What I check on a phinisi before I put a group on it, applied to Lamborajo 1, 2 and 3

I am Jewel, a guide and vessel surveyor at PT Komodo Explorer Indonesia (KEXI). Lamborajo 1, 2 and 3 are on KEXI's partner list, and groups ask us to choose between them every week. I have no written walk-through notes for these three boats yet. So this is my usual group checklist, run against what is documented and nothing else.

The paper first: the three private-charter brochures marked Update 04-May 2026, the Lamborajo 1 and 2 open-trip brochures from May 2026 and the February 2026 open-trip flyers. Then the drawings, the Lamborajo 2 deck plan from April 2026 and the Lamborajo 1 floor plan. Then the photo sets: 38 files for Lamborajo 1, 28 for Lamborajo 2 and 57 for Lamborajo 3.

Every line below ends in one of three states. Printed means a brochure says it. Photographed means a file in our set shows it, named in brackets. Open means neither does, and it stays on the list until the owner confirms it in writing. I describe photos, I do not claim to have stood in the rooms.

This is the check that decides most groups. Lamborajo 1 prints 2 private ensuite bathrooms and 2 shared ones for its 6 cabins (L1 brochure, Cabin Information). The private pair belongs to Master Ocean 1 and 2. The three Share Cabins and the Full Ocean cabin use the shared two. Full, that is up to 16 guests on 2 bathrooms; that number is my arithmetic from the cabin list, not a brochure line.

Both shared rooms are photographed: a toilet, a hand basin and a wall shower in plain white (the supplier's photo set). Hot water is the gap. The May 2026 brochure does not print it for Lamborajo 1. An older, undated private flyer mentions a hot shower. Status: open.

Lamborajo 2 and 3 answer the row differently. Each prints all 8 cabins with a private bathroom and hot water (L2 and L3 brochures, Cabin Information). The photos match: a wooden shower wall in a Superior bathroom, a stone-pattern wall in the Family Ocean View, a rain shower and round basin in a Lamborajo 3 Superior. Status: printed and photographed.

Decks matter for anyone with bad knees, small children or a light sleeper. On Lamborajo 1 the Share Cabins and Full Ocean sit on the main deck and the two Masters on the upper deck (L1 brochure; the supplier's floor plan). One Share Cabin photo shows a door straight out to the side walkway (the supplier's photo set).

Lamborajo 2 puts its 5 Superior cabins on the lower deck, the Family Ocean View on the main deck and the two Master Ocean View cabins on the upper deck (L2 brochure). The deck plan draws four levels: lower, main, upper and top (Lamborajo 2 deck plan, April 2026). Whether each lower-deck Superior has a window or porthole is not printed. Status: open.

Lamborajo 3 has 4 Superior cabins below, 2 Master Ocean on the main deck and 2 Royal Master Ocean on the upper deck (L3 brochure). The private flyer calls the Royal deck "Middle Deck", so I follow the brochure.

Stairs: wooden ladders link the main and upper decks on Lamborajo 1, and ladders rise beside the Lamborajo 3 wheelhouse. No Lamborajo 2 photo in our set shows a staircase. Status: open for Lamborajo 2.

A boat reaches its maximum guest count through extra beds, so I want to know what they are. On Lamborajo 1 the Full Ocean prints a queen bed plus 2 single bunks, and each Master Ocean a queen bed plus 2 extra single beds (L1 brochure). In two Master photos the extra bed is a blue mattress beside the queen (the supplier's photo set). Plan on a mattress, not a frame. The Share Cabins are 4 fixed bunks with no extra bed.

Lamborajo 2 prints a queen plus a single in each Superior; the deck plan writes "for 3 person" on all five. The Family Ocean View takes a queen plus 2 extra beds, and each Master a queen plus one (L2 brochure; deck plan).

Lamborajo 3 is the strictest. The 4 Superiors are queen bed only, with no extra bed. The Masters take one extra and the Royals two (L3 brochure). That is how the boat reaches 22 guests: 8 in Superiors, 6 in Masters, 8 in Royals.

What none of the brochures print is whether an extra bed costs more on a private charter. Status: open on all three.

Lamborajo 1 prints a sun deck with lazy chairs and bean bags, and no jacuzzi or balcony anywhere (L1 brochure). The photos show two sun loungers on the top deck (the supplier's photo set) and a sofa lounge with bean bags under an awning on the upper deck. The Master Ocean photos show windows and a door to the outside deck, not a private balcony.

Lamborajo 2 lists a jacuzzi as a boat facility, front and top sun decks, a canoe and a paddle board (L2 brochure). The jacuzzi sits in a wooden surround on the bow sundeck. The two Master Ocean View cabins print a private balcony, and glass doors to a railing are photographed. No jacuzzi is printed in a Lamborajo 2 cabin.

Lamborajo 3 prints a private jacuzzi and balcony in all four Master and Royal cabins (L3 brochure). A Master photo shows a corner whirlpool tub under the windows. For the Royals, one photo has a tub on a private deck with two lounge chairs and another a white tub inside the room. Whether those are the same Royal cabin is not clear. Status: open.

All three brochures print the same safety list: liferaft, life jackets, ring buoy, fire extinguisher and first-aid kit, with AIS, radar, GPS and VHF radio. On Lamborajo 1 the photos show life jackets stored at the rail (the supplier's photo set) and a liferaft marked LAMBORAJO on the upper deck. Lamborajo 3 shows two life rings on the wheelhouse. Our Lamborajo 2 set has no safety-kit photo, so there it is printed only.

No brochure gives a life-jacket count or child sizes. For a family group that is the first thing I ask.

The tender is the one place where paper and picture disagree. The Lamborajo 1 brochure prints a 6 m fibreglass tender. The photo filed as Speedboat shows a small yellow boat that our photo review describes as wooden. Which of the two comes with the boat is not printed. Status: open.

If a group were sailing next month, I would settle these, in this order, in writing before the deposit:

• Hot water in the Lamborajo 1 shared and private bathrooms. Everything else on that boat is a fair trade for its price; cold showers for 16 guests are not something to discover on board.
• The extra-bed charge on private charters, on all three boats.
• Windows in the Lamborajo 2 lower-deck Superior cabins.
• Which Royal cabin on Lamborajo 3 has the tub inside and which has it on deck.
• Life-jacket numbers and child sizes, for any group with children.
• The Lamborajo 1 tender: the fibreglass boat in the brochure or the yellow one in the photo.

None of this reverses the main comparison. Lamborajo 1 is the cheaper boat because of the shared bathrooms, and it says so in print. A private 3D2N for up to 12 guests is IDR 43,000,000 (≈ USD 2,638) on Lamborajo 1 against IDR 88,000,000 (≈ USD 5,399) on Lamborajo 2; the step up mostly buys a private bathroom for every cabin.