Flexplorer 130
| LOA 39.37 m, beam 8.6 m, displacement 392 t | |
| 380 GT, steel hull with aluminium superstructure | |
| Exterior and naval architecture by Hydro Tec, interiors by Francesco Paszkowski Design | |
| Twin Caterpillar C32 engines, around 14 knots maximum | |
| Range beyond 5,000 nm at 10 knots on 60,000 litres | |
| Folding carbon A-frame crane and fold-down bulwark terraces | |
| 8 to 9 guests in 4 cabins, 6 crew | |
| Hull one Aurelia delivered October 2020 |
The idea, at its original size
Sergio Cutolo's concept for the Flexplorer was disarmingly simple. Stop hiding the tenders in a garage, carry them on a big open deck with a crane strong enough to handle real boats, then make the crane disappear when the work is done. The 130 was the first hull drawn to that logic, 39.37 metres, 8.6 metres of beam and a displacement of 392 tonnes.
The name was the thesis. Flexibility as the core product, with the aft main deck serving as tender bay on passage and as an open-air living space measured in the tens of square metres once the boats are launched. Fold-down bulwark sections extend the deck over the water, and the capstans and fittings retract flush so bare feet meet nothing sharp. The thinking borrowed from the commercial ships the yard's founders knew well, where deck cargo is routine and cranes are tools, and translated it into yacht finish.
Aurelia, built through a lockdown
Hull one was built for an experienced European owner and completed in the strangest year in modern shipbuilding, with the Ancona workforce finishing her through Italy's 2020 pandemic restrictions. She launched in September 2020 and was delivered that October, on schedule, a point the yard still cites when buyers ask how it behaves when circumstances turn hostile. It was an early demonstration of the production discipline that has since delivered seven yachts from the Ancona sheds in a single year.
Her interior is by Francesco Paszkowski Design, arranged around a full owner's apartment forward on the main deck with two VIP suites and a twin below, sleeping eight to nine guests with six crew. The style set the Flexplorer register, warm, low-key and durable, a home for long passages more than a showpiece for marina evenings.
The crane folds flush, the bulwarks fold flat, and a 39 metre yacht turns into an open-air plaza.
Machinery and range
Twin Caterpillar C32 diesels give a top speed around 14 knots and an easy ten knot cruise, where 60,000 litres of fuel stretch the range well past 5,000 nautical miles. The steel hull carries a bulbous bow, and the whole ship measures 380 GT, comfortably inside the yard's under-500 discipline and cheap to operate for her length.
As on every CdM the engine room is a place to work, full height, wide access, commercial-grade systems chosen for parts availability in distant ports. The specification list reads like a delivery captain wrote it, which is close to the truth, since the yard's founders came out of commercial shipbuilding and its technical office signs off every layout.
What the first hull proved
Aurelia demonstrated that the transforming deck worked in open water as well as it had in renderings, and the market answered. The 146 arrived next, with Maverick delivered in 2024, then the 49.9 metre 165, which sold all three of its opening hulls in a single year. By the end of 2024 the family counted nine yachts delivered, in build or on order. Aurelia herself went on to cruise widely, doing the quiet advertising that delivered explorers do best.
The 130 itself has stepped back in the current catalogue, which concentrates on the 146 and the 165, and that gives the original a particular position. It is the rare CdM available only through the brokerage market, and Aurelia's own off-market sale showed how quickly a delivered Flexplorer finds its next owner when one surfaces.
The buy today
For an owner who wants the Flexplorer concept at its handiest size, the practical routes are a brokerage chase for the existing hull or a conversation with Ancona about the 146, which carries the same architecture with more volume. The 130 remains the reference point the rest of the line is measured against, and its dimensions still make sense.
Under 40 metres, under 400 GT, a crew of six and a deck that swallows a 9 metre tender, a sailing dinghy and a workshop's worth of toys. Nothing else on the used market does that job with CdM build quality behind it, which is why the model earns its place in this library despite its short production run.
