Benetti's - Anyone w/ Experience?

Funny the generalizations you guys make. I run a new 85' Italian boat with my wife. Not only do I change the oil, but have fixed the toilet. No big deal. Some things harder to do than other things but that's true with nearly all boats. There's always a trade-off. To get closer to perfection, my next boat probably won't be any production boat. Me like "Beothuk"!

By the way, I don't change the oil on my 599 but I do change the tires myself when I've taken it to the track. Definitely not a track car, but great fun to drive. But I guess shear fun is not allowed...

Two valid POV on form and function(maintenance,repair) in terms of what the person likes, and what they do whether is part of the enjoyment or plain work. The polarizer is very personal for sure.

One thing is for sure, those "style rich cultures" that came before us have influenced very much what we like in terms of form. There is no denying that Italy is one of the power houses in this area.

Regarding function looks like there is some consensus among captns that Italian mass produced yachts (i.e Azimut) do tend to break more just like the GMs/Fords/Dodge of the 1980's/1990s and there is/are true quality issue(s), maybe it is because there are more of them so there is a larger probability for the issue to register (sample size).

It is my understanding that Benetti is the "custom" upper class brand name of the Azimut/Benetti company and typically will make the larger yachts for some time now. What I'm trying to find out is whether for example a Benetti ~50m yacht requires significantly higher yearly maintenace/up-keep than a ~50m Heesen or a Palmer-Johnson. Is it 20% of yacht cost for Benetti v.s 10% of yacht cost for a Heesen with similar LOA/features/crew-size/yearly-trips/marina-costs/etc. or at the end is it a wash? I do understand the sample size is small and that why the data may be hard t come by...

In a $50M yacht there is a difference when we talk about $5M v.s $10M in terms of maintenance/up-keep costs (i.e it is felt in the pocket), and also a difference if the owner has to change more his yachting itinerary trips because of yacht readiness due to additional up-keep work (annoyance) .