The real difference in sea worthiness of motor yachts

Zeus is pretty much a dead tech. Avoid.

IPS and shafts, even with V-drives, are the only option.

One other boat/line you might consider is Azimut Magellano Fly 43 or 50.

We bought a used 2017 43 and love it for the 3 stateroom layout, 2 heads with separate showers, Cummins diesels with v-shafts and Xenta joystick, 3'11" draft, and look/style overall. Dinghy on swim platform with passerelle as lifting device is okay -- still getting hang of it. Moving up from a 27' Chaparral express cruiser, this was a manageable leap in terms of size and budget.

It cruises at 17knots and tops out at 21, which suits us.
I'd guess Azimut will evoke some emotions, so go easy as I'm just trying to offer helpful suggestions on alternatives for OP.

27' Chaparral; that's a single I/O isn't it? The 43 Azimut isn't my kind of boat, but she's pretty and coming from that single I/O you're going to love it especially around the dock. I hope she serves you well. Welcome to YF. Boat safe.

What about a 56 or 62 Neptunus?

Sounds nice. Enjoy! I'll be down your way end of this month for a long weekend trip from Cape May. We always enjoy Annapolis. Great place.

I've always like the look of many Ocean Alexander's. Many in the your size range. Many with upper and lower helms. And in your budget. They have a good reputation, as far as I know.

As an odd thing, Covid-19 has had amazing effects on the charter market. Like many other things, demand is off-the-charts. I've been looking for weeks with 2 different brokers to find a 55' charter (bare plus hired captain), and haven't found a boat yet (that I trust).

LMK if you find a way to do it (overnight). I'm in a similar interest area as you, and haven't been able to find a (charter) way to go out. (And dealers don't let you take models out overnight - at least from what I've found).

I note that nobody has mentioned the Absolute Navetta 52 or 58 here yet for this same mission / usage that the original poster mentioned (wintertime FL/Bahamas, possible cruise to Caribbean). The 58 is a bit more than that poster's budget, but the 52 might be had for a bit over $1m.

The Navetta's got my eye, having:
- Most of the creature comforts mentioned (though I haven't seen any boat with a watermaker yet); e.g. a decent refrigerator (though not a home-sized one); dishwasher; laundry; etc.
- Semi-displacement hull, for those who expect to spend most time trawling along at slow speeds, but want the ability to run at 25+kts when needed;
- Pretty. Decent sized cabins, modern Italian decor, etc.
- Upper and lower helms.
- The 58 is designed for decent range (230nm @ 15kts with 10% reserve, 900nm @ 6kts!). (Italians apparently use the term "Navetta" to denote a long-range cruising vessel.)
- Hull design designed to remain efficient even when pushing higher speeds.
- Crew quarters

Cons:
- Fly isn't enclosed / air-conditioned (though with main-level bridge, this is irrelevant).
- Another European product, so possible service / parts supply hassles.
- Bizarre lack of "spouse seat" at the bridges.

Neutral stuff:
- Average storage. When I looked at it, I saw little bits everywhere, though "big areas of storage" were not abundant. Maybe less storage in the galley than I'd like.
- Pods.
- Though I don't put huge stock in their reviews, Boat Test gave it a good look and decent compliments (including a "creak and rattle-free ride", to contrast to the comments about the "other" brand....)
- Vertical bow can be visually off-putting to some, but I kinda like the overall profile.

I note that vintage seems to be important. Absolute has been tweaking things - especially the galley - in the 2021 and 2022 models. The galley was counter-space-shy in the 2017-2020 models.

Anybody have thoughts about the brand / build / ...?

I am more interested in quality of the Absolute brand ? I find other Italian boats are lower quality than others.....feedback......

You know it depends on how you look at it. If you have a POD issue, you can ship a new POD pretty much anywhere pretty easily and just about anyone can install it.

Back to Absolute. I've never run one yet. I've heard the quality is pretty good overall. However, they're a mid quality boat and quality is pretty good and a price point boat. I've heard they're a good step above Prestige.

Italian builders have long earned their reputation here in the United States. Most Italian brands have horrible warranty support, always try to blame issues on the owner and not the product, and so forth. The way Italian yachts are built with the majority of them sub-contracting the electrical and interior to other companies and none of them follow the plans or even install the same equipment from boat to boat is another good reason. An electrical diagrahm from Azimuts only useful purpose is for toilet paper. A lack of small parts availability or even using the same light fixtures from yacht to yacht. Foresti and Suardi is another example, Italians love to use their lights, which they happen to love to sell for 6 months then re-design the style and can't get replacements. The poor use of interior furnishings that aren't designed for the marine environment is another. The lack of access/space to repair and maintain the yacht is another. Crew quarters that are designed for 10 year old boys is another. Very few break away from this mold.

I've heard numerous people say this over the years, not just on YF. I was out to dinner with a group of people following the Palm Beach show and the subject came up. Turns out a captain running two different Azimuts over a 10 year period was sitting at a table next to us and overheard our discussion. He joined the conversation and confirmed the difficulty he faced with support and how they attempted to blame him for the issues.

I do believe it is fair to say after all these years and all the reports that the level of service provided on Azimuts in Europe and in the US is substantially different. The reputation in Europe is excellent. The reputation in the US is very poor. Whether it's the fault of Azimut or of Marine Max or a combination of the two is debatable and really irrelevant as the resulting issues are simply what they are. I think it's a shame as they clearly are capable of building an excellent boat, but when you face service problems from the outset in the US then that must be considered.

Now, I also think it is unwise to extend the Azimut issue to all Italian builders. We own 2 and manage 2 more Riva's and have never had any issues on them. Similarly, I know many owners of other Ferretti group boats, including Pershing and Ferretti, who have had excellent experiences.

In purchasing a new Absolute, I would absolutely want to check out the reputation of their dealer in your area and understand what to expect there. In Fort Lauderdale, it's One Water Yacht Group, formerly Grande Yachts, and they own Roscioli Yachting Center. I'd feel good about Roscioli as a service provider. However, elsewhere it may be different. Incidentally, they are now also the dealer for Belize, Chris Craft, Prestige, Riviera, and Sunseeker. Tom George sold his business to One Water and is now leading One Water. One Water has 69 locations.

The purchases of Roscioli and Tom George took place in December.