Azimut 42

The Azimut 42 is a two-cabin flying-bridge motor yacht of just under 13 metres, introduced by the Turin-based yard in 1999. At launch it sat at the top of the Fly range, below the larger motor yachts in the wider Azimut line, and it was aimed at owner-drivers who wanted an Italian-styled weekender and short-cruising boat rather than a crewed vessel. Its frameless, teardrop saloon side windows were unusual for a flybridge boat of that date and became the model's most recognisable feature.

Three different boats have worn the 42 badge at Azimut. This page describes the first of them, the flybridge 42 that entered production in 1999. The 42 Evolution that followed from 2003 was a distinct model with a longer hull, a different engine package and its own accommodation options; it is documented separately in this wiki. A later 42 Flybridge, launched in the 2010s on a wholly new hull, is a third and unrelated boat. Nothing below should be read as applying to either of those.

Hull and superstructure are moulded GRP. The exterior was drawn by Stefano Righini, with interior design credited to Carlo Galeazzi — the pairing responsible for most Azimut work of the period. Published metric figures give an overall length of about 12.99 m including the pulpit, a beam of 4.16 m, a full-load draft of roughly 1.1 m and a full-load displacement near 14,000 kg, with about 1,100 litres of fuel and 400 litres of fresh water.

The standard layout puts an ensuite owner's cabin with an island double forward, a guest cabin with twin berths amidships, and the galley down on the lower deck. Two heads are fitted, the second doubling as the day head. A three-cabin conversion was also built, moving the galley up into the saloon to free a third cabin and raising the sleeping count to six; boats advertised as "3 cabin model" are that version, and it appears to have been a minority of production. The saloon has an inside helm to starboard, and an external stairway leads to the flybridge, which carries the upper helm, a settee and a sunpad.

Power was twin Caterpillar 3126 turbodiesels on conventional shafts. The rating is usually quoted as 385 hp per engine, although brokerage listings and some databases show 390 or 395 hp for the same engine, which is probably rating-tolerance and repetition rather than a separate option. No sterndrive, pod or waterjet version was offered. Independent tests of the boat report a maximum of roughly 32 to 33 knots and a comfortable cruise around 27 to 28 knots.

Production dates are not entirely settled. Curated model databases place the first-generation 42 between 1999 and 2003, when the Evolution arrived, while at least one US buyer's guide and one magazine feature describe a run continuing to about 2005. The 1999–2003 window is used here because it is what separates this boat cleanly from the Evolution.