Review: Moonen Yachts 100' Explorer

Family dining for 6 with expansion leaf for 8, but overgenerous storage is intended to accommodate buffet service for guests aplenty. More deep cabinets, drawers, and a service area are to starboard. All fixed furniture and cabinets have high ledges that perform as fiddles. No need for grabrails inconveniently placed or as eye clutter on the almost 7 foot high ceilings when a naturally positioned handhold is at waist level – pretty handy so to speak. Furthermore, the fiddles secure items and prevent the slip-slide to the floor scenarios.

Up a few steps from the one-level salon and dining room is the galley. A windowed prep/service/storage area is to starboard. Also to starboard is a well outfitted day head which is convenient for guests, galley duty, or close-by relief from the pilothouse. To port, separable by a pocket door in order to contain noise or pre-cleanup victuals, is a contained area that has food prep while underway. Stainless steel counter ledges serve as fiddles with an easy to clean and easy to grab handrail on all periphery. Two picture windows are at the galley sink with one of them being the only opening port on the entire yacht as per keeping the sea water on the outside. The galley appliances are all Miele and include an induction stove with pot holders, dishwasher, double refrigerator, double freezer, microwave, and an oven that does everything including grilling. Additional refrigerator/freezer is in the storage hold below crew galley. While the minimalist concept of this expedition yacht works so well for the no fluff and puff frippery, the galley could easily be reconfigured to incorporate the starboard side prep area into a larger cooking center.

Entry into the pilothouse is through a door that gives the option of separating the light and noise of the main deck from the pilothouse. With over 7 feet of headroom, visibility is excellent from standing position or from the settee on the raised dais portside. Starboardside aft is a communications desk and nav station which also has a bookshelf holding the extensive Moonen manuals which are of course all on a user friendly computer program at the helm. The 5 forward windows are heated and offer good field of vision from the centerline helm chair. Numerous chart drawers and sufficient electronics assist in getting to intended destinations. Unoccupied or non-utilized space at the helm gives the option of including additional electronics. Wiring and cables are accessible behind the helm with good lighting and controlled airflow. Under the floorboard at the helm is an additional navigation breaker box and emergency equipment. To starboard and forward are the stairs to the crew quarters and “basement.”

Access to the staterooms is from the circular stairway between the dining room and galley. The philosophy behind the 3 stateroom layout is that the yacht would be enjoyed by family members or close friends who would be staying aboard for lengthy excursions. Coursing the seven seas is not for the infrequent boater, nor for throngs; therefore, the staterooms were maximized for size and comfort offering luxury suites, a case of quality vs quantity. The foyer on the lower deck level has a linen locker, storage rooms, and the two guest staterooms forward of the landing and the master aft. All 3 staterooms are ideally located amidships. The full beam master stateroom is accessed by a solid inlaid wooden door or by the electrically controlled watertight door with a manual backup. The master stateroom best exemplifies everything that this yacht portrays: simplicity, elegance, luxury, safety, quiet, solidity, and windows to implement experiencing the outside from the inside. Of course there are the standard amenities like the king-size bed, night stands, desk area with bookshelves, and excellent drawer and cabinet stowage, but the hidden goodies include beneath mattress storage area and a massive beneath the bed stowage. There is a floor hatch that opens to an immense storage area. Although artwork had not yet been affixed to walls anywhere on the yacht, the decorative leather patchwork headboard serves not only as a harmonious backdrop, but also contains the easy pop-out panel for access to the emergency escape. Speaking of safety, note the fiddles built into the cabinetry here too negate the need for grabrails. A walk-in closet consisting of cedar lined hanging lockers, cabinets, and 15 drawers is aft to starboard, and to port aft is the ensuite head. I spent three nights ensconced in this domiciled sanctuary and can personally vouch for its comfort, convenience, and quietness, but there was more – there was a sense of separateness and of envelopment – a totally quiet and secluded inner sanctum not quite like other yachts on which I’ve spent nights.

The marble countertop and wall looks nice, but the heated floor feels marbleous. No shortage of accessible storage for toiletries and beautification products.