Motores y sistemas
| Engines | 2x Caterpillar C32 diesel, 746kW or 1,800hp each, about 1,492kW or 3,600hp combined. Consistently reported across Boat International, Barche Magazine, IYC and broker listings. |
|---|---|
| Generators | 2x 80kW Kohler gensets, reported by a single broker listing and not independently corroborated for this specific hull. |
| Bow thruster | Electric, 70kW, from the same single-source broker listing as the generators. Treat as provisional. |
| Stabilisers | Electric-driven, zero-speed fins, 2 pairs or 4 fins total per Barche Magazine. Naval architect Sergio Cutolo said the smaller fins offer less resistance and, working with independent rudders and sophisticated software, help keep the boat on course. |
| Fuel tankage | 60,000 litres, consistent across every source checked. |
| Fresh water tankage | 8,500 litres, consistent across Barche Magazine and other sources. |
| Grey and waste water tankage | 2,000 litres, from Barche Magazine only. |
| Range at 10 knots | Conflicting. Design and brochure spec is 5,000 nautical miles. Sea trial results range from over 7,500 nautical miles, Barche, to 8,000 nautical miles, Boat International. A broker and marketing figure gives 10,000 nautical miles at 9.5 knots. No single authoritative number; the sea trial figures are the most credible since they are attributed to the naval architect and sales director's own trial account. |
| Top speed | Conflicting. 14 knots per Boat International and others, 15 knots per Barche's spec table, over 16 knots per Barche's actual trial result, tested at half load. |
| Hull and construction | Steel displacement hull with bulbous bow, aluminium superstructure, teak decks. Naval architecture and exterior design by Sergio Cutolo of Hydro Tec. Classed RINA, MCA compliant. |
| Displacement and tonnage | Displacement about 392 to 400 tonnes. Gross tonnage conflicts: 453 GT per Barche versus 380 GT per other sources, unresolved. |
| Tender-handling system | A 3.5 tonne capacity carbon-fibre A-frame crane, engineering by Advanced Mechanical Solutions, concealable beneath the teak deck, launching an 8.5 to 10 metre tender plus a smaller jet tender. The aft deck and garage area is stated by Boat International to be able to accommodate a small submersible. |
Lo que cuentan armadores y tripulaciones
Sea trial exceeded range brief substantially
Vasco Buonpensiere, the yard's co-founder and sales director, told Boat International: in every aspect, sea-keeping, noise, range, it's the best boat I've sea-trialled. The trial reportedly reached 8,000 nautical miles range at 10 knots against a 5,000 nautical mile design brief, exceeding contract speed by at least 1 knot.
Boat International (Vasco Buonpensiere)Naval architect on hull efficiency and acceleration
Sergio Cutolo of Hydro Tec, the naval architect, said with this boat, we are really close to the bottom of where any improvement is still possible and noted 0 to top speed acceleration of 20 seconds, calling it not bad for a 400 tonne boat.
Boat International (Sergio Cutolo, Hydro Tec)Independent sea trial gives a slightly different, still very long, range
Barche Magazine's own trial report states the boat exceeded its 5,000 nautical mile design range, reaching over 7,500 nautical miles at 10 knots and over 16 knots top speed, tested at half load.
Barche MagazineOwner's design brief and yard relationship
The owner, quoted by Boat International without being named, said the tender's dimension mattered most, wanting at least a 7.5 metre jet tender and praised the yard's responsiveness. You can pick up your phone and call anyone. Their flexibility is beyond any expectation.
Boat International (owner, unnamed by the publication)Owner compares the build experience to a previous CdM yacht
In a separate published statement the owner said building a yacht at Cantiere delle Marche is like living a perfectly planned adventure with your best friends, adding that after delivery of his previous CdM yacht, Galego, he and his partner missed those days in Ancona with their friends at the yard.
SuperYacht Times (owner, unnamed by the publication)Interior designer's brief and philosophy
Francesco Paszkowski said the brief for Aurelia was to create a peculiar interior reflecting the owner's personality and described the result as more reminiscent of a sophisticated New York loft than a yacht.
Boat International and Barche Magazine (Francesco Paszkowski)Broker walkthrough on the 2025 resale
Aurelia was sold off-market in 2025 through broker Richard Gray of IYC, who described her as a striking blend of rugged explorer performance and bold, contemporary design, representing a rare combination of capability, design and craftsmanship.
