Can XO’s all-new aluminium flagship really make it big in the Med? Alex Smith takes the XO EXPLR 44 for a test to find out
Things weren’t originally supposed to be this way. When XO embarked on a project to build its new flagship, it began as the EXPLR 12. That expanded by a metre during the design stages to become the EXPLR 13, but rather than invite any negative numerical associations, XO ditched the metric approach, added another couple of feet and ended up launching the XO EXPLR 44 instead.
So what do you get for all that extra length, breadth and volume?
Well in terms of the concept, the XO EXPLR 44’s luxury and flexibility are designed to take it well beyond the Nordic states and northern Europe and make it a real part of the conversation in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean too. In terms of the basic design principle behind that ethos, that’s also quite simple.
As you would expect, it uses a walkaround design with a central pilothouse and open fore and aft decks. But by raising the aft deck, as well as the bow, and then keeping the central pilothouse section relatively deep-set, the idea is to generate a pair of private cabins at opposite ends of the boat, while keeping the profile (and the windage) well in check.
Responsiveness and agility are way sharper than you would expect at this kind of size
As far as the aesthetic goes, it certainly works. With its plumb bow, muscular haunches, hidden anchor and vertical ranks of sail-yacht-style windows, this is a very cool looking boat. That purposeful look is ably augmented by the granite grey colourways, tinted windows and aluminium construction too. But what we really want to do is get on board and see how this unusual arrangement impacts on the cabins themselves…
A tale of two cabins
The forward cabin adopts much the same approach as that of the award-winning DFNDR 9. It involves a double bed in the V of the bow with easy sundeck access through a right-angled swing-up hatch built into the foredeck’s island sunbed.
Movement around this boat is safe and simple
Some ply-lined storage spaces beneath the bed enable you to use it for baggage without compromising your bow thruster or batteries; and aft of the bed there are storage cabinets on the port side and a changing seat to starboard, as well as a wetroom-style heads compartment with a clever shower door dividing the space in two.
But of course it’s the aft cabin that feels particularly fresh. Accessed by means of a hinged seat on the port side of the pilothouse dinette, you step down into an atrium with open access to the lounge and sleeping area aft. There’s also a door that leads forward into a separate heads compartment, as well as a huge one-piece window that looks aft over the stern deck.
This is the place that has gained the most from the 44’s length increases so space feels very strong and the fact that the cockpit furniture is so low-slung also works well, enabling you to see aft over the outboard engines when the backrest is folded flat.
It’s virtually an open boat when you want it to be
The aft cabin itself occupies a huge footprint. On the test boat, it is split into a pair of large fore-and aft benches, one on either side, with handy storage behind the backrests. There’s decent room to sit up and use this as a lounge but such is the space on offer that you can also split it with a transverse or fore-and-aft bulkhead, creating either two single cabins or an aft crew cabin and a separate space further forward.
As things stand though, the cabin is kept bright and pleasant thanks to a set of skylights and hatches out onto the raised aft deck, plus panoramic letter-slot windows that look out past the Mercury outboards. The impact of all of this, of course, is that the various engineering units – your diesel heaters, AC units, calorifier and generator – have to be redistributed elsewhere on the boat. But while the bulk of that is located beneath the pilothouse floor, the Seakeeper retains its natural place in an aft cabinet between the two benches.
The new flagship takes much the same bow cabin design as we saw on the award-winning DFNDR 9 and ramps it up with extra length
Neatly splitting the fore and aft cabins, the pilothouse is basically divided into two sections – a starboard dinette that can be converted into an occasional double bed and a transverse pantry unit that houses the two helm seats on its leading edge.
These are framed on both sides by large sliding doors, the idea being that the crew can get in and out on the starboard side, even when the skipper’s in his seat, simply by sliding the pantry forward. In practice, the aperture at the skipper’s side does feel a shade tight but it’s just about doable – and it’s no trauma heading out through the port door instead if you need to. In spite of the low profile, the headroom is also excellent in here and while the roof makes a great spot for solar panels, bikes, kayaks and SUP boards, the fact that it also features plenty of skylights and opening hatches means that ventilation for the pantry’s single burner is plentiful.
Access to the bow cabin
That said, it might be worth opting for extra seating in here instead of the pantry because there’s a very serviceable wet bar in the aft cockpit. Built into the aft end of the pilothouse structure, it features a generous worktop, an electric barbecue and a sink with a tap. And yet, thanks to some really painstaking work by the XO engineers, this supremely low-profile unit is actually no thicker than your fist. That means it’s able to perch astride the aft atrium window without obstructing the view – and it does so with such perfect anonymity that, until you lift the lid, you have no idea it’s there at all.