As throughout the entire vessel, no frou-frou stuff here, just a large accommodating shower with a choice of shower wand or rain shower. The standard Dutch towel warmer, head, and bidet finish off the necessities.

The portside guest stateroom could be mistaken for the master harboring the accoutrements of fine finish, good stowage, and emergency escape door concealed in the headboard wall. An escape drill proved that access from the bed, after popping off the leather cover, through the now open watertight hatch to the stairway landing for egress should take under a minute or two depending on bodily deftnes.

Each guest stateroom has its own ensuite head mirroring the ambience and amenities of the master including heated marble sole, large shower with choice of shower wand or rain shower, heated towel rack, and plenty of cabinets.

The starboardside guest stateroom has similar appurtenances as the port stateroom with the difference being the sleeping accommodations incorporate two twin beds and a Pullman bunk.

The owner and guest accommodations are finished off by the “exercise room” in the transom. This suite extension has capacity for treadmill, stationary bike, and muscle building paraphernalia although the macho machines haven’t been installed yet. Should a new owner want to maximize guest accommodations, this could become an ideal area for installing crew quarters and substituting either or both of the crew cabins forward as a 4th and 5th stateroom. Doors in this rec room access a self-enclosed head and shower, mechanical room, and engine room.

The climatic appurtenance to the exercise room is the full size sauna. Aaah, the ultimate escape compartment.

The crew quarters are accessed from stairs going forward from the pilothouse or the foredeck hatch. The accommodations consist of a generous sized forepeak cabin with twin beds, a head as well accessorized as the guest heads, a crew galley with desk, dining table and leather settee, and a captain’s cabin. Beneath this whole area is a large stand-up basement which enspheres a laundry center with Miele washer and dryer, extra freezer, immense food stowage capacity, and massive but orderly mechanical equipment and tankage. The captain’s cabin is replete with double bed, hanging lockers, drawers, cabinets, ensuite head, and emergency exit.

The engine room has all of the composite necessities and embellishments for mechanical operation in traversing the seas. The basic power pack includes twin Caterpillar C18 Acert 600hp continuous duty engines and Onan generators of 35kW and 50kW capacity. The list of substantial high-end marine equipment is extensive, but it’s the exceptional components that we’ll point out here. Macrocosmically, an important element is to keep the owner/captain comfortable and, ok, appropriately cool temperature is good for the machinery too with a maximum ambient temperature of 75 degrees. The air intakes are located on the upper deck aft of the Jacuzzi out of earshot of occupants. This not only avoids ventilation noise on decks, but limits salt air penetration into the engine room. The engine room cooling system utilizes heat exchangers; two large fans cool the air down as it circulates.

In keeping with the noise minimization, the sound engineers did their vibration and resonance reductions with principles like floating floors and ceilings, flexible equipment mounts, and use of excellent sound insulation and dampening materials. Specific insulation is used for metal piping such as for the stabilizers. The engines, generators, and air conditioning all have their outlets below the waterline and aside from a few deck drains, all egresses are underwater thus eliminating the usual gurgle, spurt, and splash noises. There are two sea chests with stainless steel strainers connected to a CuNiFer crossover. The manifolds are to the engines, generators, and air conditioning. There is third and independent sea chest for saltwater intake for the comprehensive fifi (fire-fighting) system. A Novec (3M’s global-friendly Halon replacement) remote control fire extinguisher is in the engine room. The fire fighting system includes one electric bilge/fifi pump in the engine room and one diesel driven emergency bilge/fifi pump, which can also be manually started and speed adjusted, in the adjacent equipment room. Hose connections and suction points are strategically located throughout the yacht and are connected to the bilge manifold system.

