Absolute Navetta 53

The Absolute Navetta 53 - named the Momentum - is 52' 5" overall on a 15' 3" beam, and it is built to deliver the comfort usually found on longer boats rather than the speed of shorter ones. Elegant open gunwales and expansive windows give it a profile that reads longer than its length, and the interior palette runs from cream to hazelnut in matte tones.

Livability is the design brief and it shows in ordinary movement: minimal steps, high ceilings, and space-saving sliding doors instead of doors that swing into the room they open onto.

The cockpit terrace is a full-day space that takes modular furnishings, so it can be a breakfast table and an evening lounge without anything being carried off the boat. A glass aft parapet keeps the view low and unbroken, and the bow pathways are lit. The flybridge carries its own command post and comfortable sofas, so the upper deck works as a second saloon under way.

Absolute's published figures for the Navetta 53: 528 gallons of fuel, 159 gallons of fresh water, twin Volvo Penta D6-IPS650 pod drives, 14 people aboard and CE Category B.

Absolute specifies twin Volvo Penta D6-IPS650 pods for the Navetta 53 and builds the helm around single-handed manoeuvring: a modern, ergonomic command post with a convenient side door, so the person driving can step straight out to a cleat.

Fuel is 528 gallons and fresh water 159 gallons, both up on the Navetta 50 below it, and both the numbers to plan a longer coastal run around. On a boat sold on livability rather than top end, tankage is the specification that decides where you can go for a weekend.

Speed and consumption on a pod installation move with load, propellers and how the boat is optioned. Get observed figures at your intended cruise rpm in writing on the exact package you are ordering, and build your own range from 528 gallons.

Beam is 15' 3". Confirm it, along with the draft and rigged weight of your own hull, in writing before you book a berth, a lift or a haul-out.

The full-beam master sits amidships, and that is the single decision separating the Navetta 53 from the 50 below it. Amidships is where a hull moves least, and full beam at 15' 3" buys a queen-size bed, large windows and ample storage that does not come out of the walking space. The forward VIP cabin and the third central cabin are both generously lit by natural light and finished to the same standard.

The main salon runs a 360-degree panoramic view. The galley is well equipped and placed to work with the cockpit, so the terrace behind it functions as a dining room rather than as somewhere plates arrive.

Movement is the quiet achievement here. Minimal steps, high ceilings, and sliding doors that save the space a swinging door would take - none of that shows in a photograph, and all of it is what makes a 52-footer still feel big on day three.

Fresh water is 159 gallons. With three cabins occupied that figure sets the interval between pump-outs more reliably than anything on the fuel side does.

The Navetta 53 is the second model in Absolute's Navetta line, above the 50 and below the 58. The step up from the 50 buys close to three feet of length, 52 more gallons of fuel, 19 more gallons of fresh water - and the full-beam master amidships, which is the real reason people move up.

Within Absolute's own range the comparison worth making is against the 52 FLY, which is almost the same length overall. The 52 FLY is the flybridge sport boat: D8-IPS800 power, a full-beam master forward, a galley and bar on the flybridge. The Navetta 53 is the D6-IPS650 boat with the amidships master and the larger fuel tank. Same berth, two genuinely different weekends.

Against the wider market, a 52-foot Italian cruiser with a full-beam amidships master puts a buyer in the same conversation as the Ferretti 500 and the Galeon 520 FLY. The Navetta argues on interior volume and quiet movement rather than on top end, and the open gunwales and glass aft parapet are what a buyer notices first from the dock.

Absolute makes the ladder explicit: 50, 53, 58, 62, 66, 70, 75. The 53 is where the master goes full beam and amidships, and that is the specification to walk before deciding you need more length.

The Navetta 53 fits the buyer who has decided the master cabin matters more than the top end. Full beam, amidships, a queen-size bed, large windows and ample storage - and amidships is where the motion is least, which is what you notice on the second night rather than on the run out.

It fits an owner who runs the boat. The command post is ergonomic and has its own side door for autonomous manoeuvres, the pods carry joystick control, and the illuminated bow pathways are there for coming forward after dark.

It fits people who live on the cockpit terrace. Modular furnishings mean the space gets reconfigured rather than compromised, the glass aft parapet keeps the water in view from a seated position, and the galley is integrated with the cockpit so whoever is cooking stays in the room.

It fits a long weekend rather than a day trip: 528 gallons of fuel, 159 gallons of fresh water, three cabins, and the minimal-step, sliding-door layout that stops a 52-footer feeling small by Sunday.

Before you sign, get the draft, the beam, the rigged weight and observed consumption at your intended cruise rpm confirmed in writing for your own hull.