David Marlow decided that he needed to build one more boat and that is how the 86’ Explorer’s story began. Marlow came up with the idea about 10 years ago and out of retirement he sprung. The boat was for himself so he wanted it to be just right. Little did he know then that he would deliver the 100th Marlow yacht this year. The Marlow 86E is the company’s new flagship, an explorer yacht with a top speed of 31-knots, built in composite to class for a well-known Miami boating family. Yachts International seized a chance to get onboard and found that Marlow has not given up on his quest for excellence.
It all began ten years ago when he started working on the design of what he planned to be a yacht for himself, now the Marlow 86 Explorer was making its premiere. Out of retirement his passion for the boat industry remained and dedication resumed. He tinkered with scale models that he built in his house in Maine until he was reasonably pleased with the results. Marlow mailed blueprints to friends and acquaintances, seeking their opinion and the response was positive; Marlow received seven deposit checks instead of feedback, and sold seven more boats after showing the first Taiwan-built Marlow 65E, a composite yacht with a 25-knot top speed.
David Marlow acquired a property in a remote area of China, brought from Taiwan 20 master boat builders who recruited and trained local workers, and built a 300,000-square-foot environmentally-friendly manufacturing plant that will soon become “carbon neutral.” The first Marlow 78 Explorer emerged from Marlow-Norsemen’s waterfront factory in 2002. Marlow currently is working on hull 36 in that series, and about 15 yachts are in various stages of production at any one time, while smaller hulls continue to be built in Taiwan. While increased production schedules can pressure any manufacturer into occasional lapses in quality, evidently that is not the case here. Judging at least from this particular sample of their work, workers at Marlow-Norsemen seem to subscribe to the company credo, “perfect is good enough.”
The Marlow 86E’s impeccable teak work and quality high-gloss finishes are immediately visually stimulating upon entering the main deck salon. The layout is at once inviting and comfortable, classic and elegant. An open main deck features a spacious lounge and dining area for entertaining guests and a galley opens onto the pilothouse. A few steps lead down from the pilothouse to an accommodation deck that includes a full-beam master stateroom, a forward VIP and two additional guest rooms great for a large family or friends. Beautifully-finished oversized crew accommodations, including a captain’s cabin with a queen-size bed, share a private entrance amidships. Up top, a flybridge offers ample room for water toys, and the expansive aft deck overlooks a great swim platform. A shiny blue hull and gleaming white superstructure (gel coated and painted at the owner’s request) give the yacht classic allure. The Marlow 86E is inviting to be sure, but that’s only the beginning of the story.
The proof is in the details. These might escape a casual visitor, but David Marlow makes sure the remarkable work of Marlow-Norsemen craftsmen doesn’t go overlooked. The main salon’s gold-plated light fixtures, for example, are adorned with engraved silver medallions emblazoned with the yacht’s name and likeness. Valances, decorated with a thin bead of ebony, enclose speakers by Bose. The dining area features a high-quality Sub-Zero refrigerator, which has been upgraded with a wood-encased glass door and shelves that match the surrounding cabinets. All woodwork comes from one 42’ teak tree, so the spectacular main-deck sole comprises continuous planks. A few of the cabinets are carved into elegant half moons rather than bent into shape. Drawers open effortlessly thanks to ball-bearing stainless-steel slides. The extra fine details are what set this magnificent vessel apart.
Lift any cushion, and you will find lined formica, resistant to humidity and mold, where you might ordinarily find painted plywood. Bilges are finely finished and gel coated. The open galley, with a 4mm-thick granite-over-honeycomb countertop, features two Grohe faucets—one dedicated to the drinking water that comes from a polished tank to ensure purity. And, because no one likes soggy crackers, a heated compartment helps keep snacks crisp and dry. Shoji screens in the spacious master stateroom feature rice paper made at the Marlow-Norsemen factory. Solid stainless-steel exterior handrails feature an oval shape that fits the hand perfectly. An Eskimo ice machine located inside steps leading to the aft platform continuously produces shaved ice to cool off fishermen and their catch.
Other significant details relate to the yacht’s operation and overall performance. The Marlow 86E is no mere museum piece; it is meant to go places. An experienced yachtsman who has circumnavigated the Earth so many times that he “got dizzy,” David Marlow both understands and responds to the needs of those who operate his yachts, be they owners or crew.
Standing at the flybridge station, Marlow fires the engines up and gracefully pulls away from the dock. In addition to six passengers, the yacht is carrying 500 gallons of water and about 3000 gallons of fuel. As the weather is a bit windy and unsettled, everyone retreats from the flybridge to the pilothouse to continue conversing in air-conditioned comfort. It is not hard to do, as the pilothouse is remarkably quiet. As soon as the yacht leaves a no-wake zone, Marlow picks up the pace. Within seconds of a gradual and almost imperceptible speed increase, the yacht’s GPS registers 31.1 knots. A few seconds of silence and quizzical looks invite Marlow to declare, “I think we got the bottom right.”
An additional major concern is weight. “You don’t want to fight the wave, you want to dance with it,” Marlow says. Marlow yachts are built in composite using proprietary Full Stack Vacuum Infusion. The Marlow 86E is the first hull to have been treated with Marlow’s Resin Infused Vacuum Assisted Transfer (RIVAT), a method that helps deliver just the right amount of resin (epoxy is this case) to the mold, resulting in important weight-saving benefits. Employing techniques not unlike those used in aircraft construction, the builder has eliminated the need for thick frames to support deck soles. Whatever heavy equipment has to be onboard, it has been placed so as not to affect the yacht’s ability to maintain ideal trim, without adding ballast. Exact position of the single 3,900-gallon fuel tank amidships (on the Longitudinal Center of Buoyancy) limits trim change whether the tank is full or empty. The yacht’s low center of gravity eliminates the need for stabilizer fins that have the downside of adding drag, which both lowers speed and increases fuel consumption. Extensive research also went into developing valuable thrust angles, as well as bottom contours that favor smooth water flow.
Last but not least, according to Marlow, this is the first Full Stack Infusion motoryacht to be built to full Bureau Veritas (BV) certification. The yard’s use of epoxy resins and engineered fabrics such as Kevlar has created a structure that “exceeds all predictions for laminate strength yields,” Marlow says. “Unsupported panel sections on the hull were reduced to less than one half the typical criteria for yachts of this type providing huge margins of safety far in excess of normal yacht standards. During the course of engineering, became referred to as the ‘Ice Class’ FRP construction, the yacht yacht.”
David Marlow has offered much food for thought, and the tour of the new Marlow 86E has been a real eye opener. But one image stands out with particular clarity, and that is the yacht gleaming in the dwindling light of a Key West sunset. The pilot, looking for just the right angle for a photo, guides the hull through a string of arabesques. The yacht appears to be dancing.
For more information on the Marlow 86’ Explorer visit
www.marlowexplorer.com.
