By George Day
Cruising Odyssey tours the MJM boatbuilding plant
Last week, we published our review of the new MJM 42 following an hours-long test on the Pamlico River near Washington, North Carolina. You can read the review on the Cruising Odyssey website by clicking here. (https://cruisingodyssey.com/2024/06/13/co-tests-the-new-mjm-42-express-cruiser/
During my trip to Washington, I had the chance to take a guided tour of the new MJM factory. I say new because MJM has only been building their own boats in-house for the last three years. Under the leadership of MJM’s new owners, Seolta Holdings, and new CEO Natascia Hatch, the company is rapidly evolving in to one of America’s premium boatbuilding brands. RE_ MJM factory tour article here.
The objective in making the transition to in-house manufacturing was to improve the manufacturing process of already excellent designs, while remaining true to the design philosophy that makes MJM yachts unique.
In my humble view, the new MJMs are the nautical equivalent of a Porsche Cayman, an exhilarating marriage of refined, high-tech performance with pure and classic luxury.
MJM designs are light, stiff, high-performance yachts on deep-V hulls that will plane at 12 knots instead of 20 and will remain level on the deep-V through acceleration to top speed. The result is a boat that drives like it is on rails, cuts through chop without pounding and has above-average fuel efficiency. The MJM 42 we tested had a top speed of 46 knots and was burning a gallon a mile. At a cruising speed of 30 knots, it was making an impressive 1.5 miles to the gallon.
To achieve this result for the four boats in the MJM line, Hatch and the management team created a factory that can deliver high-tech, post-cured, epoxy and E-glass hulls, decks and major parts using modern infusion technology. In short, this is the state of the art in composite, epoxy, construction technology.
Each part is laid up by hand with CNC cut E-glass sections and closed-cell foam coring. The laminate is covered with a membrane vacuum bag and epoxy is infused under pressure to achieve maximum saturation with a minimum of waste. The hulls, decks and major parts are then post-cured in a 30 by 60-foot convection oven.
To give this build technique some panache, MJM coined the phrase the “C5 Process”, standing for Clean, Closed, Compressed, Cured, Composite. One of the important benefits of the C5 Process is the consistency it delivers to every finished boat, which will mean for new owners that the boat that gets delivered is fully finished and ready to go. It is a truism that new yachts have teething problems. The C5 Process eliminates that issue.
As well as bringing the manufacturing of the composite pieces in-house, Hatch and the MJM team also created a wood shop where all of the furniture and trim is hand-made and finished. They like to use the term “heirloom quality.” With epoxy hulls that will last a lifetime and finely finished joinery, that is an apt description.
Attention to detail and quality control are essential ingredients in the process of creating high-quality yachts. My factory tour was given by MJM’s Quality Control manager, Eddie Godely, who emphasized how the new factory and new C5 Process relies on detailed and in-depth quality controls at every stage. This spells out for each member of the boatbuilding team the precise steps and procedures for every phase of the process.
Eddie pointed out that the whole factory is air conditioned, unlike most boat building facilities. This is an added expense, but he noted that epoxy resins need a stable temperature environment for optimum curing. Plus, keeping the plant at 70 degrees provides a real benefit for the boatbuilding staff during the hot, humid North Carolina summers.
Eddie also explained an interesting extra step in the final build stages that involves a post-curing, post Awlgripping application of ultra-violet light. I’ve been in dozens of boatbuilding facilities, but I have never seen this innovation before. The ultra-violet light prevents “print through” in the hulls caused naturally by hot sunlight heating hulls that are painted dark colors –blue, black, green – as most MJMs are. Problem solved.
Under the banner of Seolta Holding, MJM has the financial backing and the manufacturing savvy to grow the brand and expand the line as it continues to build an international dealer network.
Natascia Hatch, who was MJM’s Chief Operating Officer in charge of running the day-to-day operation of the company before becoming CEO, is an expert boat builder. In 2023, she and the team doubled production from 2022. In 2024, they are on target to double production again to a total of 60 boats.
This is a huge achievement, with a new factory and a new team in so short a time span, a block of time that also included the end of the Covid pandemic. You can easily imagine how bright MJM’s future will be lead by the current team.
Thinking back to my afternoon on the water aboard the MJM 42 on the Pamilco River and after having spent time in the MJM factory, I can easily envision myself at the helm of this handsome boat making rapid miles to a favorite destination. I can easily imagine spending evenings with friends sipping sundowners in the cockpit. And, I can easily see myself and my wife, Rosa, who has gamely sailed more than 100,000 miles around the world with me, taking off by ourselves on a 42 for a month of summer vacation. It would be so easy.
For more on MJM log on to their website here.
