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Old 10-27-2019, 05:59 PM   #5
lipets
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City: FL
Vessel Model: Benneteau Swift 42
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 469
Have you read the reviews online?
"complained of handling problems on the Great Lakes in Michigan and complained that he thought the beam was not wide enough and that the props are too close together. He also stated that he had a hard time getting support from the Azimut."


"narrow beam" (not sure why that was said it's 13' 8" for 42 that's about right.)


"I'd say their interior joinery and fittings are NOT way ahead of the others"


"I think they're a bit over styled so they could date more quickly than more conservative designs but the current designs look the biz to me eyes, esp the 53 and 58. FWIW and based on my experience with the AZ46, Azimut do seem to use high quality equipment in their boats; mine had stuff like Kohler genny, Cruisair a/c, Vacuflush bogs, Racor filters, PSS shaft seals etc. No HFL or Whittall **** to be found. My boat had some nice practical features like big enclosed fairleads, fuel fillers in spillage traps, big anchor and chain etc
Like any Italian boats, mine had some stupidities too. The helm ergonomics are not great, as you have pointed out, and fixed helm seats are not acceptable on any boat of this value. But poor helms seem to be a general Italian blind spot so Azimut are not alone. Also another Italian characteristic and it's certainly the case with some Azimuts is a large engine bay but at the expense of a storage lazarette, which is disadvantage if you need to carry stuff. Another Azimut thing are the electric side windows which look great at boat shows but fail as I well know. My favorite bit of bone headed design on my boat was the aft facing fridge in the galley which emptied it's contents on to the galley floor every time the boat went on to the plane, unless the tiny door lock was engaged."


"Joinery.

IMHO the joinery work is not up with the others. If not exposed screw heads they are covered with cheap plastic caps. also many I have seen are mild steel and rusting.

Machinery.

Yes. In some ways over engineered, but not thought about. I've seen major electrical junction boxes mounted inline with poor shaft seals causing water to spray over them. Batteries mounted in nearly impossible to access places (az 47), passerells mounted with seriously poor reinforcement."




But there were plenty that loved the boat.

Good luck, enjoy if your offer is accepted
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