the azimut az 42 -...
TRANSCRIPT
WITH HER
CHERRY JOINERY
AND SAUCY PROFILE,
THE AzIMUT AZ 42 HAS
RED-HOT PIZZAZZ.
BY CAPT. BILL PIKE The wind was blowing a steady 22 knots the day I tested Azimut's AZ 42, with gusts robust enough to blow my hat
off-dockside. The first time "01' Blue" went sailing, I was
hunkered in the cockpit, passing tools through a teak-clad hatch into a well-laid-out engine room with close to five-foot
headroom . Associate editor Brad Dunn was down there,
enjoying a little OIT, toggling a couple of fu el-flow sensors
into the starboard main, a 385-hp Caterpillar 3126TA.
"Dang," I yelled, as the hat wafted over the aft settee and landed precariously on the broad swim platform, in the shade
of a shiny, optional passa relle. The speed and agility with
which I retri eved it was a revela ti on to youn g Dunn and
others onboard, I think. I'm fast for an old guy. And I'm also
superstitious about hats. In fa t, the se ond time the darn
thing blew off, disappearing for good, I immediately resolved
to flip-flop my standard operating procedure and do the walk
through before the sea trial. onditions might abate.
Once Dunn finished up with the test gear intallation, the
two of us sta rted our tou r of the interior of the 42 with the
master stateroom, which is a veritable showplace of elegance
and refinement. Reflections from the natural cherry furnish
ings here seemed to be a couple of fathoms deep, thanks to
seven layers of polyurethane varnish, wet-sanded and buffed
between each application. The doors on the port and sta r
board hanging lockers against the aft bulkhead swing on top
of-the-line Wurth hinges, with n ifty Lamp pop-out latches.
Lockers and doors are superbly finished inside and out, as are the drawers beneath the lockers, with their thick, mahogany
plywood bottoms. And the cushy 5'x6 '/2' island berth with
seven-inch-thick mattress is flanked by culved, shelf-like end
tables with sculpted, strip-laminated cherry fiddles. Just the
Eye-over-eye side windows-the lat est in high fashion.
August 1999 POWER & MOTORYACHT 123
Exteri o r and interior surfaces are thoroughly finished in the
master stateroom (above) and the smaller guest cabin (right).
spot for safely stowing a book and a pair of glasses. Abaft the master, on the port side, there's an en suite head,
directly across from the day head. Each of these little rooms has
its own shower stall with a rotating, tubular translucent enclosure. While the enclosure in the day head worked smoothly, the
one in the master tended to bind. Otherwise, each compartment
is virtually identical to the other, with Granulon countertops
and wash basins, VacuFlush MSDs, and opening ports. Although the hiss-hot curves and raked lines of both the 42's
exterior and interior styling are as Italian as designer Stefano
Righini himself, the galley, abaft the master head and on the
same deck level, is crammed with Americanized touches and amenities, from an open and expansive ambiance to appli
ances with familiar names like Princess and GE. Countertops are
of Granulon again, and the molded-in double sinks are large
and deep enough for real-world use.
While our test boat had a two-stateroom layout, a three-state
room version is available. It shifts the galley to a window-bright
ened area otherwise occupied by a small but comfortable
three-seat settee on the port side of the saloon and adds a small
cabin in the galley's former location on the bottom deck, with
bunks, side shelves, cherry lockers, and an opening port.
Dunn and I found the 42's saloon, three steps above the
124 POWER & MOTORYACHT August 1999
accommodations/galley deck, to be as elegantly styled and fin
ished as the master. The starboard dinette, with a gorgeously fin
ished, adjustable burl and cherry table, offers U-shape seating
for six, an easy-to-see entertainment center wired for a TV and
VCR, and a cherry cabinet for tableware and bottle stowage. The lower helm, just forward of the dinette, is a couple of steps above
the sa loon sole and offers excellent visibility forward through
two big, convex windshield panels that are flush mounted in
molded-fiberglass receivers. The steering console is unabashedly
automotive, with an adjustable Teleflex wheel, VDO instru
ments, and curvaceous burl dashboard inserts. One detail I espe-
You and your vessel need
to understand each other;
you issue the command;
it rcsponds. It's that sLmple.
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cially liked was the height of the synthetic leather overhead over
the console-no noggin' knockin' here.
Time flies when you're hoping it won't. Immediately upon exiting the saloon through the heavy, sliding stainless steel door
in the aft bulkhead, Dunn and I discovered that a couple of
hours inside the boat had done nothing to change the weather.
