Azimut 40S

The baby in the S Series, the 40S rates as a sumptuous and sophisticated family weekender and big-city cruising coupe. Along with shaft/vee drive reliability and a faultless hull dressed in silver paint, our test boat had upgraded Xenta joystick docking, a sofa bed, rear electric awning and sunbathing cushions on the bow. Everything you need for some glam sports yachting.

OVERVIEW
- Italian boating bloodlines with lifted functionality
The 40-foot sportsyacht has always been a big hit in Australia. Riviera's classic 4000 Offshore was one of its all-time best sellers, for example. There were soft-top and hard-top versions, with the latter holding the greatest appeal. Collectively, the 4000 accounted for 244 builds. But the popular weekender had shortcomings, namely just one main cabin and no rear bulkhead.

The Azimut 40S answers that call. An egalitarian sportsyacht from the big Italian yard, which is famous for producing much bigger luxury private liners, the 40S offers ease of handling, two separate cabins and en suites, a full lock-up helm deck/saloon, plus snappy Italian styling and interior finishes.

The lines are from the pen of Stefano Righini, while the decor hails from the Carlo Galeazzi studio, which has worked with Baia, Chris-Craft, Alalunga, Gobbi and lots of glamorous Azimut projects.

While it isn't one of its newest models — Azimut released the 50 Fly, 77S and 95 RPM in 2014 and is already into its 2015 launches with news of a Magellano 66 — the 40S remains one of its best sellers. It's a mini big boat in many ways including the high standard of engineering.

Thanks to some clever packaging from importers 5 Star Motor Cruisers, the 40S we drove looked doubly smart, performed with true Italian 35-knot sportiness, while offering improved functionality and user-friendliness in a 40-footer well suited to our way of pleasure boating.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- Price premium for la dolce vita
As with most true luxury imported boats, you pay a premium. Quanto costa questo? The 5 Star package costs around $850,000 as tested and, as we pen this test and the Cannes boat show is running, the factory had a couple of 40S at that price. For this you get a turnkey sportsyacht with lifted luxury, extra amenities and comforts, docking aids and navigational gear.

Our 40S was fitted with the standard and only available power match, a pair of 480hp Cummins QSB-5.9 turbo diesels with traditional shaft/vee drives. The big upgrade was a Xenta docking system that controls the engines and bow thruster with a single helm-mounted joystick. Visiting your favourite inner-city waterfront is now a piece of cake.

Upgrades include smart painted silver hull, teak decks, underwater lights, electric cockpit awning, telescopic passerelle (gangway), Italian leather and walnut joinery, the bow sun-pad cushions that create another lounging zone, and a saloon sofa bed so this 40 sleeps 4+2.

The optional Raymarine C Wide electronics package included radar, which adds to the boat's visual intend, so you can navigate at sea with reassurance. Our boat also had generator and air-conditioning for autonomy and climate control for year-round cruising. There were other upgrades to the fit and finish to create a rather special 40S.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- Refined, considerate, spacious, sporty and stylish
A hydraulic swim platform comes standard to facilitate easy dispatch of the tender or jet ski. The 100kg passerelle, while popular in Europe, makes a wonderful dive board when not ushering people aboard. There's a concealed swim ladder and transom shower, with a door to port. We believe a hatch into a rear boot, that's accessible from the swim platform, would be a boon for fender and mooring line storage.

Once aboard, the cockpit seating is convertible. The lose table in the saloon helps create a U-shaped lounge setting at the transom. This converts to an aft daybed/sun pad. Otherwise, put the electric awning to use for some shade around midday on a couple of loose chairs plonked back near the saloon doors.

For lunch, there's seating for a family of four in the modest cockpit that can be boosted to cater for two families with the addition of some casual chairs. The storage is back under the moulded lounge base, hence you have to move crew to access fenders and the like. The deck gear is designer stuff and the mouldings also have some Italian flair and flare.

