Flexplorer 165
- LOA 49.9 m, beam 9 m, draught 2.3 m
- 499 GT, steel hull with aluminium superstructure
- Naval architecture and exterior by Hydro Tec, interiors by Giorgio M. Cassetta
- Twin Caterpillar C32 engines, 15 knots maximum
- Range above 5,000 nm at 10 knots
- Carbon A-frame crane, 4.5 tonne capacity, stows flush into the deck
- 10 to 12 guests in 5 staterooms, crew of 9
- All three hulls of the series sold in 2024
Fifty metres, designed to duck the threshold
The 165 exists to answer a very specific owner question. How much genuine expedition yacht can be had without crossing into the 500GT world of heavier regulation, larger minimum crews and steeper running costs. The answer is 49.9 metres of steel hull and aluminium superstructure, measured at 499GT, drawn by Sergio Cutolo's Hydro Tec, the naval architecture studio behind almost every hull the yard has launched since 2010.
The platform is pure CdM. A full displacement hull with a bulbous bow, a 9 metre beam, a 2.3 metre draught that keeps shallow anchorages open, and structure specified with the conservatism of a yard whose founders came from commercial shipbuilding. Nothing about the boat chases a headline number. Everything about it chases the ability to leave the dock in weather that keeps other 50 metre yachts tied up.
The A-frame crane, scaled up again
The Flexplorer idea has always centred on one piece of engineering, a carbon A-frame crane that lifts serious tenders over the side and then folds away completely flush into the deck. On the 165 its capacity rises to 4.5 tonnes, enough for a genuinely useful boat, and the third hull was specified to carry three tenders including a Grady-White Freedom dual console, an American sportfisher choice that says a lot about how these owners intend to live.
With the tenders launched, the aft main deck becomes what the yard calls a fluid space of roughly 115 square metres, one of the largest open decks on any yacht under 500GT. Six metre sections of bulwark fold down flat to widen it further and double as sea-level platforms. It is a working deck in the morning, a sports marina at anchor and a dance floor after dark, and no conventional 50 metre layout offers anything like it.
All three hulls of the flagship sold during 2024, before the first had ever touched water.
Cassetta's interiors, built to flex
Interior design for the series is by Giorgio M. Cassetta, who has become one of the yard's closest collaborators. The layout sleeps ten to twelve guests in five staterooms, with an owner's suite forward on the main deck taking full advantage of the 9 metre beam. A crew of nine runs the boat, generous for the size and a direct consequence of the long-passage brief, where rotation and rest matter.
Flexibility is engineered in from the keel up. The sky lounge on the upper deck can be converted into an additional cabin, and a space on the lower deck can be configured as a private lounge or a further guest cabin. Owners heading for a season in remote latitudes can trade saloon for berths, then trade back. It is the same thinking as the convertible deck, applied to accommodation.
Machinery for the long way round
Power comes from twin Caterpillar C32 diesels, the same dependable, parts-everywhere engine family the yard fits across its larger lines. Top speed is 15 knots, and at 10 knots the 165 covers more than 5,000 nautical miles between fuel stops, enough to cross the Atlantic with a wide margin or run the Pacific coast of the Americas without planning around bunkering.
The engine room follows CdM's commercial-ship habits, full standing headroom, wide access to every service point and redundancy specified for places where the nearest technician is a week away. This is the part of the yacht owners rarely photograph and experienced captains inspect first, and it is a large part of why the yard's boats hold their reputation among professional crew.
Three hulls, sold in a single year
CdM announced the sale of the first Flexplorer 165 in 2024, and by December of the same year the second and the third had followed, bringing the total number of Flexplorers delivered, in build or on order to nine. For a new flagship at this price level, selling out the opening series inside a calendar year is a rare piece of commercial validation, and it happened entirely off renderings and the reputation of the smaller boats.
The first hulls are now in build in Ancona, with deliveries to follow in the second half of the decade. For a buyer today the practical route is a later build slot or the brokerage market once early hulls emerge. Either way, the 165 defines the ceiling of what CdM does, the most boat, the most deck and the most range the yard can put under the 500GT line.
A chi si rivolge: An owner who wants the maximum explorer yacht possible below the 500GT regulatory line, carries real tenders and toys, and plans itineraries measured in ocean crossings, not marina hops.