There are a lot of differing opinions about Navigators and their business model. However, we have 2000 4200 Classic and really love it (although it did take some getting used to on my part). Recently, a former member of this forum was nice enough to fill me in on some facts and stories about the Navigator brand. Extremely knowledgeable in all things pilot house. You
could say he is the king of them... if you were so inclined. Navigator is an interesting story for sure. Here are some of the highlights.
Now, before I go too far, I want to say that Bess and I have only had ours for 15 months. Over which, was a spring, summer, and fall that was full of challenging weather condition that kept us in the slip more weekends than we would have liked. Therefore, most of our experience is "fair weather", so I will not comment on their open-ocean abilities.
Designed by Jules Marshall of Californian fame, these boats were all built in Perris, California. A po-dunk third-world town he picked because the cost of living was so low that he could pay less and still have the workers provide for their families. A small piece of land on the edge of the Mojave Desert next to a huge garbage dump.
The build quality seems excellent. I have dug around and through her and things are very stoutly built. I keep having to remind myself that this is a USA made boat. I always surprises me how much thicker and heavier duty things are when I go to drill or cut stuff compared to our old Taiwanese trawler from the 80's. Navigator was proud that nearly everything they did was in-house. Less the stringers. They were custom cut for each boat and were 1-peice from Georgia-Pacific that arrived kiln-dried and wrapped in plastic.
The hull is a unique design, one that everyone thought the company should have given a fancy name to like other production companies have done. It is super efficient. I have a cutout from a thru-hull we just had installed and it is 1" of solid fiberglass. When they were being sold new, people criticized Navigators for being under-powered, but similar size boats needed more than double the horsepower to do the same speed. However, there was one setback. All Navigators were basically set using the same hull mold, just dammed up for varying lengths. This was a double-edged sword. The 15' beam of our 42' is CRAZY WIDE, on a 58' boat, it is very narrow. That, in part, aided in their efficiency in the larger sizes.
Handling seems great for her speed and size. There are two things that I would change and that is to center up the flybridge console and make it closer to a stand up station than a sit down only.
Another huge thing Navigator did was the aft (under cockpit) fuel tanks (aluminum). Jules didn't trust fuel gauges. The deck fills are an 8" straight shot into the rectangle tanks, so filling and dipsticking them is a breeze. It does, however, give her a bit of a heavy ass when you are full of fuel and water and I am actually thinking of adding some ballast in the bow in the future or increase the size of the trim tabs to compensate (but I digress).
The interior of ours in a unique layout that we have never seen before and is unique to the 42' and 44' models. More traditional layouts emerge in the larger models. fit and finish are very good. The Navigator woodworkers were from Laos and were the highest paid workers in the yard. Sure, there are some things we find ourselves scratching out heads over, but I would imagine there is some of that in every boat.
One of the things I have had to get used to is the midship berth that is buried in the center of the boat. It is a departure from our aft cabin trawler. Since we enjoy anchoring out, it doesn't provide any cross breeze thru the cabin. The good side of the main stateroom is that the queen berth will take a regular queen mattress. Not some weird trapezoidal thing that costs thousands to get custom cut.
The showers are on the small side, however, there is NO SHORTAGE of cabinet storage. There are places everywhere to stick stuff. And I mean everywhere!
Most (if not all) Navigators are powered with a pair of Volvos. They were picked for their fuel efficiency... and correctly so. With the fuel tanks aft, the engine room is very spacious. Access is good, but not great to the outboard sides of the engines. The fuel filters and batteries are easily accessible. The DC electrical system does leave something to be desired. It is based on 8D truck batteries and a poorly laid out switching system. It is VERY typical of production boats. We spent last winter changing it all. The 8Ds will work if you are jumping from marina to marina, but if you want to spend days on the hook, you will need to redo it.
I won't try to compare them to other boats. Only people that have owned both can. What I can do is to say you should really take a close look at them. Navigators are good boats. Jules Marshall was a great designer (even if he was a bit of a dick to his dealers). They are great boats, only nobody really knows it. Everyone who see ours really likes it... and so do we.
I hope this helps. It took me almost an hour and a half to write!