Azimut 98 Leonardo, Specs, History and Used Buying Guide

Azimut 98: what the name covers

When buyers search for an Azimut 98 they almost always mean the 98 Leonardo, a 30-meter GRP flybridge yacht that Azimut's own heritage timeline dates to 2001 and describes as the first sea coupe. It was the flagship of the Azimut flybridge range of its day, and in late 2009 it gave way to the Azimut 100 Leonardo, one of eight new models Azimut prepared for its fortieth anniversary.

YachtBuyer splits the 98 Leonardo into two generations (2001 to 2005 and 2005 to 2010) with slightly different published dimensions and crew arrangements. Azimut never published hull numbers by generation, so treat every boat individually and check the builder's plate, hull identification number and original documentation before comparing listings.

The sea coupe idea

The 98 Leonardo was planned around entertaining rather than passagemaking. Yachting's Dudley Dawson, who saw the boat being finished in Viareggio and then tested it off Cannes, put it plainly: not the best design for long passages, but just the thing for weekend trips with friends, day trips with a dozen companions or serious dockside parties, which he reckoned covers 90 percent of how most owners use their yachts.

The key move was opening the saloon to the cockpit. Four curved-glass panels in the after bulkhead rotate fully outboard, and a large sunroof slides open over the lower helm, so the whole main deck from helm to stern becomes one outdoor space. Azimut's heritage page describes the same idea as a circular door that unites cockpit and interior into a single loft-like space. Close the panels and the dining area becomes an intimate room with a view.

Outside, Stefano Righini drew a dark blue hull, dramatically curved window lines and a cantilevered afterdeck seating area that appears to float, extended by an overhanging transom.

Main deck and flybridge

The saloon is party central: textured sisal carpet, three curved sofas, low oval cocktail tables and a big bar in the after corner. Five extra seats around the lower helm, just forward, are popular perches. Sound at the inside helm was a remarkably low 63 dB(A) with the sunroof and aft doors open during Yachting's run.

An open stainless stairway with etched glass treads climbs to the flybridge, where a helm sits forward and the rest of the deck is given over to a dinette and a sun pad wrapped around a circular spa at the aft end. Liferafts sit high and outboard behind the radar arch legs for easy launching.

• Jet tender and crane in a recessed foredeck compartment under an accordion-fold cover
• Personal watercraft garages port and starboard between the engine room and the transom
• Center section of the transom folds down as a swim platform and engine room access
• Dumbwaiter from the lower-deck galley to the saloon bar

Below decks, guests and crew

On the boat Yachting tested, eight guests sleep in four en suite staterooms: a VIP forward with a queen island berth, two twin cabins aft of it to port and starboard, and the master further aft. The master is unusually bright for a lower-deck suite thanks to five large vertical ports per side, four of which open. Its bath has twin basins, toilet and bidet, a large shower with a multi-head spray tower, and an ivory marble sole with onyx variegation and verde inlays. Decor throughout is light oak with cordovan leather panels.

The galley is not on the main deck. It sits below with the crew quarters and laundry, between the master and the engine room, reached by a spiral stair outboard of the saloon bar. Yachting's boat had two en suite crew cabins, one double and one with bunks, and a door from the crew area into the engine room for safe access at sea and a second escape route. YachtBuyer lists a single crew cabin for early boats, another sign that specifications varied.

MTU power and the running-angle fix

YachtBuyer lists twin MTU 16V 2000 M91 diesels at 2,000 hp each and a builder-quoted 32 knots top and 28 knots cruise. The engines drive through a V-drive layout with remote-mounted reduction gears, generators sit athwartships outboard of the gears, and, as on all Azimuts of the period according to Yachting, a structural shroud surrounds the engine-to-gear jackshaft to contain it if a U-joint fails.

Off Cannes with about 20 people aboard, Yachting recorded 31.4 knots flat out and a relaxed 27.7-knot cruise at 1,900 rpm, a little short of Azimut's projected 33 knots. The tester's concern was a flat running angle and spray at the bow. Azimut's engineers acknowledged the issue, showed him a hull modification that had already been tested, and said it would be implemented before delivery. On any boat, ask whether that change, or a later fix such as interceptors, was made.

YachtBuyer gives a fuel capacity of 2,695 gallons and a full-load displacement of about 202,800 lb. Range figures were not published, so plan passages conservatively.

The 100 Leonardo that followed

Azimut's successor, the 100 Leonardo, appeared in late 2009 with the same designers, Righini outside and Galeazzi inside. Barche lists it at 30.75 meters overall (24.50 meters at the waterline), a 7.15-meter beam, 2.01 meters of draft below the props, 88 tonnes light and 100 tonnes fully loaded, with twin 2,216 hp MTU 16V 2000 M92 diesels on V-drives for 32 knots maximum and 29 knots cruise, 10,980 liters of fuel and four double guest cabins plus two crew cabins.

The 100 is the more refined evolution, with a tender garage aft and a bow lounge, but the 98 introduced the open-saloon concept. Buyers often consider both; just do not mix their specifications.

Costs and a sensible buying strategy

A 30-meter yacht with crew is a different financial world from a sport cruiser. Expect annual running costs of roughly $450,000 to $900,000 depending on crew size, cruising area, insurance, berthing and how much of the deferred maintenance list you tackle. MTU 16V 2000 major services and eventual overhauls are the largest predictable items.

Most 98 Leonardos trade in the Mediterranean and are priced in euros. Asking prices for the model sit roughly between $1.0 million and $2.2 million, with recently refitted boats at the top. Because many were run as charter or party yachts, a full survey with an MTU-certified engine inspection, oil analysis, hull moisture readings and a thorough systems audit is essential.