48' Navigator - Thoughts / Pros / Cons

Good Day -
I'm looking at a 2003 48' Navigator (On YW, in Severna Park, MD & brokered by Knot 10 if anyone is interested looking her up). She has older electronics, 1000 hours on her Volvos and seems to be 'normal' condition for her 2003 age. So - what are your thoughts on this boat? I've read a lot about the Navigator and like the boat - but I would like actual experiences and feedback. Appreciate your help and feedback.
Thanks
Tim

I am not sure why but I have never heard a quite running Navigator. Always very noisy when they come into a marina. Not sure what it's like under way.

Maybe the mufflers are to small ?

Thanks! That is great feedback. I know the Volvos are known to have a loud turbo - but if she is still loud at idle, that would be discouraging.

ChesapeakeLover said:

Good Day -
I'm looking at a 2003 48' Navigator (On YW, in Severna Park, MD & brokered by Knot 10 if anyone is interested looking her up). She has older electronics, 1000 hours on her Volvos and seems to be 'normal' condition for her 2003 age. So - what are your thoughts on this boat? I've read a lot about the Navigator and like the boat - but I would like actual experiences and feedback. Appreciate your help and feedback.
Thanks
Tim

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I'm actually interested in some Navigators as well. I like that they are American made and they seem well build with nice carpentry work. I also like that they usually have 3 staterooms and sleep 6 easily. My only concern about them is the motors. My mechanic told me that volvo parts are through the roof. He told me major components are 4 to 5 times as much as Cummins parts. I don't know if its true or not, but he said an aftercooler for a navigator sized volvo is like 25 grand. His main point was to make sure I do a really good survey and sea trial before I purchased it and be hyper aware of any engine issues.

I'm sure someone here can chime in who is much more knowledgeable about he volvo engines than myself and give their opinion.

I have sent the OP an extensive reply over PM. Volvo parts are expensive, yes, but the number your mechanic gave you is not correct. Not even close. Our full heat exchangers were about $5k each, so there is no way aftercoolers are $25k. That is him just trying to scare you.

Navigators are very good and solid boats. The interior is a little different on some models, but plays very well. Are the loud? Jeez... no louder than a big Sea Ray or a gas Carver. The exhaust to expelled above the waterline and out the side instead of under the swim platform, so maybe it is a little louder, but I have no basis for much of a comparison except the other boats in the marina. If it is, I like it. It sounds like a 1970 Cuda cranking up

PM me and I can copy the same email I sent Tim. It is very very long. I would post it here, but it would probably get picked apart by the so-called experts and really don’t want to have to defend everything that I like and don’t like about them. Too many opinions are better in a good anchor thread ;-)

Thanks again Tom!
How many hours on your engines? When did you replace the heat exchangers?

1200 hours on them now and we spent this past summer doing the job, but the replacement was due to poor maintenance by the previous owner. We found zincs that had rarely been replaced and they swelled up, broke down, and were blocking the exchanger. In addition, it cause an unrepairable amount of corrosion on end caps of the exchanger chassis. We also found a good handful of impeller parts in one of the aftercoolers. All this cascaded into a very sooty exhaust which caused the aftercooler to be covered in black buildup.

The job, actually, wasn’t that hard, but only being able to do it on weekends and the boat being 134 miles away, every setback or part need discovery cost us another whole week. So it took nearly all summer to finish. But it was fun and we learned a lot.

We're looking at Navigators in the 48 ft range. We will live on the boat and want to cruise the Caribbean as far south as Grenada. Is this a boat that do that kind of cruising. I'd want the boat to handle 10 ft seas just to be safe.

When hubby and i were researching our next boat...navigators were on our list. We really liked the interior layout and space. We ended up taking it off of our list because they don’t have the speed we need.
But I think they are very nice boats

Weird setup on the throttles/shifters on that model you're looking at. At the upper helm, the shifters are to port, and throttles to Stbd. The location of the thruster has you reaching around the wheel. This puts you on the port side of the boat if you're trying to come in on a Stbd side tie.

In the lower helm, the shifters and throttles are reversed. Now you have to keep that straight in your head when you shift from helm to helm. The thruster at the lower is a least more accessible to the shifters.

