Azimut styling

Nick_H

Nick_H

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Joined
20 Apr 2004
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www.ybw-boatsforsale.com
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I have to say they're making some fabulous looking flybridge boats at the moment IMO. The new window line that runs through the 38, 47, 58, 85 and some other models is super stylish, and I think it'll age far better than the sharks fin styling on the 50/55/62. I also love the interiors, which also have a timeless quality.

I was moored next to a 58 last week, that had a lovely dark greyey brown hull band, and it's one of the few boats i'd swap mine for if money was no object. Such a shame that they're so expensive for UK buyers due to these crazy exchange rates.
 
Agreed I too like their styling, I'd have a 58 tomorrow. Moored next to one in Banus Sunday lovely light blue hull, with that reflective panel aft on flybridge "fins" very nice
 
I have a 47 on my pontoon
and while it has all the goods we like here in the med it is uber fantastic too, and very sleek sporty for a flybridge boat
don't know if I prefare them to a Ferretti from the outside of the major builders, but they do look good and super modern too
 
Nick_H said:
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I have to say they're making some fabulous looking flybridge boats at the moment IMO. The new window line that runs through the 38, 47, 58, 85 and some other models is super stylish, and I think it'll age far better than the sharks fin styling on the 50/55/62. I also love the interiors, which also have a timeless quality.

I was moored next to a 58 last week, that had a lovely dark greyey brown hull band, and it's one of the few boats i'd swap mine for if money was no object. Such a shame that they're so expensive for UK buyers due to these crazy exchange rates.
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Yup agreed. Great looking and that new side window look is masterful. The 58 in particular is a particularly good boat. I looked over the stock boat that Clipper had last year and it would need some mods but it was mostly a superb boat. The mods needed are awkward, particulalry some shortcomings in the flybridge layout and a tiny 600 litre freshwater tank (which seems a bit of a joke; you'd have to fit a watermaker else you would have one night on anchor max if the boat had plenty of people on board). But all these mods are do-able. As you say, it's a shame the price is so high
 
I have always been a big fan of their styling. The only downside to their very modern designs is that when times move on, they'll be showing their age more than those with more classic lines. I still love them all the same.
 
bigmoose said:
BUY BRITISH(read SS)
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Funny, would you believe that - as a non British boater - SS would be the last of your brands I would consider at the moment?
Ok, maybe on par with Sealine... :D
... but way below FL and Princess anyway.
All imho, as always!
 
Hi bigmoose,

I presumed the Pred 72 in the South China Morning Post last Sunday was yours...

Did she come HK on her own bum? Hope you've been enjoying the waters here.
 
Nick_H said:
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I have to say they're making some fabulous looking flybridge boats at the moment IMO. The new window line that runs through the 38, 47, 58, 85 and some other models is super stylish, and I think it'll age far better than the sharks fin styling on the 50/55/62. I also love the interiors, which also have a timeless quality.
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See pics attached - By coincidence, I was admiring the sharks fins of our 50 only two days ago thinking 'I really love these and much prefer them to the new bigger, featureless windows'......I think I'm just kidding myself though and trying to resist the gorgeous looks of the newer 38,47,53,58 etc which generally do look really great - particularly the tinted glass on the rear f/b fins, large hull windows and new interiors.

Out of the 50/55/62, I think I prefer the 50 with regards to side profile as the other two, especially the 62 look out of proportion to me (biased again :)). I'm not sure yet how the interior styling of the AZ50 will stand the test of time.

One thing for sure with an Azimut is that there aren't many in the UK and there's only our 50 in the marina (and in the country now I think unless someone can correct me) - this compared to the 4 or 5 SQ58's in the marina (don't get me wrong, I really like the SQ58, it’s just great to have something different though I think and personally I don’t reckon anything comes close to Azimut in terms of exterior styling

Incidentally, I saw what I believe is the last SQ58 from EBY (I’m sure JFM will confirm) on the hard last night - apparently it had just had a really rough trip over to the Solent and then ended up grounding in the harbour (destroying both props)....it looks good though with the plain white mouldings on the rear quarters rather than the blue/white ones – will be good to see it back in the water.
 
Nick_H said:
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I have to say they're making some fabulous looking flybridge boats at the moment IMO. The new window line that runs through the 38, 47, 58, 85 and some other models is super stylish, and I think it'll age far better than the sharks fin styling on the 50/55/62. I also love the interiors, which also have a timeless quality.

