New to Yachts, Need Some Guidance

He most likely just does bottom fishing in 40-50' of water.

Prestige and very good quality do not go hand in hand. I've put a lot of miles on a 50' Prestige, it's a much better boat than the 46'. But built light, fuel range at cruise is only 160NM with a safe margin, 2-4' seas would be my maximum I'd want to take it in. Prestige sells the sizzle but not the steak.

Personally I'd be looking at a Sunseeker manhattan in that size range or a flybridge Tiara. Maritimo is also worth a look and in between a motoryacht and sportfish.

50ish Flybridge is a great boat for cruising to keys, Bahamas, across Caloosahatchee, ICW - or towards Mobile/Tenn Tom with family and guests.
-It’s not a 3-4’ seas boat because you, your family and guests probably won’t be comfortable in those conditions
-it’s not a fishing boat - except maybe “beer fishing” off the rear cockpit when anchored out.
But it is a
-great platform for slow cruising -like you are in a parade
-anchoring out, grilling and relaxing
-marina-ing in cool places where every night is a party where you wave at your marina pals like you are on your porch at Lake Woebegone
-look for liveable Flybridge, grill, fridge, sunpad on bow... it’s so different animal from a sport fish.

Besides dealer boats check out great used platforms like Krogen Express, Grand Banks, Sunseeker, SeaRay L series,, or upscale to Fleming or Marlow. If you want slower - check out trawlers... but I like the semi displacement speed when I want to “buy time” by going faster

I just made the trip across the Okeechobee and it was a very cool trip. Good luck in your search.

What are your top 5 needs and top 5 would be nice to have's in a 50' MY?

I'd be looking at the Sunseeker Manhattan. The 55' Princess fly would also meet your needs at a higher price point and my preference would still be the Sunseeker. I ran a 2011 52' Predator the other day and it rode very well in a 3' sea, cruised at 27.5 knots, topped at 33 knots...….a manhattan would lose 2 knots at both points.

A watermaker can be added to any 50'ish yacht you purchase. BUT, unless you plan on anchoring more than 1 night at a time, or are spending 30+ days a year in the Bahamas, I'd advise against it. Besides the purchase Price of the water maker and install $10k +/-, you have to flush them once a month, change the prefilters on them (I put fresh ones in before every Bahamas trip and we do a trip every 2-6 months, but make 200-300 gallons a day or more every single day we're over there for 10-14 days), the oil in the high pressure pump periodically, clean the sea strainer and etc. You can buy A LOT of water, if you're staying in marinas...… for the cost of one, and don't forget if you're making water at a marina, you're paying electricity to make it so it's not saving you a whole lot, on generator you're burning a tiny bit more fuel.

I have A LOT of experience with the 50' Prestige Fly. I've run it to and from MD 3 or 4 times from/to South Florida, to the far Bahamas (Exumas/Harbor Island). It is an ok boat, the build quality is very average, but good enough in most areas. A lot of things they could've/should've done better. I've heard reports from a surveyor of hull delamination around the fuel tank area but have never seen it. The IPS exhaust shakes the entire boat when running tied up. It is not a great sea boat. It is ok, but not great. I've had it in as much as 5-6' and let's just say I wouldn't decide to take it out in that.....2-4' would be my limit on that boat. Range is very limited, around 160 NM, and running to Nassau from Ft. Laud you really need to stop for fuel and splash some in Cat or Chub Cay (then have to clear customs when you do wasting more time). For a local boat and the occasional Bahamas trip if you pick your weather it would be ok.

As for the IPS, they're a double edged sword. I've been seeing several of them in the 2015-ish range needing the drives rebuilt at the tune of around $30k each. They're smooth at cruise, quiet, no vibration, fuel efficient etc. and highly maneuverable.

A friend and neighbor owns a Prestige, he is not happy nor impressed..
That brand would be on the bottom of my list.
Sunseeker is way up the list and quite a few Boats in between.

I owned a volvo ips boat and would stay away, to complicated and not very reliable. I'm back to shafts and struts!!

A common complaint among a handful of Prestige owners I know with boats ranging from 45' to 62' is tankage and storage, two very important considerations if long range cruising and long periods of time aboard are part of your plan. Next time you are aboard one, really examine the lockers, pantry and overall storage capabilities to get a true sense of how it would be to live with what's there. Take good look at fuel, holding tank and fresh water capacities (realizing you may install a watermaker) and think on how well they will really work for you in the real-world use of the boat. Another common frustration they share is product support and parts availability as there are a number of proprietary or French systems and parts that they've had trouble servicing or replacing, even with dealer assistance. Nothing insurmountable that I've heard, but frustrating to be sure.

I looked at the Prestige 520 before ordering a Galeon 500 Fly from MarineMax. MarineMax is a great network of dealerships. I looked a the Prestige 520 and was not happy with the quality. Galeon IMHO has much better quality. The 500 weighs in at 50,000 LBS.!! It also COMES with SeaKeeper. I was very impressed with the sea trial. I looked at Princess, Sunseeker, Azimut, Aboslute, etc, but for the money I wanted to spend this was my best bet. PM me if you want to discuss further. Best of luck in your choosing your vessel.