Buying a 55ft Azimut in Italy and driving to Canada?

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Scot_SJI

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First post on this forum, so please forgive if I'm in the wrong section.

I'm looking at getting a 2003 Azimut 55 in the spring potentially and at the price point I'm looking at, I have yet to find anything comparable on my side of the pond.

With the addition of a hired captain, how practical of an idea is it to drive it back after an extensive mechanical inspection and a few long drives before hand? I know there is the shipping option, but wanted to evaluate this as well.


Also, any input on the 2003/2002s would be great!
 
I've no idea if it's the same model of Azimut 55, but this page: http://www.nauticalweb.com/boatshow/azimut/55eng.htm#
gives the spec for one.
Leaping out from it is the cruising range: 280 miles (based on 58 gal/hr for its 580 gal capacity). I can't see any amount of going easy on the throttle ekeing that out to an Atlantic crossing, except perhaps via Scotland, Iceland and Greenland (longest leg around 570NM, total from Stornaway around 1900NM). But then I know nothing of mobos.
Good luck in whatever you decide.

P.S. I happened to be in Stornaway about 12 years ago, berthed near a broadly similar mobo on a delivery trip to Iceland. The delivery skipper had at that point waited two weeks for a weather window. He was still there when I left.
 
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Welcome.
My first thought was the high fuel cost to motor the journey, but then thought that deck cargo cost might not be dissimilar. The main thing that would push me away from motoring is the number of hours that it would put on the engine(s). You would arrive and then be faced with what might be a major engine overhall.
 
No chance of getting across the Atlantic under its own power. These boats are designed for weekend cruising in good weather, not ocean crossing.

Many options of shipping by sea from ports either in the Mediterranean (Marseilles, Genoa, Palma for example) or from Southampton or Rotterdam.
 
It is one thing to sail a yacht with a deep and heavy keel across the Atlantic, but a motorboat will be thrown about like a toy if caught in any sort of storm. Deck cargo is the only realistic option.
 
Tranona said:
No chance of getting across the Atlantic under its own power. These boats are designed for weekend cruising in good weather, not ocean crossing.
Click to expand...

+1

People on the Mobo forum like this kind of boat, but they consider UK to the south of France to be too far to sensibly deliver on its own bottom. They all get theirs shipped from Southampton to a Mediterranean port (or vice versa).

Pete
 
If you got the right weather window, then it would be a fantastic crossing, and great experience, but even running at displacement speed, you would be unlikely to get more than 2-3 Nm per gallon, so you would need to meet a refuelling boat pretty much every other day. Is that feasible? Not really.
Generally motor boats that cross the Atlantic are designed for long distance cruising, at displacement speeds, with a relatively small engine, and a huge fuel tank. Boats like Ellings and Flemmings do this sort of trip, at this sort of size. Clearly some of the "super yachts" make the trip bewteen Florida, the Bahamas and the Med, but these would be seriously large boats with fuel tanks to suit.
If you do find a way to make the rip work, then it would make a fantastic thread on the Mobo forum :)

And for the raggies on here, lots of fast planing boats make the trip from the UK to the Med or reverse. There was the Princess 39 features on the YBW forum recently for example.
 
yes

I should like to see a film of the journey too

I love the steering console

55-3.jpg



D
 
Scot_SJI said:
First post on this forum, so please forgive if I'm in the wrong section.

I'm looking at getting a 2003 Azimut 55 in the spring potentially and at the price point I'm looking at, I have yet to find anything comparable on my side of the pond.

With the addition of a hired captain, how practical of an idea is it to drive it back after an extensive mechanical inspection and a few long drives before hand? I know there is the shipping option, but wanted to evaluate this as well.


Also, any input on the 2003/2002s would be great!
Click to expand...

Hi Scott,

These boats are meant to cruise for 2 days in good weather and they do not have anywhere near enough range to take you to Canada. You will have to transport it on a ship. As an opinion, I know both power and sail boats, a 14 YO mobo will cost you a fortune in maintenance. Think engine rebuild, genset etc. Unless you have large financial capacity, leave these for the new rich Russians. GL
 
prv said:
Well, it probably seems reasonable if you don't know anything about boats...

...someone who talks about "captains" and "driving" clearly doesn't know anything about boats :p

Pete
Click to expand...

Americans use "captain" the way we use "skipper". What is the proper word for "driving" a power boat?
 
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