I suppose it could be changed (fixed?). That would annoy me.

Three things to pay attention to:

-- Good visibility, for two, from lower helm when under way
-- Access to all machinery, pumps, through hulls and rudders
-- Prior vessel upkeep and maintenance

Not to mention a good hull and mechanical survey along with decent records.

ChesapeakeLover said:

I've read a lot about the Navigator and like the boat - but I would like actual experiences and feedback.

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First, I want to say that I know almost nothing about Navigators other than there are a lot of them in my marina. Good friends of mine have a 48 & another friend has a 56. Both love their boats!
If you can find a clean well maintained one, they appear to have a lot of bang for the buck.

Navigators in Heavy seas

Does anyone have experience with the Navigator yachts in heavy seas, say 8-10 ft waves

Russell Clifton said:

I am not sure why but I have never heard a quite running Navigator. Always very noisy when they come into a marina. Not sure what it's like under way.

Maybe the mufflers are to small ?

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Had a few friends that owned Navigators over the years, and they liked them very much.

Our only real experience with them from another boater's perspective is, well, we refer to them as "wake machines..."

Volvos? Run from them as you would the plague.

Comments like "run from them like the plague" that is posted without any justification for reason for the comment being included should be ignored by everyone. FYI ... Volvos are just as good as Caterpillar, Cummins and GM. There are millions of Volvo freight trucks out on the highways running
24 hrs a day and they would not be there if they were expensive junk. Any brand of engine will be problematic if it is not operated or maintained properly

jkxtreme said:

Does anyone have experience with the Navigator yachts in heavy seas, say 8-10 ft waves

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We've run a 28 ft Express Cruiser in 8 ft. seas. Just about any 48ft boat will be fine in those conditions. It's the crew and captain that would be the concern.

When we were buying our current Viking sport cruiser we looked at navigators as well. They made our short list. We had the opportunity to test drive one and relative to our boat they don't track as well due to the lesser deadrise. They are kind of sloppy running and tracking in following seas. In general they are well made and a solid laminant hull. They have more of a trawler layout with more smaller spaces than the euro large salon layout in our Viking sc (a matter of personal taste). I also think they are probably under powered relative to many planing boats in that size.

As regards to 8 to 10 ft seas we have encountered rough conditions in our approximately 25,000 miles we have covered. I think the most important thing after the crew and captain experience and expectations in rough weather is how the boat holds up to repeated slamming coming off real 10 ft seas. It is very hard on a boat. So how things are fastened and the hull to deck joint, refrigerator, doors etc respond to repeated abuse is the real question. You need to find someone who has lots of hard miles on a navigator to really know how they will hold up to rough weather conditions

The other thing and perhaps more important is reliability. If all systems are running correctly many boats 50 ft will handle 10 ft seas. Of course swell versus steep wind seas are very different. So assuming steeper seas reliability is critical. A failure in rough conditions can be catastrophic. Lots of things break and require upkeep on larger boats especially those that are not new. So condition really matters and having a reliable boat for long distance travels is key. How are you going to deal with a fuel injection pump or turbo failure on some island in the Caribbean can you afford to fly in Volvo mechanics and parts to a remote island. This will happen if you travel far in a not new or exceptionally well kept boat

It is important to also recognize the difference between a low powered continuous duty rated diesel trawler and an aftercooled turbo diesel. The high horse power required for planing boats is significantly harder stress on a diesel then a normally aspirated low hp per liter diesel

stanfromhell said:

Comments like "run from them like the plague" that is posted without any justification for reason for the comment being included should be ignored by everyone. FYI ... Volvos are just as good as Caterpillar, Cummins and GM. There are millions of Volvo freight trucks out on the highways running
24 hrs a day and they would not be there if they were expensive junk. Any brand of engine will be problematic if it is not operated or maintained properly

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Totally agree. It's so silly when people say things like that.

Reviving this thread. Since I'm a new member, I can't PM. Tom B. can you send me the note you sent to ChesapeakeLover? Like to get your thoughts on Navigators. Thanks.