Azimut Verve 48 Yacht Review

You don’t get to be the biggest boatbuilder in the world (by number of vessel feet constructed) for 24 years in a row without having your finger on the pulse of the global marine market. Back in 2016, Italian shipyard group Azimut Benetti, which forged its reputation building large motoryachts and megayachts, saw that demand for outboard-powered weekend cruisers was growing rapidly. They jumped right in with the Azimut Verve 40.

“I wanted a [boat] with the power and performance of the high-end U.S. center consoles but with Italian looks, design and construction. It was really an experiment,” said Federico Ferrante, president of Azimut Benetti Americas.

The Verve 40 proved to be an immediate success, but when Azimut launched the next model in the series, the Verve 47, in late 2019, it was an even bigger hit. “It was our most successful model in terms of the number of units sold in such a short time,” Ferrante said.

A couple of years later, Azimut decided to replace the Verve 47 with an updated model in order to take advantage of Mercury Marine’s new 600-horsepower, V12s. They would call it the Verve 48. “We called it ‘Mission Impossible’ internally,” Ferrante said.

Well, not so impossible, as it turns out. As soon as I boarded the 48 at the MarineMax dealership in Dania Beach, Florida, I could see the added space savings that Azimut’s design team gained from switching the boat’s propulsion package from quad 450-horsepower outboards to triple 600s. This new model should offer similar 50-plus knot top-end performance to the Verve 47. “We gained 35 percent more deck space,” Ferrante said.

The Verve 48 has a much larger swim platform than its predecessor, with a rectangular pad on either side of the engines instead of the 47’s narrower “V.” In addition, one of the boat’s key selling points, the port-side fold-out gunwale, is larger, extending all the way back to the transom. When the boat is docked starboard-side-to or at anchor, the bigger platforms seriously expand the aft cockpit area, facilitating a wide range of water sports. The carbon-fiber hardtop has also been redesigned with a larger sunroof so you can better feel the wind in your hair when running at speed.

And speaking of speed, experiencing the Verve 48 with triple Verado 600s on the transom was a real treat. At low speeds, these beasts were very well-behaved. Ferrante used the Mercury joystick to back the boat out easily through a narrow fairway between two larger vessels at the start of our sea trial. The engines were exceptionally quiet on the ride to Port Everglades Inlet, allowing us to enjoy tunes from the Fusion sound system.

But it was out in the Atlantic in nasty, three- to four-foot seas that the brawny V12s really performed. Powering naval architect Michael Peters’ patented SVVT double-stepped hull, they produced tremendous torque on acceleration, lifting the boat out of the hole and onto plane in seconds. It was impressive to see how the hull cleanly parted the seas, diverting spray to either side of the bow, keeping us dry and comfortable. The windshield even stayed dry when we throttled up to 40 knots. The boat handled the rough conditions beautifully, and the stylish helm seats proved to be ergonomic.

Everything else that made the Verve 47 a bestseller is pretty much the same on the Verve 48, including Francesco Struglia’s edgy, asymmetric design and innovative hull windows, which allow you to see the dock while pulling in. For me, the boat’s biggest appeal is the quality that has trickled down to the Verve series from Azimut’s larger motoryacht models. There are plenty of examples of this throughout the boat, including the vessel monitoring system with an elegant graphical user interface displayed on one of three 16-inch Raymarine screens. “It’s the same monitoring system as on an Azimut 80,” Ferrante said, adding, “[The Verve 48] is a very prime product; it fits in our 60- to 80-foot bracket in terms of the quality of the materials that are standard, and the construction.”

The Verve 48 debuted at the 2023 Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show. In terms of sales, she already appears to be the 47’s successful successor. “We have orders into 2025,” Ferrante said.

Verve 48 Specifications:

LOA: 49’4”
Beam: 13’5”
Draft: 4’3”
Displ.: 39,242 lb.
Fuel: 618 gal.
Water: 79 gal.
Power: 3/Mercury Verado 600-hp

This article originally appeared in the February 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

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Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/outboard/azimut-verve-48-yacht-review