IYC (Richard Gray)No independent named-captain long-passage account found
Despite CdM's explorer-yacht reputation for long-range passages, no named captain's first-person account of an actual ocean crossing aboard Aurelia specifically was found. All endurance figures trace back to shipyard sea trials and marketing copy, not a logged real-world voyage.
not found, flagged as a genuine gap
Lo bueno y lo que conviene vigilar
Puntos fuertes
- Range and efficiency beat the design target by a wide marginTwo independent named trade-press sea trial reports, not just marketing, both show the boat outperforming its own 5,000 nautical mile design brief at 10 knots. Boat International recorded 8,000 nautical miles, Barche Magazine recorded over 7,500.
- The A-frame crane and tender system is a genuine engineering innovationA 3.5 tonne capacity carbon-fibre A-frame crane, designed with Advanced Mechanical Solutions and concealable beneath the teak deck, lets the boat launch an 8.5 to 10 metre tender without the usual garage or davit compromise and drew dedicated coverage from Boat International, Barche Magazine and Robb Report.
- Genuinely function-first explorer credentials, not just stylingReal long-range provisioning is built in: one month self-sufficiency, sub-lower-deck tunnel storage, a refrigerated garbage room and a full laundry room the owner traded a guest cabin for. These are working-boat features validated by an on-the-record walkthrough, not brochure language.
A tener en cuenta
- Interior aesthetic is polarizing, by the builder's own admissionThe industrial, exposed concrete and steel interior split viewers. Buonpensiere himself told Boat International the reception ran seven to three in favour, meaning roughly 30 percent of people who see it do not like it.
- Reduced guest capacity versus the standard modelThe catalogue Flexplorer 130 is specced for 5 staterooms and 12 guests, but Aurelia as actually delivered has only 3 guest cabins, 2 VIP and 1 double, plus the master, 4 cabins total and 8 to 9 guests, because the owner and chief stewardess chose a large laundry room over a fourth guest cabin. A buyer comparing spec sheets to this actual hull needs to know the real layout diverges from the standard brochure.
- Published range and speed figures conflict across sources, including the builder's own marketingAt 10 knots, range is variously reported as 5,000 nautical miles, base brochure spec, over 7,500 nautical miles, Barche's sea trial, 8,000 nautical miles, Boat International's sea trial and 10,000 nautical miles at 9.5 knots, a 2025 brokerage listing, likely a rounded marketing figure. Top speed is similarly inconsistent: 14 knots per Boat International and others, 15 knots per Barche's spec table, over 16 knots per Barche's trial result at half load.
- Highly bespoke build inflates cost and complicates like-for-like comparisonCustom elements, including the crane engineering, a two-deck rotating wine cellar with fingerprint access and raised doorways built for a 2 metre tall owner, mean the published 26.3 million euro standard-version asking price found on broker aggregator sites is unlikely to reflect what Aurelia herself actually cost to build.
Información práctica
| New-build list price (standard version) | 26,300,000 euros as a base or standard-version asking price quoted on broker aggregator sites, not a figure Cantiere delle Marche itself publishes and excludes extras, taxes and owner's supply. A heavily customized hull like Aurelia would run materially higher. |
|---|---|
| Aurelia's own resale (2025) | Sold off-market in 2025 through broker Richard Gray of IYC; sale price undisclosed. |
| Model availability today | The Flexplorer 130 as a distinct tier appears discontinued or succeeded. Cantiere delle Marche's current Flexplorer range runs 132, 146 and 165 metre and larger sizes. A buyer wanting a new one today would in practice be commissioning a next-generation Flexplorer near this size, not literally reordering the 130. |
| How a buyer commissions one | Fully bespoke, relationship-driven process at the Ancona yard, described by the owner as direct, informal access to the build team, with months of on-site collaboration on design details rather than an off-the-shelf order. |
| Crew complement | 6 crew. |
| What a buyer should verify before purchase | Confirm the as-delivered cabin and guest configuration against any brochure spec sheet, since this hull deviates significantly. Get yard-confirmed range and speed figures for the specific hull rather than relying on a single marketing or broker figure, since three different range numbers and two different top speed numbers are in circulation. Independently verify generator and thruster specs, which were found only in a single brokerage listing and not corroborated elsewhere. |
| Charter market | Aurelia is explicitly listed as not available for charter, so there is no charter-rate or charter-review data for this specific hull. No broader Flexplorer 130 charter market exists, since only one hull of this exact model was built. |
Para quién es: An owner who wants the original Flexplorer at its most manageable size and is prepared to hunt the brokerage market, or to brief Ancona on a 146 when no 130 is for sale.