Enjoy the silence
With those twin Mercury 600s on the transom, this boat is astonishingly quiet. It registers just 45 to 50dB at displacement speeds, which is not dissimilar to the hum of a fridge, and it only increases, through the mid 60s at cruising speeds, to around 73dB at the 46-knot top end. The fuel readings make interesting reading too.
The aft cabin comes with a heads compartment and a central atrium plus massive views across the cockpit’s low-level furniture
As you push from 3,000rpm to 3,500rpm, your speed doubles from 11.5 to 23 knots, while your fuel flow rate actually drops from 6.7L/Nm to 6.1. If that’s to be expected from these 600s as they ease up into the higher gear, what’s more surprising is the fact that if you add another ten knots, this boat is actually marginally more efficient at 33 knots than it is at 23. Things do go off a bit of a cliff beyond 40 knots but the refinement remains brilliant throughout…
The attitude is flat, the tracking is straight, the handling is clean, the visibility is superb, the ride is soft and the noise remains conspicuous by its absence. Access to the side decks is also excellent and, in spite of the fact that the test boat’s joystick is rather bizarrely positioned on the left-hand side of the right-hand helm station, the ergonomics are strong too.
You can swap the wheelhouse pantry for extra seating and cook at the cockpit wet bar instead
The wheel is adjustable, the sliding seat is equipped with impact mitigation and there’s a bank of traditional offshore-pilothouse-style displays on a fibreglass plateau above the tall windscreen.
In terms of power, the new EXPLR 44 delivers some exciting options too. You can apparently rig this boat with a pair of 350s but XO equates that to inflicting a 1-litre Fiesta engine on a Porsche and when you drive the test boat, you can’t help but concede they have a point.
The wet bar is so shallow, you don’t even know it’s there
You start off with respect for the power and for that long keel by keeping your fast turns controlled and circumspect. But by the end of the day, you find yourself launching into frothy 3-boat-length 180s with all the hooligan vigour you might more commonly reserve for a flat-bottomed jet boat when nobody’s looking.
Better still, when you throw it through a hard, fast turn, your shallower outside prop celebrates the occasion by flinging a 10ft rooster tail in the air, without the slightest perceptible loss of grip or pace. It doesn’t quite possess the snap and fizz of a boat like the outrageous DFNDR 8 but given its scale and weight, it gets deliciously close.
It offers something pretty much unique in the world of the all-purpose adventure boat
XO EXPLR 44 specifications
LOA: 44ft 0in (13.40m)
BEAM: 12ft 2in (3.70m)
DRAFT: 3ft 6in (1.05m)
DISPLACEMENT: 8,268kg (light)
FUEL CAPACITY: 1,800 litres
ENGINES: Twin 600s / triple 450s
RCD: B12 / C14
CONTACT: MCC Marine +44 (0)2380 456116 www.xo-boats.com
XO EXPLR 44 costs & options
From €853,390 ex VAT. Test boat includes the following options:
Twin Mercury V12 600s with joystick control
Seakeeper 4 stabiliser €95,000
Generator €39,700
Air conditioning €51,900
Side gates €7,000
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Price as reviewed:
£711,509.00 Base price ex. VAT
Verdict
It’s clear that the EXPLR 44 is a very appealing boat but what’s not quite so clear is how it will fare in relation to its competition – or if, indeed, it has any direct competition at all. For instance, although it comes in at broadly the same price as the new Targa 41, the Targa features bigger cabins and a more accommodating pilothouse, plus more versatile outdoor entertaining zones, a compact flybridge and an offshore pedigree every bit as profound as the brand’s prestige. More to the point, in spite of the fact that these two boats share similar stories in terms of layout and application, they are likely to appeal to very different kinds of boater. After all, the sleeker, more aggressive XO is a foot narrower in the beam, the best part of ten knots faster and much more dynamic to look at than its slightly statesmanlike competitor. In spite of being a couple of tonnes lighter, it also has a larger fuel tank to help offset the thirst of its exceptionally punchy but refined petrol outboards. You could argue then that the XO actually falls more directly into line with a boat like the Axopar 45 Cross Cabin, which looks a little lighter footed and more fuel efficient, thanks to its stepped hull and pretty fibreglass construction. But either way, by combining the recreational sophistication of a boat like the Axopar with the purposeful offshore posture of a boat like the Targa and then mixing all of that up with the tough aluminium construction and go-kart agility for which XOs have become so well known, the new EXPLR 44 offers something pretty much unique in the world of the all-purpose, all-weather adventure boat.
