Numarine 40MXP Review (2025 Edition) by Aquaholic

On Deck

The 40 MXP builds directly on the Numarine 37 XP, and while the hull is longer, the real change sits aft, so the whole feel of the boat shifts the moment you step outside. That extra length has gone into open-air living, and as a result the yacht leans hard into family use and entertaining.

On the main deck aft, you can see exactly where the design has moved, because a small reduction in saloon length has created a much larger external deck, and on a 40 metre yacht that trade feels easy to accept. You still have a vast interior, but you gain a proper outdoor setup with a bar, a large dining area, sofa seating, and a hot tub right on the stern. Compared with the 37 XP, the difference is clear, and this deck becomes the social heart of the yacht as well as the place people will drift back to throughout the day.

It also sits low to the water, so when you are at anchor it works like a relaxed beach club space, and because of that it feels far more connected to the sea. You can sit here, eat here, swim from here, and spend long stretches of time outside without needing to move elsewhere.

The main saloon opens straight onto this area, and the sliding doors disappear right back, so the inside and outside merge into one large entertaining space. That flow is key to how the yacht works, especially with the owner’s focus on hosting family and friends.

Move forward and you find another open zone on the bow, and again it adds to the sense that this yacht has multiple outdoor areas rather than one main deck. You can gather as a group or peel away and find your own spot, and that flexibility is one of the strengths of a yacht at this scale. Side decks run cleanly along the length of the boat, and there are bridge doors and wing stations as well, so movement and control from outside positions is straightforward.

Up on the upper deck aft, this boat keeps things relatively open, and it uses freestanding furniture rather than fixed layouts, so the space can shift depending on how it is used. At the same time, this is also the working boat deck, so it carries kayaks, personal watercraft, a large tender, and a heavy-duty crane that was said to be around three tonnes. It feels substantial, and it matches the rest of the yacht in that sense.

There is also a dayhead tucked up here, which is easy to miss but very useful, and the bridge side doors open directly onto this deck, so crew and guests can move around easily.

Above that sits the sun deck, and this continues the same theme, with a large hardtop for shade, open areas for sun, and all the equipment you need to keep people fed and watered. There is refrigeration, ice makers, a large grill, and the dumbwaiter from the galley arrives here too, so service is simple even when the deck is busy. This boat does not have a helm up here, while another example nearby did, so again it comes back to owner choice, and here the decision was to keep this as a pure guest space.

Small details add up as well, because there are underlit steps, wing stations, bridge access points, and even a docking station aft that is easy to overlook. The upper deck cabin door also slides a long way back, so fresh air can flood in, and that sort of feature tends to get used more than you might expect.

Inside, the key point is that these are custom builds. Numarine will spend real time with an owner to get the layout right, and this yacht reflects that. It is privately owned by a family that likes to entertain family and friends, so the main spaces have been shaped around that brief.

The main deck saloon is still vast, even though it is slightly smaller than the one on the 37 XP. In practice, it does not matter. The seating area is huge, the dining table is enormous, and the scale is more than enough. The table on this boat seats fourteen, which tells you a lot about the owner’s priorities. This is not a yacht that hides from a crowd. Floor to ceiling windows flood the room with light and open up the views. At the show those views were blocked by neighbouring boats, but at anchor this room would be all sea and sky. There is built in AV equipment, twin wine coolers, and those sliding aft doors that open the whole thing to the deck behind. It is the ultimate party space in the best sense. Big, light, open, and easy.

Forward on the main deck, there is another flexible lounge area. On other 37 XP builds this zone has become a gym, but here the owners chose a comfortable snug where people can gather before breakfast or just sit quietly away from the main social action. Dayheads sit here too, though even that position can change. One side on this boat is storage, but it could also become additional wardrobe space for the forward cabin. This is typical Numarine. The structure is clear, but the detail is yours to shape.

The galley and crew service area sit down below and aft of the main deck. This is a working galley, not a decorative one. It has double ovens, hob, dishwasher, coffee machine, dumbwaiter access to the upper deck, another ice maker, and a long bank of refrigeration. There is also direct access for crew to the side deck and aft, which matters in service. It is practical, well equipped, and clearly meant for serious use over long periods aboard.

Aesthetically, the yacht reads as big, modern, and owner led rather than styled to a yard formula. The transcript does not dwell on woods, fabrics, or named finishes, but it does keep returning to space, light, and view. That is the point here. The atmosphere comes from scale, glazing, openness, and layout.

Owner's Cabin

One of the more intriguing parts of this yacht is that the term owner’s cabin is not fixed. It depends on how the owner wants to live aboard. In truth, this yacht offers more than one cabin that qualifies as owner standard.

The first obvious candidate is the forward main deck cabin. It looks very much like a main deck owner’s suite, and in many boats it would be exactly that. It is huge, with abundant storage in wardrobes, under bed spaces, and additional lockers. There is even the option to extend the wardrobe provision further by taking space from the adjacent area if you want a much larger dressing room arrangement. An escape hatch provides an alternative route out in an emergency, which is a useful practical detail on a boat of this size. The ensuite is also large, and on a 40 metre yacht it does not need any special pleading. It already has the scale one would expect. This cabin would leave nobody feeling short changed.