Walkaround decks lead forward and it's a safe passage backed by an angled bow rail and moulded toe rails. The sun pad cushions are on tracks so you can cruise with them in situ, the windlass is recessed to keep toes safe, and there's a pulpit seat on bow. But the boat didn't have an anchor wash, so a bucket it will have to suffice.

A combination sliding and bifold door allows the cockpit to flow indoors, where the saloon offers full weather protection and good views out the deceptively deep windows. With the spring sun beating down on the starboard L-shaped lounge we had to fight to stay awake. An electric sunroof and opening helm window provide natural ventilation.

The casual high/low table can seat four to six with those spare chairs, while the convertible sofa or day bed (using an integrated flip-out stainless-steel mechanism for virtual one-handed assembly) turns the saloon into a rumpus room. DVD days and snoring dads are catered for.

Inbuilt walnut cabinetry and a leather-topped servery with fiddles provides somewhere for the buffet lunch or drinks across from the dinette/sofa. We'd most certainly add a flat-screen television on some kind of removable but secure stand. The boat had a pioneer sound system and iPod dock.

As for the finish, it's all very smart. There are Italian-designer latches and square recessed lights, concealed air-con vents, textured curtains, grp liners mixed with soft panels. The chocolate-leather upholstery and walnut joinery were well illuminated in what is a light, airy and open saloon.

You can seat your crew inside the 40S and drive from the starboard helm station in all conditions. With the roof open, you can drive with the wind in your hair and eyes streaming. Top closed, the boat takes on a more enclosed and homely feel, but the all-important galley remains connected thanks to an atrium-like effect.

Apartment-like, the compact galley includes a trick pull-out microwave oven on tracks, two-burner electric cooktop with pasta-pot holder, decent fridge-freezer and storage cupboards and drawers, plus a subfloor hold for victuals. Stainless steel splashbacks and an opening portlight add to the utility.

The stateroom is forward with an island berth, opening portlights and escape hatch, nooks for books and iPad beside the bed, hanging space for two and under-mattress storage, more trick Italian reading lights and a good amount of headroom and dressing room.

The ensuite is surprisingly roomy, with one of those tardis-style showers with sliding circular Perspex screen on tracks. A skylight aids natural light while trick black wash basins lift the designer effect. With separate doors off the companionway and cabin, the boat's second day head doubles as the guest ensuite. Those in the stunning second cabin will welcome another full-sized shower with sliding screen.

Back aft to starboard, with twin single berths and signature hull glazing, the second-cabin competes with the stateroom in terms of comfort. We tested the beds and enjoyed the views out yonder, while noting opening portlights, Italian lights, hanging and dressing space at the entrance. All told, a very accommodating 40 sportsyacht.

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Big-boat engineering brought back down the line
A cockpit hatch leads down to the engine room where the engineering rates as first class. Just about everything is labelled, due consideration has been given to maintenance, with a handheld fluoro light and, while the access forward and around is a little tight due to the vee-drive arrangement, owners can reach everything for their routine pre-departure checks.

The standard of fit out is in keeping with much bigger Azimuts. The boat had upgraded twin Racor fuel filters per engine, which you don't normally find on a 40 footer, trusty sight gauges for the fuel tanks, a generator aft and amidships where you can reach the impeller and dipstick, and the engines were pared with their dipsticks on the centreline. The coolant bottles are close to the deck access hatch, too.

We like the big clear strainers for at-a-glance weed checks, the labelling of all the lines and through-hulls and flow arrows, and the neat electrical wiring. Fan-forced DC ventilation helps keep things cool, while the saloon floor lifts for more serious engine servicing. The weight of all the engineering items as nicely balanced.

The hull is a V-shape with 17.9 degrees of deadrise and a fine forefoot that sliced the wind chop and abundant peak-hour ferry wake during our Sydney Harbour test.

Azimut is the world's biggest fibreglass production-boat builder in terms of length of hull produced and construction is a highlight. The Italian factory uses resin-infused production for a very fair finish, with perhaps more exposed gelcoated finishes than you find on other makes. The moulded engine-room liner is welcome, while the moulded finishes extend indoors to sections of ceiling liner and a large white hardtop with sunroof.

