Delphia 40

With quality fittings and all-round workmanship, the sexy Delphia 40 is built to withstand some tough conditions, writes Geoff Middleton

Let's face it - Poland does not really spring to mind when you think of the great yacht-producing nations of the world. I reckon many yachties could rattle off at least half a dozen nations that are renowned for their yacht building before even coming near Poland.

And that's kinda how I was thinking when the name Delphia first came to my attention. A yacht built in Poland? But then I thought, why not?

I've met many excellent yachtsmen from Poland. It's a happy hunting ground for top-notch European teams to poach good, professional crew.

Poland has stunning lakes and beautiful Baltic coastline, so why wouldn't they build boats of all descriptions? The answer is that they do. And from what we've seen so far, they're pretty damn good, too.

I first saw the Delphia 40 at the Melbourne Boat Show in February and, although it was just a quick walkthrough and a chat with the importer, it seemed strong, roomy, well appointed, with good hardware.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Delphia Yachts was started in 1990 by Piotr Kot, who was joined two years later by his brother Wojciech. The company, then known as Sportlake, produced small fibreglass boats. By 2003, the company had grown considerably and it changed its name to Delphia Yachts with a concerted push into overseas markets including Britain and the US.

The company now employs around 220 people and has four assembly plants. The company manufactures yachts from six to 12m and a range of powerboats from 4.6 to 8.9m, including its own Cortina brand and the Quicksilver range, which the company manufactures for Marine Power in Europe.

The Delphia range consists of six boats from 24ft to the boat you see here, which, at 40ft, is the flagship.

The company also produces the Sportiva range of trailerable yachts from six metres to 7.6m.

The designer of the Delphias and the Sportiva boats is Andrzej Skrzat. He has designed a considerable number of boats, both power and sail.

ON DECK
The Delphia 40 is a pretty boat to look at. Its lines are tidy and it has a no-fuss deck and cabin top. On deck, the first thing I noticed, apart from the abundance of area and cockpit volume, was the quality of the deck hardware. A pair of Lewmar 48 self-tailing primary winches adorns the cockpit coamings, while Lewmar 30 self-tailers are found on the cabin top. Ten Lewmar jam clutches take care of the halyards, reefs and the main sheet, which comes back to the starboard side cabin-top winch.

The genoa sheets come back to the primaries, which are within easy reach of the helmsman. Speaking of the helm position, I immediately noticed that there were a couple of different places where the manufacturer had put blocks where the helmsman could put his feet to suit the angle of heel. I don't know how many times I've seen new boats whose owners had had to fit blocks of wood or rubbing strips for the helmsman to get comfortable. It's detail like this that tells me the guys who designed this boat know a bit about sailing and a bit about sailing long distances.

Behind the helmsman is a split pushpit with removable lifelines between and a seat that folds down to allow access to the big swim platform. There's a hot and cold deck shower on the transom and the shorepower plug resides there as well.

A big lazarette locker opens to access the steering gear - a sturdy rack-and-pinion setup that proved very responsive and light later in the day.

The lazarette is complimented by a couple of cockpit lockers under the seats that could store a rubber duck at a pinch. It was interesting to note that insides of the lockers are all nicely finished off in a flow coat to add to the neat finish.

In the cockpit you could seat six around or near the table, which has drop-down sides and even sports a drink cooler within - a nice touch for those hot days when short handed.

The decks going forward are wide and access is easy. The shrouds come inboard to further ease the transit for'ard and meet with substantial chainplates which, if anything, look over-engineered. The heavy-duty toe rail and big cleats indicate the cruising intentions of the boat - no hiking out over the rail here!

Again, the boat sports quality deck fittings for the sheeting tracks, cars, and the mainsheet traveller.

The rig itself is a tall two-spreader mast with a height above the waterline of 17m. It's a 9/10 fractional rig with a genoa of 41.6sqm and a full-battened main of 36.5sqm. A Furlex furler is standard, as are lazy jacks and boom bag.

Up front is a big anchor locker with a 700W electric windlass and a washdown as standard.

BRIGHT BELOW

Heading below, for a 40-footer, there is a feeling spaciousness. The designers have tucked the lounge/dining forward to port with a smallish table and an offset two-seater lounge. This gives more floor space but at the expense of some seating. You'll still get six around the table, but you might have to opt for smaller salad bowls.

The fitout is of light mahogany and the three big windows in the cabin roof give a light and airy feel.

The galley is along the starboard side - probably not my favourite setup for a serious cruiser but, that said, it gives plenty of bench space and room to spread out; especially if you use the covers for the twin sinks which, incidentally, have handy stowage racks on the bulkhead.