I was moored next to a 58 last week, that had a lovely dark greyey brown hull band, and it's one of the few boats i'd swap mine for if money was no object. Such a shame that they're so expensive for UK buyers due to these crazy exchange rates.
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Agree with that. I particularly like the new interiors. All the mainstream builders seem to be moving to a sort of stark minimalist interior design, Ferretti being one of the major culprits, which I find cold and unwelcoming, even cheap looking. Azimut, on the other hand, seem to have found a style which looks modern but welcoming and luxurious. I think the new 47 looks great and the 58 is stunning but, the prices, ouch! The new 53 tested in MBY this month is £1m+ inc VAT and for that kind of dosh, you get a lot more Prin/Fair/Sunseeker but, money no object, I'd have the 58 over any other boat in it's class
 
chrismjones said:
Incidentally, I saw what I believe is the last SQ58 from EBY (I’m sure JFM will confirm) on the hard last night - apparently it had just had a really rough trip over to the Solent and then ended up grounding in the harbour (destroying both props)....it looks good though with the plain white mouldings on the rear quarters rather than the blue/white ones – will be good to see it back in the water.
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Yup, I agree Azis look great. I also like the sharkfins on the prev 50/55, and I agree your comment that they got the lines slightly wrong on the 62. As for the current styling, if I bought an Azi 53/58 I wouldn't touch the styling but of course everything is a compromise and the boat would need other mods to make it usable (starting with bigger water tanks - so I'm not talking minor tweaks)

And yes, it's far rarer than say Sq58 in N Europe. They built 210 Sq58s, which is fewer than Azi built of the 55+55Evo (using data from PowerYachtBlog), but there are many more of the Fairlines up at these latitudes.

I dont know about the pranged Sq58. I believe EBY recently sold the last one in N Europe and there are now no new boats left but I wouldn't know about the one you refer to with pranged props. Being pedantic, I don't think it was the last ever Sq58. The last one was #210 which went to Sydney, I think. The fact that the pranged one had the solid white quarter panels doesn't tell you anything becuase the last 30 or so boats incl mine have those panels. Which harbour/marina are we talking about anyway?
 
Yes I too am a fan, both interior and exterior show design.

What i think is interesting is that Az have long since had a very extended ,certainly in looks, aft section of F/B for sunbathing etc. Sealine's new boat has similar yet needs supports.

Eh?
 
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mjf said:
Az have long since had a very extended ,certainly in looks, aft section of F/B for sunbathing etc. Sealine's new boat has similar yet needs supports.
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There's some Sealine sales talk in all this imho The Azi 55 has a large cantilvered aft section of the fly, as do many boats, including mine. To get the necessary strength and rigidity there is some pretty serious engineering hidden behind the GRP mouldings. Like a substantial aluminium space frame, made of large sections (like 75mm-100mm round/box tubing with 10mm wall thickness, or something of that order, with all sorts of welding and stuff, and support beams taken down to the engine bearers, etc).

All this costs lots of money and build complexity, and I guess that for sealine to have done it on the f46 would have cost too much proportionate to their very keen target price for the boat. Much cheaper to have the 2 pillars, so probably a sensible choice by them. But for them to imply in the sales talk that the black pillars are necessary for such a large flybridge is a bit wrong. They're only necessary if you want a large flybridge at lowish cost. Having decided they would like the pillars to avoid a bigger cantilevered structure, they sensibly made a styling feature of them.
 
mjf said:
Yes I too am a fan, both interior and exterior show design.

What i think is interesting is that Az have long since had a very extended ,certainly in looks, aft section of F/B for sunbathing etc. Sealine's new boat has similar yet needs supports.

Eh?
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I wondered about that too. Many boats, including my Ferretti, have fly overhangs which cover nearly 100% of the cockpit without the necessity to have 2 bloody great big supports in the cockpit. I think the big difference with the F46 is that the saloon glass is virtually 100% wraparound so there is no support for the flybridge from any grp mouldings along the sides of the saloon. My guess is that those cockpit supports in the F46 are the main structural supports for the flybridge (hence their size) and the flybridge is effectively cantilevered forward over the saloon from those cockpit supports. There are some relatively thin mullions in the wraparound glass but these don't look large for anything other than providing frames for the glass. If this is correct, I hope Sealine have done their structural calcs correctly because any major flexing of the flybridge will cause problems with the window sealings and maybe even window breakages. Watch out for F46's coming home with cracked windows after particularly rough Channel crossings
 
Deleted User said:
...there is no support for the flybridge from any grp mouldings along the sides of the saloon. My guess is that those cockpit supports in the F46 are the main structural supports for the flybridge (hence their size) and the flybridge is effectively cantilevered forward over the saloon from those cockpit supports.
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Mike, I very much doubt that. I don't think there is any cantilevering at all. I think the fly deck is supported at the back by the black pillars , in the middle by posts hidden behind furniture either side of the patio door, and at the front by butch s/steel window mullions. Hence, a simple cheap and effective way to do the job, and no cantilvering at all

Here's a pic of the front mullions
aai.sized.jpg
 
jfm said:
Mike, I very much doubt that. I don't think there is any cantilevering at all. I think the fly deck is supported at the back by the black pillars , in the middle by posts hidden behind furniture either side of the patio door, and at the front by butch s/steel window mullions. Hence, a simple cheap and effective way to do the job, and no cantilvering at all

Here's a pic of the front mullions
aai.sized.jpg
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That begs the question why the designer put those huge supports in the cockpit if, only a few feet forward there are support columns either side of the patio door? The flybridge overhang would not require anything much in the way of support if the flybridge was fully supported by columns either side of the patio door. I can't see that those window mullions in the pic provide much in the way of support to the flybridge; they are quite severely angled. Difficult to understand the structure unless you poke about the boat and unscrew some panels. Anyway, when I get to SIBS, I shall jump up and down on the forward part of the flybridge and see how it flexes, if at all
 
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