the wood gets topped off by stainless-steel plates, which are laminated into the structure under the motor mounts. Once those diesel horses get bolted into place, they aren’t moving – period.

Other parts of this boat won’t budge, either. In some boats you can hear creaks and groans as the cabin grinds against the deck, or the salon bulkheads move against the overhead, but that’s never going to happen in this one because major parts like the engineroom module, salon module, and the hull and deck, are all fiberglassed together.

The hull to deck joint, another high-stress area, is through-bolted on four-inch centers, sealed with 3M’s nearly indestructible 5200 Adhesive/sealant, and then fiberglassed shut from bow to stern. These construction touches go well beyond the way most boats are built, but Cabo takes their overbuild-it attitude even farther by molding in reliefs at all junctures between the bulkheads and the structures they fit up against. That means they’re fitted in place and secured, throughout the boat.

Wiring is another impressive construction feature, not just on the 40 Flybridge but on all Cabo boats. They’ve always taken pride in their wiring, and with good reason: the tinned-copper bundles are all color-coded, supported every few inches, and are loomed in ramrod-straight lines. Cabo’s patented “electrarium” electrical panel is labeled and lighted, and divided into AC and DC units, so you won’t need an electrician to help you decode the bird’s nest when something needs fixing.

But we need to get back to the engineroom for a moment: after checking out those engine-bearing stringer structures, I took note of several other touches that rough water boaters will like. For one thing, the Cabo comes standard with a 6,500-gph crash pump. In the unlikely event of flooding, kick this sucker on and there will be hundreds of diesel horses pumping water out of the boat. Secondly, all of the engineroom surfaces are finished in Awlgrip, which cleans up from oil and fuel staining much more easily than gel coat. Even the lazarette is finished in Awlgrip. And the engineroom deck is also covered with non-skid, which will be much appreciated when you need to duck down belowdecks in those big seas. Except for one thing – you won’t be ducking, in the first place. I’m 5 feet, 10 inches and I could almost stand upright, which is outrageous for a boat of this size. How is it possible? To answer this question, you have to consider another reason why the Cabo 40 rides so well: its design.

GET TANKED

Unlike most boats, which go directly from the design phase into the construction phase, Cabo built a scale model of the hull and tank-tested it multiple times before the first prototype 40 was built. This is an expensive endeavor, one that few builders ever even consider, but through the tank testing Cabo discovered that they could design in extremely efficient prop pockets. We usually think of pockets as being important to reduce draft, and they are. The Cabo 40 needs just 3 feet, 5 inches to float, which is a good six inches less than some other boats in this class. But another advantage of pockets is reducing the shaft angle, which improves efficiency and allows the diesels to be mounted lower in the boat. Mounting the engines lower means you significantly lower the boat’s center of gravity – which gives you the ability to raise the salon a few inches, without making the boat top-heavy. Viola: more headroom in the engine room.

Tank testing had other benefits, as well. It led to chine angle and strake placement changes, which ultimately provided more speed and better efficiency. It also allowed Cabo’s designers to get a feel for how the hull would perform in rough seas without first building a prototype, and sea testing it. Net result? By the time Cabo got to the prototyping stages with the 40 Flybridge, few changes or tweaks were left to be made.

Speed and efficiency also shine, thanks to the changes made during the tank testing phase. At 2100 RPM the Cabo cruises along at 36.6 MPH, while getting 0.7 MPG. That might not sound like a lot, but most boats in this class will get a tenth less. And if you’re feeling stingy with the fuel bills just pull the throttles back a hair to 1800 RPM, and cruise along at 30.2 MPH. That’ll bring up your mileage to 0.8, and you’ll still be headed for the canyons faster than the bulk of the fleet.

Designing a smart hull is, of course, a completely different matter then designing a boat for fishing. Luckily Cabo takes the hook-and-line crew seriously, and fitted out the boat with gear like a whopping-big 48 gallon livewell that’s lighted and has 16 separate water inlets to eliminate dead spots, as well as a two-inch dump valve that ensures quick draining. Fresh and raw water washdowns come equipped with quick disconnects so swapping out a single hose takes a mere second or two, and each of the integrated and insulated fish boxes are large enough to ice down a pair of 100 pound tuna. You don’t like buying ice? No problem – an optional freezer plate can be installed in the fishbox at the factory. Fishing accouterments are rounded out with a bait prep center with a chill box, sink, and rigging board, plus a three-drawer tackle locker.

You want to use all of these goodies, even when the weatherman has bad news? Don’t worry. The Cabo 40 Flybridge will get you out there – and back – in seas that’ll leave your dock buddies sitting back at the dock.