There's plenty of cupboard space with fiddles to hold everything in place, a cavernous top-opening fridge, and a two-burner gas cooktop with oven. When opened, the doors of the top cupboards fold down and can add to the preparation area. Another thoughtful touch.

The test boat was fitted with an optional saltwater foot pump for the times that you don't want to compromise the 350lt freshwater tankage.

The layout of the test boat had three cabins and two heads, but you can opt for a two-cabin layout with one of the aft cabins becoming a vast locker accessed from the cockpit or from below. This layout also provides a U-shaped galley to port.

But back to our test boat. Aft of the lounge sits the nav station, which was quite accommodating and had all the electrical systems close to hand, although there wasn't a great deal of space for a big plotter screen. The roomy aft head was opposite and featured an electric hot/cold shower and vanity.

Two commodious aft cabins had good ventilation from Lewmar opening hatches, as well as hanging lockers, drawers and storage under the beds.

The forward cabin is a whopper. It features a nice little lounge and an en suite that's larger than the one aft. A clever cover comes down over the head, making a handy seat for showers at sea. Both heads have holding tanks as standard equipment.

Again, in the forward cabin, there is plenty of light and ventilation from the hatches and quite a cosy, yet roomy, feeling.

CASTING OFF
Standard power in the Delphia 40 is a 40hp engine from either Volvo or Yanmar - it's your choice. The test boat was fitted with the 40hp Yanmar, but there is an upgrade available to a 55hp engine from either manufacturer, which you can specify for an extra $4400. The engine fitment was neat but I found access left a bit to be desired. The companionway steps were clipped into place and needed to be removed entirely and put aside to gain access. I'd have preferred to see the stairs top-hinged, lifting up on gas struts - a modification I imagine wouldn't be hard to do yourself.

Insulation was excellent and the big Yanmar just purred from both the helm and below.

As mentioned earlier, the steering is very light and direct. The Delphia has a deep spade rudder and is highly manoeuvrable under sail or power.

With the combination of the furler and the lazy jacks, it's a snap to get the sails up and we were soon cruising in a light but building sea breeze. At 8250kg dry, the Delphia is no lightweight flyer. But it sailed well in the light airs, pointing reasonably and tacking effortlessly due to its manoeuvrability and ease of sail handling.

As the pressure increased, the Delphia got better. According to the importers, it's built for the heavy conditions that the Baltic can dish up and I have no doubt from the feel of the boat that it'd be great in a bit of a blow. Unfortunately, we did not get those conditions on the day we chose for the test.

With 2760kg of ballast, the Delphia is a fairly stiff boat, which is what is required on a cruising yacht and I think it would be ideal for a family weekender and probably not too shabby around the sticks on a twilight as well.

A couple of things I did notice when sailing were the cabin-top mainsheet position, making it really a two-person sailing proposition, and also the narrow main traveller, which may not give you a huge dump when you need it.

PRICED TO THRILL
The Delphia 40 comes with excellent standard equipment and quite nice sails. It's a lot of boat for the base price of $285,000. With a few more bob spent on it for such items as upgraded electronics, an autopilot, a dodger, some cockpit cushions, rubber duck and a life raft, you'd have a really nice coastal cruiser. Certainly the quality of the deck hardware won't let you down and the hull and general construction seem to me to be strong and dependable.

I have not heard of any glaring problems from other markets so perhaps we are destined to see a few more Delphias on our waterways.

HIGHS

Price and value for money
Good deck hardware
Strong construction
Lots of room below for a 40-footer

LOWS

Engine access
Some fit and finish is not to Euro standard
Narrow traveller

Delphia 40 Sundancer

Price as tested: $310,000

Options fitted: Three-blade folding prop, bimini, screens to windows, sea water pump to galley, burgundy hull colour

Priced from: $285,000

GENERAL

Material: Hand-laid GRP with foam sandwich above waterline

Type: Monohull

LOA: 11.95m

Waterline length: 11.05m

Beam: 3.94

Draft: 2.18m

Displacement: 8250kg

Ballast: 2760m

Genoa area: 41.60sqm

Main area: 36.5sqm

CAPACITIES

Berths: Six

Water: 350lt

Fuel: 210lt

ENGINE

Make/model: Yanmar 3JH4

Type: Three-cylinder inboard diesel

Rated power: 40hp @ 3000rpm

Drive: Saildrive

Prop: Three-blade fixed with folding option

SUPPLIED BY: Anchorage Marina 34 The Strand Williamstown, Vic Phone (03) 9397 6977 www.aussieboatsales.com.au

Delphia 40

Tags