Clearly, the technology has been brought back down the line to the 40S rather than small-boat thinking heading up. Of course there are limitations, but the 390 litres of water and 100-litre holding tank will service a long weekend, while the 1100 litres of fuel delivers a safe range of about 250 nautical miles (nm) at 22 knots cruise. In so doing, the 40S fulfils its anticipated pleasure-boating use.

ON THE WATER
- Proven performer with 480hp Cummins and vee drives
The 480hp Cummins QSB-5.9s are among the most common, proven and trusty diesel engines you'll find in boats (and other conveyances) today. They produce peak torque at 2200rpm and their stated 480hp at 3400rpm with what is a high-performance recreational diesel engine.

We decamped from the 5 Star Motor Cruisers digs at Sydney Wharf with ease. With a shunt and twist of the joystick, the Xenta had us clear of the marina berth and opposing boats armed with anchors on their bows. Low-speed manoeuvring on the gearshifts is typically responsive, too.

Up two steps, the lower helm is surrounded by lots of glass for great views and with the sunroof open you can drive with your head out for even clearer vision in tight spots. A leather wheel, the Raymarine 12in MFD, Smartcraft engine display, electronic throttles, Bennett trim tabs, low-glare dash panels, big wipers and raked screen add to the driving experience.

A spotlight and chain counter will assists during après dinner anchoring and mooring duties, air-con vents add to your year-round comfort, and the great vision helped us drive safely down Sydney Harbour in peak hour as indeed it should at night.

The hull is slippery and smooth running, with our notes recording “quiet,” too. We easily held 14-15 knots low-speed plane while traversing the transit zone around the Harbour Bridge before climbing through peak torque to 22-23 knots cruise for about 90 litres per hour in total. Fast cruise of 30 knots saw us reel in the Port Jackson straight whereupon we hit 34 knots top speed.

VERDICT
- Sensory stimulation, sophistication and Italian style
The point with all this isn't so much the litres per nautical mile and the cruising range of about 250nm, but the sensations underway. Italian boating is like that. You also need to look good.

The 40S is at once efficient, sporty, comfortable and compliant. It's a very good fit for big-city boating with plenty of Italian sophistication and style. The two-cabin/two head layout is one we've long espoused for pleasure boating. The way the test boat was set-up we'd have no hesitation in heading away on a coastal passage to explore new ports of call at holiday time.

Yes, you are paying a premium here, but you can see the legacy from Azimut's mostly bigger boat aboard the 40S. It is very well made, engineered and finished. It's got strong backing from the local importers and the big Italian brand offers plenty of sister ships should you grow out of your 40S. But do you really need to go bigger?

LIKES
>> Italian styling, great fit and finish, luxury appointments
>> Functionality enhanced by local dealer fitout
>> Ease of docking via Xenta joystick 
>> Slippery hull with excellent performance
>> Big brand and good local backing

NOT SO MUCH
>> A rear boot with hatch would improve fender and mooring line storage
>> No anchor wash, fresh or saltwater provided
>> The 40S has been a popular model and might not be far from an update

Specifications:
Price as tested: Around $850,000 with 480hp Cummins QSB-5.9, Xenta joystick docking including bowthruster, diesel generator, air-con, painted hull, teak decks, Raymarine package, electric awning underwater lights, bow cushions, upgraded finish and more
Priced from: As above for special factory deal at time of writing and landed in Australia
Length overall: 12.02m
Hull length: 11.58m
Beam: 4.09m
Weight: 12.4 tonnes dry
Draft: About 1.20m
Engines: 480hp Cummins QSB-5.9
Fuel: 1100 litres
Water: 390 litres
Holding tank: 103 litres + 40 litres grey
Accommodation: 4+2

Supplied by:
5 Star Motor Cruisers
Sydney Wharf, 56 Pirrama Road,
Pyrmont, NSW 2009.
Phone: (02) 9518 7777
Mobile: 0424 255 007.
See www.5starmotorcruisers.com.au.