Then there is the upper deck cabin, and this is where the question comes alive. On this boat the upper deck has been configured as a very large cabin rather than a sky lounge. If you want a sky lounge instead, you can have it, but here the owners chose another major private suite. This cabin has serious volume, generous wardrobes, a desk area, and a big ensuite with twin basins and loo. It also has that sliding door that opens the space to the deck outside, which adds another dimension entirely. On a warm day, with that door right back, this would be a lovely place to wake up. So is this the owner’s suite? It easily could be.

And then there is the lower deck full beam cabin aft, which in any other discussion would get called the master without hesitation. On this yacht it pushes the point even further. It is palatial. Originally this zone could have been split into two separate cabins, one each side of the corridor, but these owners opted for one immense full beam suite instead. That decision creates a huge sleeping space, a large seating area, and a massive walk in wardrobe. The ensuite sits aft with basins, loo, and shower. Big hull windows add still more presence. So now you are not looking at one owner’s suite and an honorary second best. You are looking at a yacht with three cabins that could all wear that label, depending on the owner’s brief.

That flexibility is a genuine strength. For private use, the owner can pick the cabin that suits the trip, the season, or the way the yacht is manned. For charter, or for two couples using the boat together, it means nobody gets the poor relation cabin.

Guest Accommodation

The layout on this yacht appears to be six cabins, though there was a suggestion that seven cabin and possibly even eight cabin versions exist. That tracks with the overall theme here. The platform is flexible and Numarine will move the pieces around if the owner wants a different balance between guest numbers, crew support, and private space.

The most dramatic guest accommodation choice sits aft on the lower deck. As noted above, this yacht uses that area as one enormous full beam suite. In another configuration, this could become two separate guest cabins, one to port and one to starboard, accessed from the aft end of the corridor. You can see how it would work. Shift the bed positions, add a central bulkhead, and divide the support spaces differently. What the owners have done instead is to create one huge guest suite with settee space, large wardrobe volume, and a proper ensuite. It is a statement choice.

Further forward on the lower deck are more guest cabins, and none of them sounds compromised. One cabin has twin single berths. It also has wardrobes, AV equipment behind the mirror, an ensuite, and a rainfall shower. Another cabin, further forward again, is also described as very full sized. Big hull windows sit behind the blinds, and the recurring point is that every cabin feels properly proportioned. There is no sense here of small cabins being hidden in a grand layout. The transcript is quite clear on that. Nobody is going to walk into one of these cabins and think it is pokey.

Counting through the arrangement on this boat, there is the huge aft suite on the lower deck, the twin cabin, another full size guest cabin forward, the main deck forward suite, and the upper deck suite. That gets you to five, before the flexible sixth space comes into play. Depending on how you configure the yacht, that extra cabin can either serve guests or support crew.

This is where the MXP becomes quite clever. It can be a true multi cabin family yacht with lots of guest capacity, or it can lean toward fewer but much larger cabins with stronger service support. On this boat, the owners clearly preferred the latter.

Crew Accommodation

As well as a captain's cabin up by the bridge, the main bulk of the crew accommodation sits down below, aft of the guest area and close to the galley.  There are three crew cabins here, and all of them are ensuite. There is also a crew mess area. That already gives the boat a strong service backbone.

In addition, the flexible cabin near the guest area can serve as a utility room, overflow crew space, or an occasional single crew cabin. On this boat the owners have used it as a utility and service area, which makes a lot of sense. It houses laundry equipment, extra storage, and an additional ice maker. For longer passages, or if temporary extra help is needed, it also has the ability to function as a single crew cabin. It probably would not be the first choice for permanent full time use, but as a flexible extra berth it is valuable.

The engineering brief here is serious. This is not a fashion explorer. The hull is steel, the superstructure is GRP, and the yacht keeps the long range, offshore capable DNA of the 37 XP. That point came up more than once because Numarine does not want the MXP read as a softer version of the XP. It is not. It just applies the platform in a more outside focused way.

The yacht has twin MAN diesels of 800 horsepower each. Top speed is about 14 knots, which suits the boat’s displacement character. This is not a planing boat and it is not trying to be one. Cruise is around 12 knots, and if you pull back to 8 knots the range stretches to around 6,000 miles. That is the figure that tells the real story. This is a steel hull long distance machine first, and a warm weather entertainer second, not the other way round.

The engine room itself sounds excellent. Access is possible through more than one route, but the tour used the route through the diving and utility area aft. That space holds diving compressors, dive bottles, wetsuits, buoyancy aids, masks, fins, and access to other engineering spaces.

Beyond the main propulsion package, the space contains fuel tank manifolds, water pumps, transfer pumps, fuel pumps, and a fuel polishing system. In other words, this is a proper engine room in the old school sense, with room, access, and a layout that supports the yacht’s passage making brief.

So the MXP does not replace the 37 XP, and it does not try to be better in a simple sense, but it offers a different answer, and it gives owners more choice in how they want to use a yacht of this size.