So after traversing side decks protected by stem-to-stem bowrails with double lifelines and checking out the Lofrans windlass and
the anchor locker at the bow, we collected Capt. Robert Munch
bach, an employee of Sea Ray Boats, which announced a part
nership with Azimut during the Miami Boat Show this year, and
climbed the cockpit stairway to the flying blidge.
Single-lever Mathers electronic controls m ade getting out of
our berth look easy enough for Munchbach . Not wanting to
tempt fate by trying to maneuver an unfamiliar boat on an
exceptionally windy da y without my lucky hat, I stuck with
driving the 42 from the lower station, out Government Cut and
into the Atlantic, where six- to eight-foot seas were crashing the
jettie. Top speed in the cut was a respectable 38 mph, and the ride
in the ocean at about half that speed was tab-sensitive but com
fortable and illy, mostly due to a transom deadrise of 17 degrees
and long, wide chines that blast water back where it came from.
Driving the 42 from the upper station was pretty dry as well,
despite the weather and the helm seat, which I found uncom-
<>
fOltably canted in relation
ship to the wheel and with a
low, unsupportive back. But
visibility was excellent. Munchbach took the
helm as we returned to the
marina- the wind was still
whooping-and docked the
42 as smoothly as he'd undocked the boat earlier.
My conclusions? Azi
mut's AZ 42 is a stylish, red
hot charmer, with a superb fit and finish, an American
ized layout, and solid per
formance as well, even in
atrocious weather. 0
Azimut .. (407) 459-
2930. Fax: (407) 455-6563 .
• , The AZ 42's elegant saloon
" - is the place to be .
PMY TESTED: AZIMUT AZ 42 Base pri(e: $500,000 with 2/350·hp Coterpillor 3116 TA di esel inboards Optional power: 2/ 385·hp Coterpillar 3126TA diesel inboards Standard equipment: Lolrons onchor windloss; upper ond lower helm stonons; 220/ 11 OV electricol system; Shipmote RS 8300 VHf; VOO instrumentcr
non; Sony AM/fM stereo; Seoward Princess Jburner stove; GE microwove oven; 2jVocuflush MSOs; 39,00Q.BTU Cruisoir A/ C; HW Kohler genset Construdion: Solid-gloss bonom with Oivinycell· cored fRP hull sides, deck, superstructure, stringers, ond othwortship members; bi· ond triilxiol fobric lominotes with GP resin ond vinylester skin coot
t26 POW ER & MOTORYACHT August t999
SPECIFICATIONS LOA: 42'7"; Beam: 13'8"; Droit: 3'7"; Maximum headroom: 7'2"; Weight: 24,000 Ibs.; Fuel (opacity: 325 gal.; Water (opacity: 135 gal.; Test engines: 385·hp Caterpillar 3126TA diesel inboards Transmission: Zf; Ratio: 2:1; Props: 24x3 4 Hlode
Nibml; Steering: Teleflex; Controls: Mothers MinoCommonder; Trim tabs: 8ennen; Optional equipment on test boat: Autohelm ST 5000 outopilot; Roytheon RL 70 mdar/ ploner/ GPS; possarelle; teok cockpit decking; Rariton cockpit icemoker
RPM MPH GPH MPG 1M NM DECIBELS
750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750
(KNOll) (NMPG) RANGE RANGE
7.3 (6.3) 10.0 (8.7) lLB (10 .3) 12.7 (11.0) 17.1 (14.9) 22.6 (196) 28.0 (24.3) 33.3 (28.9) 38.0 (33.0)
2.6 2.81 (244) 4.8 2.07 (LBO) 8.6 1.37 (1.19)
18.0 0.71 (0.61) 21.6 0.79 10.69) 25.8 0.87 (0.76) 28.6 0.98 (085) 31.4 1.06 (0.92) 37.6 1.01 (0.88)
821 606 401 206 232 256 286 310 296
714 527 349 179 201 222 249 269 257
63 65 71 74 75 78 83 78 79
Conditions: temperoture: 88'; humidity: 91 %; wind: 25·30 mph; seas: 6'·8'; load: ';' fuel, no water, 5 persons, light gear. Speeds are fwo·woy overages measured w/Stolker radar gun . GPH measured with DZL fuel monitoring system. Range: 90% of advertised fuel eopocity. Decibels measured on A seole. 65 d8 is the level of normal conversation.