There is a RWO bilge water separator that connects to a 140 gallon sludge tank. The RWO uses an open porous coalescer with automatic backflushing combined with a second stage emulsion breaking oil and hydrocarbon polisher, plus built-in monitoring and alarms systems. Dirty bilge water can be refined to small enough particles to get sent overboard or it can keep getting recycled until it meets the overboard specifications. There is also a separate 130 gallon dirty lube oil tank. For the 1200 gallon holding capacity of black and gray water, there is one integral to the hull steel tank and two polyethylene tanks with electrical overboard pumping capability or with the option of utilizing the Hamann Super Mini Plus sewage treatment system which redigests the waste to macerated and treated levels acceptable to be reposited with marina water.

The Hydromar central hydraulic system is housed in the equipment room although there are two hydraulic pumps at the main engine as well as a 400v electric pump and a 24v backup. There are additional smaller pumps and hand pumps. The system is connected to the 92 gallon oil tank for the Naiad stabilizer system. In addition to the stabilizers, the Hydromar system supports the bow and stern thrusters, deck winches, passerelle, swim ladder, and the Hydromar crane with a lift capacity from 1750lbs to 2 tons and a length telescoping from 3 feet to 17. The vessel steering has a segregated hydraulic operation.

The engine room offers excellent stand up maneuverability and the air conditioning plus the ventilation system provide for a comfortable working platform. Everything needed to operate the ship’s residential and mechanical needs can be found in either the forward garage beneath crew quarters, in the equipment room adjacent to the engine room or in this full beam engine room. The separation of systems into the 3 areas works well.

After having spent 3 nights aboard, with 525 photographs taken, 2 full days of poking and probing with the very capable Captain Michael and Engineer Annett, plus a separate 3 hour in-person interview with the owners , I can vouch for this beautifully executed, robustly constructed ocean voyageur. Congratulations to Moonen on a job well done. Mission Accomplished!

Review by Judy Waldman​

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Specifications:

Builder: Moonen
Designer: Vripack
Classification: Lloyd's RS

Length: 30.75 m / 100’ 10”
Beam: 7.50 m / 24’ 7”
Draft: 2.22 m / 07’ 3”
Displacement: 224 metric tons
Fuel: 36,700 litres
Fresh Water: 8,200 litres
Construction: Steel & Aluminum

Main Engines: Twin Cat Acert 600hp
Transmission: ZF-2150
Stabilizers: Naiad Zero-Speed
Thrusters: Hydromar Bow + Retractable Stern
Gensets: 35Kw & 50 Kw
Max Speed: 13 knots
Cruise: 12 knots
Range: 5,000 nm @10 knots

Autopilot: Simrad AP-70
Radar: Furuno X-band w/ Hatteland Display
GPS: Furuno GP-37
Instrument: Raymarine ST60+

Guest: 7
Crew: 4

For more information contact:

Moonen Shipyards
Graaf van Solmsweg 52
5222 BP ’s Hertogenbosch
the Netherlands
www.**********

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DETAILS​

To cross any and all oceans, minimum of 5,000nm range with a cruise speed of 10 knots, necessitated creating a yacht with high levels of fuel efficacy and an efficient hull form and not at the expense of onboard comforts and amenities nor sea keeping capabilities in high seas. Van Oossanen Naval Architects fine-tuned the hull and bulbous bow with a resulting 17% efficiency improvement over previous similar designs in addition to greater stability in significant following seas. The stainless steel overlay should prevent putting a chink in the armor.

Cathodic protection? Gottcha covered. Aside from the 27 anodes in the engine room and the #1 & 2 pencil zincs, there are 4 zincs on the rudders, plus thruster and seawater strainer zincs, and 20 affixed to the hull. There is a total of 280 pounds of zinc! Some boats call that ballast.

The sound diminution running gear consists of Rubber Design grease lubricated shafts in an oil filled housing with a Trydo double hydraulic ram system. Naca shaped steel rudders, and separate power pack 5 blade 1100mm NiBrAl props help with the fine tuned tracking capabilities.

The tight turning radius of the Explorer is shown by the track she left behind...

... or by the squiggles on the chartplotter.

Down the hatch! I did. And beyond this heavy-duty waterproof mechanical beauty, I discovered two chain lockers. Two Muir hydraulic winches haul the balanced 500lb Pool N high holding power anchors into the stainless steel anchor pockets.