Azimut Atlantis 51 Buying Guide, From Price to Sea Trial

Why buyers shortlist the Azimut Atlantis 51

The Azimut Atlantis 51 does something few 50-foot sport yachts still attempt. It keeps a genuinely open-backed cockpit, with no aft doors and no enclosed upper saloon, and still fits three cabins, two heads and a full dinette below. Azimut unveiled it at Boot Dusseldorf in January 2018 as the new flagship of the Atlantis line, and it remains in the 2026 range alongside the smaller Atlantis 45.

Federico Lantero, the Atlantis brand manager, told Power and Motoryacht that the project started with the accommodations. Atlantis owners were often parents and grandparents asking for a midsize sport cruiser that slept six. The result is the boat most people searching for "azimut a51" or "azimut 51" are trying to find, and also the most expensive Atlantis ever sold.

The look: vertical bow and streaks of glass

Neo Design's Marco Biaggi and Filippo Salvetti drew a sharply angled, near-vertical stem that pushes the deck forward, a long foredeck rising into a sweeping roofline, and long tinted hull windows. MBY called the proportions sweet and the boat a striking craft you look back at as you walk away. The same stem and sheer later appeared on the Atlantis 45 and the Azimut Grande S10 flagship.

Hull number one, tested by MBY, wore optional silver paint on the topsides, superstructure and even the cockpit moldings. The white platinum Esthec composite decking drew criticism for scuffing; buyers can pick a biscuit color or real teak, though teak sits far down the options list.

Life on the main deck

Aft, a sun pad big enough for four adults covers a garage that takes a jet tender of about 10 feet 7 inches (MBY's boat carried a Williams 325). The garage, MBY warned, badly impedes engine room access. A starboard walkway leads to a flat-floored cockpit where a C-shaped settee faces a smaller sofa whose cushions pull out as stools, so ten people can sit around the folding table. The standard grill is built into the transom, which keeps smoke off the boat but sends the cook back and forth.

Forward to port of the companionway is a raised lounge that doubles as a sun pad, and a four-person bow pad has a folding bimini, backrest and pop-up LED lights. The helm is attractive but compact for the boat's size, with room for one chartplotter.

The sunroof is the one real misstep. It is solid GRP and small by modern standards, and on hull one it rattled. For a boat sold on open-air living, testers expected a bigger aperture.

• Open-backed cockpit; aft doors exist on the options list but Azimut discourages them
• Folding table seats about ten with the pull-out stools
• Electric grill in the transom
• Esthec composite decking as standard

Three cabins and a dinette in 53 feet

Below, the master is in the bow, an unusual choice in a world of midships owner's suites. MBY found it spacious, lit by two long hull windows and double overhead hatches, with room to change at the foot of the berth, a small vanity and three hanging lockers. Its head is private.

Amidships, the starboard VIP (Azimut calls it a second owner's suite) has a double that splits into twins on sliding tracks, plus a vanity. To port is a bunk cabin that suits children better than adults. These two cabins share the second head, which is also the day head, so expect a queue at bedtime.

Between master and guest cabins sits the social space Power and Motoryacht called one of the 51's pleasant surprises: a galley to port with a full-height fridge-freezer and a dinette to starboard whose sofa was made by an Italian home-furniture artisan. Many rivals make you choose between a third cabin and a dinette; the 51 gives you both, at the cost of some galley storage.

IPS800 sea trial results

There is one engine package: twin Volvo Penta IPS800 pods at 600 hp each. MBY's test of hull one, with tanks a quarter full and a tender in the garage, recorded 34.5 knots flat out. The tester liked the boat's ability to cruise anywhere from 18 to 32 knots, found the steering light and positive, and noted the usual IPS trait of running out of lock in tight turns. Calm seas prevented a real rough-water test.

Azimut's own figures have changed over time. Launch material quoted 35 knots top and a 32-knot cruise; the current spec sheet lists a maximum of up to 32 knots and a cruise of up to 26 knots at test load. Use the lower numbers for planning a fully loaded, air-conditioned boat.

MBY's small gripes were the oversized wheel borrowed from Azimut's flybridge models and the joystick and throttles being in each other's natural positions. The upside of the open cockpit is that you hear the engines and the water, which many owners enjoy.

Azimut Atlantis 51 price, new and used

When the 51 launched, MBY placed its base price roughly 90,000 euros above the Princess V50 Open and 170,000 euros above the Beneteau Gran Turismo 50, partly because of its larger engines. Today a reasonably optioned new 51 in the US should land around $1.6 million to $1.95 million, depending on stabilizer, electronics and finish.

On the brokerage market, prices run from about $850,000 for early, well-used boats to $1.4 million for late, low-hour examples with a Seakeeper. As a reference point, MarineMax listed Utopia, a 2020 boat lying in Texas, at $1.199 million in 2024 after a $100,000 cut.

Running one

Plan on roughly $50,000 to $90,000 a year in the US for slip, insurance, haul-out, IPS service at Volvo intervals, generator and air conditioning maintenance, and fuel for 100 hours. The 4-foot 3-inch draft is Bahamas friendly, and the 396-gallon tank gives a comfortable day's run at fast cruise with a reserve.