40 Cabo Express

Source: Capt. Patrick Sciacca, Power & Motoryacht Magazine

High Desert to High Sea

She may be built at altitude, but this 40 Express aims to go deep.

Building a sportfisherman at 3,000 feet above sea level, where the mercury spikes 100°F for weeks in the summer and hangs below freezing in the winter, might seem strange to an outsider. But Cabo Yachts calls Adelanto, California’s high desert and birthplace of the builder’s flagship 40 Express, home. Cabo recently took its new launch to Florida, and it’s here that I meet Cabo’s delivery captain Peter Tinkham.

The 40 is easy to spot behind Hutchinson Island’s Marriott Marina Resort in Stuart, Florida. This is due to the 40’s optional J&J tuna tower, her wide 15’9″ beam, and the fact that her hydraulically lifted bridge deck is wide open, revealing a pair of optional 700-hp MAN D2876LE 401 diesels complete with optional gold-plated valve covers.

Tinkham is tinkering and tweaking the 40 as I hop aboard and am drawn to the Midas touch in the engine compartment. I easily step down into the area and have near walkaround room. All regular maintenance items are inboard for easy access. The standard 10-kW Westerbeke genset just aft of the powerplants is powerful enough, but it doesn’t have a soundshield. On an express boat, aural comfort is tough to achieve with big iron sitting below the bridge deck, so every sound-attenuation tool is welcome. Tinkham tells me subsequent boats are being fitted with genset soundshields.

Tinkham and I untie her lines and let the 40 out of the stable. Soon we’re running the channel behind the Marriott with the MANs singing in symphonic synchronicity at 2270 rpm as my radar gun displays a breakneck 43 mph and my decibel meter reads a stentorian 92 dB-A. The 40 has Secretariat-like speed, but she’s loud. The MANs’ digital readouts show a fuel burn of 134 liters per engine, which translates into 71 gph. (Prepare to convert lph to gph if you opt for the MANs, since they only display liters.) At 2000 rpm, the 40 easily cruises at 37.8 mph with a fuel-burn of 52.3 gph. This boat can move.

Tinkham offers me the wheel, which features Hynautic hydraulic power-assisted steering that seems, at first, almost too smooth. For an unfamiliar helmsman, it’s easy to oversteer, but the advantages are worth the minimal learning curve. Once I aim the 40, she tracks as if on rails. I put the single-lever Glendinning electronic controls, which oddly are located to the left of the wheel, in synch mode and push full forward on the right control. The 40 nails 2270 rpm as I put the wheel hard over to port, and she cuts an unusually tight circle (about a boat length and a half) without excessive heel. Sightlines are good from the standard Stidd helm seat, although I wish the large electronics console was lower. Considering I’m 5’7″, which means telephone books at more than a few helm seats, an overhead electronics box would allow for a height reduction of the console and even better visibility forward.

The 40’s handling and performance are each a reflection of her hull design, which features a Carolina flare with a knife-like entry. Her entry aims to minimize banging while in a head sea, which I can’t attest to on this test day, as I have flat-calm conditions in front of me. Her flare, in combination with lifting strakes, is geared to keep the 40 dry in most conditions. Sadly, I have no spray to deal with either. A 20.5-degree transom deadrise and deep prop pockets help with stability and reduce roll. In addition, the 40’s keel, which runs aft from the turn of the forefoot and reaches its deepest point several feet forward of the transom before tapering back, provides some serious bite while she’s underway.

Her basic hull shape is courtesy of well-known naval architect Michael Peters. Cabo’s own design team took Peters’ hull and developed the “deck, structure, machinery, and interior,” says Phil Arnold, Cabo’s chief engineer, in a phone interview after the test. Arnold adds that to optimize space and weight distribution, Cabo used 3-D modeling.

But a well-designed boat is only as good as her build, and as far I can tell, Cabo’s is first-rate. My test boat, like all Cabo 40s, features a vacuum-bagged, solid-fiberglass hull and hull sides cored with PVC foam from the upper chine to the sheer. Even with the coring, the Cabo 40’s no lightweight at 28,000 pounds (dry).

I maneuver the 40 to head back towards the marina as a large group of ominous storm clouds appears on the horizon. I give the wheel back to Tinkham and seize the opportunity to see if the fit and finish match her performance. I step below decks, and it seems the 40 has all her I’s dotted and T’s crossed. The first evidence of her fine detail is the joinerwork. The teak, which has a warm, blemish-free satin finish, is fit snugly and evenly. The wood is complementary to the standard beige carpet (teak and holly is a $3,675 option) in the saloon, which has 6’6″ headroom and a leather L-shape lounge (a $5,800 option). The high-gloss dinette table to starboard is a cozy place for breakfast.

But first you’ll have to rouse your crew out of the lounge, as it serves as guest quarters with an upper and lower berth. Since they’re sleeping nearest the galley to port, they should have no problem starting the morning coffee with the coffee maker atop the Corian counter (also standard). If coffee isn’t enough (why wouldn’t it be?), the standard Kenyon two-burner cooktop and Panasonic microwave/convection oven are available. I can tell Hull No. 1’s owner would rather fish than eat as I peek in the standard Norcold freezer (there’s a refrigerator, too) and see a frozen pack of squid where the ice cream should be. It doesn’t even look like he has slept on the queen-size pedestal berth in the forepeak master yet. However, no matter how intensely you fish, nature will eventually call, so the single head with VacuFlush MSD is just abaft the galley.

