Aicon 56 Flybridge Review and Used Buyer's Guide

Aicon 56: the boat that launched a Sicilian brand

The Aicon 56 was the first yacht Aicon ever sold, and it arrived with surprisingly little fanfare for a model that would establish a brand in the United States. Yachting's preview of the fall 2002 shows listed it as the first of three models due in late 2002 and early 2003, a three-stateroom, three-head motoryacht drawn by Fulvio De Simoni for the American market, with Caterpillar, Raymarine and Glendinning components. The 52 and the 64 followed.

Yachting's sea trial, published in its December 2002 issue, ended with a strong recommendation: for one of the first boats out of the box from a new builder, the test 56 had surprisingly few loose ends, and Aicon looked like a serious competitor worth a serious look. Two decades later, the Aicon 56 is a used-market boat, and anyone shopping one should understand both the yacht and the company that built it.

From interior subcontractor to boatbuilder

Aicon did not start with boats. According to Yachting, the company spent about 15 years building interiors for other Italian yacht builders before it began building its own boats around 2000, and by 2002 it had more than 250 employees and three production facilities in Sicily with about 276,000 square feet under cover. It planned to build two 56s a month. Motor Boat and Yachting gave the founding date as 1993.

That background explains the 56's strengths. Aicon made its own interiors and fabricated almost all of the stainless steel aboard in its own yard, and the high-gloss cherry joinery on the test boat had the luster Italian builders are known for. The company opened Aicon USA in Florida to sell and support the boats, and later expanded the range to larger flybridges and open hardtops up to the mid 80-foot range.

The Aicon name continues today: a relaunched Aicon Yachts operates from Giammoro in the province of Messina, with an office in North Miami, building new models. Owners of older boats should not assume parts and drawings for a 2002 model are on the shelf there, but the brand is still alive.

Fulvio De Simoni's lines and a 22-degree bottom

Aicon's own technical sheet gives the 56 an overall length of 57 feet with a 56-foot hull, a 16-foot 1-inch beam, 4 feet of draft and a full-load displacement of 25.5 tonnes, about 56,000 pounds. The bottom carries 22.4 degrees of deadrise amidships and 16.8 degrees at the transom, which Yachting judged well suited to offshore work, with a soft, dry ride through stout wakes.

Stylistically the boat was a refinement of what American buyers liked in Italian flybridges at the time: a raked superstructure, a low-slung radar arch with an extension that lifts the radar above head height, a slight reverse sheer and a reverse transom with an integral swim and tender platform. It looks of its era today, but cleanly so.

Caterpillar 3406 power, brochure versus test

Aicon specified twin Caterpillar 3406 diesels. Its brochure quoted 811 hp each and claimed a 32-knot maximum and 28-knot cruise, with the usual caveat that results depend on conditions, load and maintenance. All boats shipped to the US were to be fitted with 800 hp 3406E engines.

Yachting's test in hot South Florida summer conditions recorded 27.6 knots at 2,200 rpm, 100 rpm short of Caterpillar's recommended maximum. Aicon said Italian sea trials on the same boat reached full rpm and a few more knots, and expected about 31 knots top and a 27-knot cruise once the propellers were adjusted. The tester found the boat responsive to the throttle, even in acceleration and predictable in high-speed turns, though a failed hydraulic pump left the power steering inoperative during the trial. Sound levels were reasonable, with a throaty underwater exhaust note at the transition to plane that Aicon planned to fix with a muffler.

For a buyer, the lesson is to sea trial with realistic load and check that the engines reach rated rpm. Propeller pitch and cup are the easiest variables to correct.

• Tested: 27.6 knots at 2,200 rpm (Yachting, Florida summer)
• Builder claim: 32 knots maximum, 28 knots cruise
• Fuel 710 gallons in two stainless wing tanks feeding a day tank
• Draft 4 feet

A split-level salon finished in cherry

Through a stainless-framed sliding glass door from the teak afterdeck, the main cabin is split into two levels. A built-in curved settee sits aft, with an open galley forward opposite a curved dinette; a partition can close to give the cook privacy. Appliances were familiar brands apart from a dual-voltage refrigerator, and drawers were sized for the boat's custom tableware. A built-in washer and dryer sits in the passageway leading below.

Aicon's equipment list for the model included air conditioning, fridge and freezer, a ceramic hob, microwave and grill, an electric toilet system with holding tank, a bow thruster, trim tabs, electrically powered hydraulic steering and an 11 kW generator.

Three staterooms, three heads and an optional crew room

The master stateroom is amidships with a queen island berth. Forward, a second stateroom has another queen island berth and a private head. A third guest cabin has two single berths, and a third head without a shower opens off the passage to serve as a day head. That gives six berths in three cabins.

Abaft the engine room, the arrangement plan showed a small crew compartment with a toilet, offered as an option by Aicon USA. Yachting suggested Bahamas cruisers might do better using it for spares, a freezer and a watermaker. The lazarette, reached from the swim platform, is separated by a watertight bulkhead.

A flybridge with the sunpad forward of the helm

Molded stairs from the afterdeck lead to a flybridge with curved seating aft and an island helm and raised sunpad forward. Putting the sunpad ahead of the helm, Yachting noted, allowed more headroom in the cabin below and helped give the interior a big-boat feel. The helm bench is integrated with a wet bar and space for a grill, though the tester found it a squeeze for two average-size Americans.

On deck, rail gates open on the side decks, a sunpad covers the raised trunk forward, and an electric windlass handles a plow anchor with 330 feet of chain, with warping capstans aft. The test boat had a hydraulic passerelle that could be deployed by remote from shore and, Aicon said, also doubled as a crane to lift the tender.

Construction and engine room notes for your surveyor

The 56 follows European production practice: a solid fiberglass bottom stiffened by a closely spaced grid of transverse and longitudinal stringers, hand-laid isophthalic polyester laminate of woven roving, unidirectional glass and mat, and 24 mm balsa core in the topsides, superstructure and decks. On any 20-year-old cored structure, moisture readings around deck fittings, windows and the radar arch base are essential.

The engine room, reached from the afterdeck, impressed Yachting as spacious and logically laid out compared with many European designs, with service points within reach. Fuel lives in two stainless steel wing tanks that gravity feed a centerline day tank, and the 11 kW generator sits in a sound shield abaft the engines. Stainless tanks of this age deserve a close look for pitting at welds and at the bottom where water collects.

Buying an Aicon 56 two decades on

Aicon's own site still showed the 56 in its virtual tours in 2008, so boats were sold through at least the mid 2000s. Early owners cruised them from the US East Coast to Italy's Aeolian Islands, as photo albums on Aicon's first website show, so boats can turn up on either side of the Atlantic, and they now trade at a fraction of their original price. Because published listings are scarce, value depends heavily on what has been done: Caterpillar 3406 overhauls, new generator and air conditioning, upgraded electronics and refreshed upholstery.

Treat a cheap Aicon 56 as a project with a good hull and good joinery underneath, and budget accordingly. The big Cats are robust and widely supported, which is a genuine advantage over some Italian rivals of the period with less common engines.