[ignacio]

a good friend has owned one for about 4years. almost every system has failed often repeatedly. parts often have to be flown from italy at great expence and delay.

one of the worst failures was a hydraulic line bursting behind the wall! what a mess!

the inside steering station is awful. windshield is so severely raked you can't see a darn thing. my friend is very sorry he didn't buy a hatteras. depreciation on the azimut has been nearly 80% over 4 yrs! ouch!

[cognac]

What model would that be?

[Nudibranch]

We own an Azimut 50 and are generally quite happy with it.
With a few modifications made by us it now suits how we like to spend time on the water down here in NZ but you're right, I think there are a few things Azimut could improve on.

The electronics can sometimes be questionable, and I've also heard stories about the electrics on Italian motorcycles too. I heard someone once say buy a Ducati and send it to Germany for rewiring.

Nearly everything in the included (leather bound) manual from Azimut does not relate to the actual vessel. Things like locations of manifolds for the fresh water system etc. Obviously the boat design and some equipment has been updated since it's early design and they haven't bothered to update the manual which I do realize could be expensive for them to keep up to date but it could actually be hazardous if it gets much worse and they really should get someone to proof read the manual who is more fluent in the languages for the respective versions.

It's interesting you mention the rake on the windshield. We too have found the angle to be quite bad. We have the blue and cream colour scheme for our yacht and what we noticed was the reflection on the glass from the cream panels below the windshield impeded our vision for anything in our field of vision below the stainless safety railing outside. I removed the panels and had them colour matched to the blue of the surrounding panels by Colorglo ltd. They did a really good job and now it's as if we've applied polarizing glass to the windshield and they don't look too out of place.

What I also find pretty disappointing now is how difficult it is to correspond with Azimut when we need help from them for an issue onboard. We are on the other side of the planet and it feels our Azimut agent and broker doesn't get much more help than what we would from them either. It takes days to get a reply and it's often insufficient to fix the problem.

And now the boat is out of warranty they really can't be bothered dealing with us at all which really doesn't do much to improve the 'word on the street' about the boats.

It seems to me Azimut could actually be selling anything. What they are most concerned about selling and managing is the lifestyle associated with luxury yachting not the yachts themselves or existing owners.... or maybe 50ft. just isn't big enough to worry about.

But at the end of the day we're pretty stoked and are very grateful for invaluable advice from other Azimut owners prior to purchasing. All I would suggest for someone thinking of one and probably any boat is use the heck out of it in the first year. Get used to everything about the boat and get as many problems sorted within the warranty period as possible. Especially heavy things like black water pumps which would have cost as much as one just to fly it out here!

[CaptPKilbride]

*****ing about the raked windshield cracks me up. The windshield was like that before you bought it, right?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Nudibranch

I heard someone once say buy a Ducati and send it to Germany for rewiring.

(Going OT here for a sec...)
Right... because Bosch electrics are so much better than anything else out there. They beat Lucas, but only just barely.

[Capt J]

I have managed 4 different Azimuts. A 70' Seajet, 2- 68' Plus' and a 50'. They are the most maintanence and repair heavy boats I have ever managed. Also ordering parts is a mission, then after waiting 3 weeks you end up with the wrong part and have to wait all over again. Rob at Marinemax (Surfside) in long Island is the best person to deal with. The electrical and the way they do things leaves a lot to be desired sometimes. The 50' was the easiest of the bunch because it doesn't have many systems.

The reason the manual doesn't match up with many things on the boat is because Azimut doesn't build a lot of the boat. They do the superstructure and machinery. Then they sub-contract the interior and electrical out to other people. None of the azimuts are alike even from hull to hull and it can be frustrating. I managed two 68's that were 2 hulls apart and nothing was even in the same location electrically. The 68's electrical is a nightmare.

[revdcs]

Has anyone noticed the date of the original post. All of his (3) posts were made in 2006. I think this guy is long gone.