RJ 155
- LOA 46.78 m, beam 8.85 m
- 499 GT, steel hull with aluminium superstructure
- Exterior by Francesco Paszkowski Design, interiors by Salvagni Architetti
- Naval architecture by CdM with Pierluigi Ausonio
- Twin Caterpillar C32 ACERT engines, 15 knots maximum, 12 knots cruise
- About 5,000 nm range on 66,400 litres of fuel
- 10 guests in 5 staterooms, 9 crew in 5 cabins
- First unit delivered 2025, Design and Innovation Awards winner 2026
Where the RJ Class was heading all along
The RJ Class began in 2021 with the 40 metre RJ 130, the first CdM line styled by Francesco Paszkowski, and grew into a four boat family at 102, 115, 130 and 155 feet. The 155 is its full expression, a 46.78 metre, 499GT flagship delivered in 2025 as the biggest new build in the yard's history, with two RJ 115s and the original 130 already in service ahead of her.
The premise of the line is different from the Darwin's workboat honesty. Paszkowski's architecture is clean, horizontal and deliberately understated, closer to a modern villa on the water than to a converted trawler. The explorer content has not been diluted to get there. It has been concealed, which is precisely the point for owners who want the capability without broadcasting it from a fishing-boat profile.
Salvagni below decks, and a double award
Interiors are by Salvagni Architetti, the Rome studio of Achille Salvagni, working in soft curved surfaces, bespoke furniture and a palette that reads more collector's apartment than production yacht. Ten guests sleep in five staterooms, with the owner's suite forward on the main deck, and a crew of nine in five cabins keeps service ratios close to one to one.
At the 2026 BOAT International Design and Innovation Awards the first RJ 155 was recognised for both her exterior and her interior design, a rare double for any yacht and rarer still for an explorer. For a category long treated as the plain, practical corner of yachting, a CdM hull collecting design silverware against conventional superyachts marks how far the yard has moved the genre.
A rare double at the 2026 Design and Innovation Awards, exterior and interior, for an explorer yacht.
Commercial-grade bones under the tailoring
Naval architecture was developed by CdM's in-house technical office with Pierluigi Ausonio Naval Architecture, and the construction speaks the yard's usual dialect. Steel hull, aluminium superstructure, a 12 millimetre keel plate, twin independent rudders and scantlings drawn with the margins of a builder whose roots are in commercial shipping. The beam runs to 8.85 metres and the whole ship measures 499GT.
Outside, the RJ concept trades the Flexplorer's convertible working deck for roughly 200 square metres of finished exterior living across three decks, including a large sea-level beach area aft. The distinction matters when choosing between the lines. The Flexplorer is organised around launching and recovering equipment, while the RJ is organised around living beautifully on passage and at anchor.
Fifteen knots, five thousand miles
Twin Caterpillar C32 ACERT engines, EPA Tier 3 compliant, drive the 155 to 15 knots flat out and a comfortable 12 knot cruise. Slow the ship to economical speed and 66,400 litres of fuel translate into roughly 5,000 nautical miles of range, which is transatlantic with margin, or Mediterranean to Caribbean and onward without touching a fuel dock.
As on every CdM, the machinery space is sized for maintenance at sea, with full headroom and clear access around each engine. The electrical and hotel systems carry the redundancy expected of a yacht whose itineraries are assumed to include places with no shore support. It is over-engineering by marina standards and exactly correct by expedition ones.
Sold, resold and validated
The first RJ 155 was delivered to her owner in 2025, and within months the award-winning flagship changed hands in an off-market sale reported by BOAT International. Near-new CdM tonnage rarely lingers. The yard's order book and the speed of that transaction tell the same story, demand for delivered explorer yachts of this quality runs ahead of supply. The yard itself treated her launch as a company milestone and a proof of scale, and the lessons of her build feed directly into the 165s now taking shape in the same sheds.
For a buyer, the RJ 155 sits at the top of the yard's series offering, below only one-off territory. She suits an owner stepping across from a conventional 50 metre who refuses the visual cliches of the expedition genre but wants its substance, the range, the volume, the sea-keeping and the under-500GT operating economics that CdM has made its signature.
Para quién es: An owner who wants top-tier Italian design credentials and gallery-grade interiors wrapped around a genuine ocean-crossing hull, and who prefers understatement to the rugged expedition look.