Cruise Craft Explorer 530

Cruise Craft has been designing and building deep-vee monohulls for many decades, so you would expect nothing but the best from this marque. And the Queensland boatbuilder hasn't disappointed with the Explorer 530. This is one of the best boats in its class with regard to ride, handling and performance and it leads the pack in terms of build quality, standard of finish, and attention to detail.

Cruise Craft has also trimmed the size of its boat range down to just nine models -- all of them cabin boats. The smallest is the Explorer 485, the largest is the Explorer 685 hard-top sport fisher.

The subject of this test report is the Explorer 530, a model we have been meaning to test for some time. This striking looking half cabin is an excellent family/fisher as it has the prowess to fish coastal and offshore waters, but sits on a single axle trailer and can be towed behind a family car.

Chief among these is the fold-out rear transom bench seat that boosts rear cockpit space when tucked away -- and the stainless-steel seat frames at the helm which allow for a big ice box or tackle box to be stowed underneath.

There’s lots of stainless-steel elsewhere too. Fixtures and fittings such as the recessed cockpit coaming rails and stern cleats, bow roller and bollard, rear boarding ladder, bow rails, all-over windscreen grab rail and dash rail – and all are made from 316 grade stainless steel.

Fitted with a Yamaha 130hp two-stroke outboard, single-axle braked trailer, safety gear, and boat and trailer registrations, the standard Explorer 530 is priced from $51,614.

This price of just over $50k buys you the above gear (except the s/s seat frames) as well as the walk-through transom door, auto bilge pump, compass, clip-in cockpit carpet, EPIRB and fire extinguisher, in-hull foam flotation (to Basic Standard) cabin seat cushions and two standard rod holders.

The test rig was optioned with a lot of extra equipment, including the very latest Yamaha F115B extra-longshaft four-stroke outboard, custom Cruise Craft trailer, Furuno GP187OF 7” fish finder/GPS combo unit, VHF radio, bimini with stainless steel rocket launcher, hydraulic steering, removable bait board, safety gear and boat and trailer registrations.

The four-stroke outboard and extra gear lifts the price of the Explorer package to $63,373. This is a tidy sum for a 5.3m boat -- but you will be hard pressed to find a better built, better finished, or better equipped cuddy cabin in this size range.

The rear bench seat, mentioned earlier, is a fine example. We love the way the seat folds away, back into the transom when it is not needed. This leaves a full-height (700mm) rear transom wall to stand up against when fishing over the stern.

There’s even a hip-height padded bolster along the top of the transom to lean against which doubles as the back-rest to the seat when it's folded out.

Other neat features include the port-side transom door with retractable boarding ladder in the rear platform, starboard-side live-bait tank/ice box, storage locker under the transom door, above floor, full length side storage pockets, underfloor storage/kill tank, and the heavy duty (optional) fibreglass bait board.

The Explorer does not have a self-draining cockpit, but there is an auto bilge pump in a sump area behind the fold-down bench seat.

The battery is on a broad, elevated shelf to starboard with a water separating fuel filter nearby. There’s also a battery master switch tucked away on a vertical panel at the stern end of the starboard side pocket.

Moving forward, the helm station is neat and functional. The fascia has a modern shape to accept flush fitted electronics and instruments, and there is provision for a compass, VHF radio and switch panel.

The wide-grip steering wheel and side-mount throttle lever are perfectly positioned, and the height of the curved glass windscreen is just right -- whether seated or standing at the helm.

The two helm seats don’t swivel but they can be rotated to four positions and moved forward and aft.

Inserts in the side panels, beside the helm chairs, cater for an EPIRB (starboard side) and fire extinguisher (port).

Above the fire extinguisher insert and beside the forward companion chair is a side-shelf for stowing your phone, car keys, wallet, etc.

A valuable inclusion for offshore boating is the stainless steel grab rail encircling the windscreen. Another rail on the dash is a great hand-hold for the forward passenger.

The Cruise Craft bimini is cleverly designed so that the infill front screen and side panels are made as one-piece. It is fitted by inserting it into a sail track and sliding it around the windscreen frame. The sail-track fitting ensures there is a near water-tight fit between windscreen and infill panel to keep out spray and rain.

A half bulkhead separates the cabin from the helm station. Ducking under the dash leads you forward to the hatch in the forepeak via two steps. The hatch cover opens up and to the port side so you can stand comfortably within the hatchway and reach forward to the decent-sized anchor well.

A re-inforced panel/plate on the aft wall of the anchor well has it pre-rigged to take an electric anchor winch.

Back in the cabin, you’ll find two vinyl upholstered side seats/berths flanking the centre companionway. Each seat is 1.17m long with a maximum width of 590mm. Storage lockers lie underneath.

The cabin seats are short, but quite comfortable due to the padded backrests. There is not a great deal of headroom, but enough for two people to sit upright.

The cabin side pockets are broad and shallow, ideal for stowing life jackets, towels, and clothing.

On the calm waters of Moreton Bay, the Explorer/Yamaha test package achieved a top speed of a just under 34 knots with two adults onboard. The test rig accelerated strongly from a stand-still and pulled consistently up through the rev range.

The 115hp engine will be ample for most recreational applications, and you would only consider a bigger power motor for the Explorer if you have a regular crew of three or four people and the accompanying extra gear and tackle.

We didn’t have much in the way of wind or waves to put the test rig properly through its paces, but we did find a few boat wakes to jump over to check the handling and general performance. We have also tested the boat in choppier conditions and can confirm it rides comfortably through choppy water and is pretty easy to handle at the helm, although the hydraulic steering on the test rig felt a little stiff.

The 20-egree deep vee hull is also surprisingly stable at rest and underway and the high bows help to keep spray off the deck and the windscreen.

All this considered, the Explorer’s hull has that ideal compromise between ride comfort and stability which is a key feature of Cruise Craft hulls going back decades.