With the comforts of home below decks, the 40 reserves the cockpit for the fisherman. At 100 square feet it’s complete with two five-foot-long fishboxes rigged with macerators, an in-transom livewell, a bait-prep center, an insulated icebox, and another icebox with optional ($3,680) freezer plates. Apart from the numerous rocket launchers on the tower, this owner has also ordered custom swivel rod holders and underwater lights to attract bait (squid love lights). I think he may need some more freezer space soon.

Tinkham tells me that the day before our sea trial, the owner raised a blue marlin, several king mackerel, and some mahi-mahi on his inaugural outing. That’s not a bad haul for the first trip out of the box. Cabo is about 19 hulls out on the 40 Express (not a bad haul, either), and if it keeps building speedy, well-constructed, and highly finished boats like the 40 I tested, there will be many more Cabo owners and tales of successful fishing trips on the way. Even if they are built in the desert.

The 40’s handling and performance are each a reflection of her hull design, which features a Carolina flare with a knife-like entry. Her entry aims to minimize banging while in a head sea, which I can’t attest to on this test day, as I have flat-calm conditions in front of me. Her flare, in combination with lifting strakes, is geared to keep the 40 dry in most conditions. Sadly, I have no spray to deal with either. A 20.5-degree transom deadrise and deep prop pockets help with stability and reduce roll. In addition, the 40’s keel, which runs aft from the turn of the forefoot and reaches its deepest point several feet forward of the transom before tapering back, provides some serious bite while she’s underway.

Her basic hull shape is courtesy of well-known naval architect Michael Peters. Cabo’s own design team took Peters’ hull and developed the “deck, structure, machinery, and interior,” says Phil Arnold, Cabo’s chief engineer, in a phone interview after the test. Arnold adds that to optimize space and weight distribution, Cabo used 3-D modeling.

But a well-designed boat is only as good as her build, and as far I can tell, Cabo’s is first-rate. My test boat, like all Cabo 40s, features a vacuum-bagged, solid-fiberglass hull and hull sides cored with PVC foam from the upper chine to the sheer. Even with the coring, the Cabo 40’s no lightweight at 28,000 pounds (dry).

I maneuver the 40 to head back towards the marina as a large group of ominous storm clouds appears on the horizon. I give the wheel back to Tinkham and seize the opportunity to see if the fit and finish match her performance. I step below decks, and it seems the 40 has all her I’s dotted and T’s crossed. The first evidence of her fine detail is the joinerwork. The teak, which has a warm, blemish-free satin finish, is fit snugly and evenly. The wood is complementary to the standard beige carpet (teak and holly is a $3,675 option) in the saloon, which has 6’6″ headroom and a leather L-shape lounge (a $5,800 option). The high-gloss dinette table to starboard is a cozy place for breakfast.

But first you’ll have to rouse your crew out of the lounge, as it serves as guest quarters with an upper and lower berth. Since they’re sleeping nearest the galley to port, they should have no problem starting the morning coffee with the coffee maker atop the Corian counter (also standard). If coffee isn’t enough (why wouldn’t it be?), the standard Kenyon two-burner cooktop and Panasonic microwave/convection oven are available. I can tell Hull No. 1’s owner would rather fish than eat as I peek in the standard Norcold freezer (there’s a refrigerator, too) and see a frozen pack of squid where the ice cream should be. It doesn’t even look like he has slept on the queen-size pedestal berth in the forepeak master yet. However, no matter how intensely you fish, nature will eventually call, so the single head with VacuFlush MSD is just abaft the galley.

With the comforts of home below decks, the 40 reserves the cockpit for the fisherman. At 100 square feet it’s complete with two five-foot-long fishboxes rigged with macerators, an in-transom livewell, a bait-prep center, an insulated icebox, and another icebox with optional ($3,680) freezer plates. Apart from the numerous rocket launchers on the tower, this owner has also ordered custom swivel rod holders and underwater lights to attract bait (squid love lights). I think he may need some more freezer space soon.

Tinkham tells me that the day before our sea trial, the owner raised a blue marlin, several king mackerel, and some mahi-mahi on his inaugural outing. That’s not a bad haul for the first trip out of the box. Cabo is about 19 hulls out on the 40 Express (not a bad haul, either), and if it keeps building speedy, well-constructed, and highly finished boats like the 40 I tested, there will be many more Cabo owners and tales of successful fishing trips on the way. Even if they are built in the desert.

Boat Specifications: 40 Cabo Express

Length overall: 42’10” (w/bow pulpit)
Waterline length: 34’6″
Beam: 15’9″
Draft: 3’5″
Weight (dry): 28,000 lbs.
Fuel capacity: 590 gal.
Water capacity: 80 gal.
Test engines: 2/700-hp MAN D2876LE 401 diesel inboards
Transmissions/Ratio: ZF/1.49:1
Props: 25×34 4-blade Nibral
Steering: Hynautic hydraulic power-assisted
Controls: Glendinning single-lever electronic

Optional equipment on test boat: Simrad AP20 autopilot; Northstar 957 GPS/plotter; Furuno radar, FCV-1100L color LCD sounder, RD-30 depth and temp; Icom IC-502 VHF; gold-plated valve covers; J&J tower; freezer plates in icebox; 5 swivel rod holders; Bluewater fighting chair; red hull; underwater lights; Stidd companion helm seat