Prestige 520

The 520 is the long-running middle of the Prestige flybridge range and the size where the second living deck starts to earn its keep. Length overall is 52' 10" on a 14' 9" beam, drawing 3' 5" — a shallow figure for the length, and the reason this boat gets into places its cross-shops do not. Light displacement is 34,346 lbs, full load 49,491 lbs. Fuel is 343 gallons, fresh water 168 gallons, with a 45-gallon holding tank.

Accommodation is three cabins, two heads and a crew berth, certified CE B for twelve or C for fourteen, with six guests plus one crew for overnight cruising.

Air draft is 18' 4". On a boat this shallow that is the dimension that will actually stop you.

Cruising speed is 22 knots and maximum is 26, measured at mid-load by Prestige's own note on the specification. Standard power is twin Volvo Penta IPS 600s — D6 blocks at 440 hp each — with IPS 650s at 480 hp each offered as the option.

That option is worth thinking about before you sign rather than after. The 520 is a 34,346 lb boat light and close to 50,000 lbs loaded for a long weekend, and the extra 80 hp shows up in acceleration onto plane and in how the boat holds a cruise into a head sea, not in the top-speed number. Both packages drive forward-facing pods with joystick control, which is what makes a 53-foot flybridge a boat one person can put in a slip.

Fuel is 343 gallons. Take observed burn at your intended rpm in writing at sea trial and work your own numbers from there.

The main deck is the reason people buy this boat. A vast saloon frames the helm station in light, and flush floorboards run out of a well-equipped galley straight into the cockpit and its large L-shaped bench seating. There is no step, no sill and no threshold to trip over with a tray in your hands.

The flybridge is a full second living deck rather than an upper helm with seats bolted around it: galley, saloon, sundeck and helm station, laid out so the person driving is part of the group.

Below are three cabins and two heads, plus a crew berth. Six sleep aboard comfortably and each couple gets a door that closes — the practical test at this length, and the one a lot of 52-footers fail by turning the third cabin into a locker with a mattress.

At 52' 10" the 520 sits between two well-known boats. The Ferretti 500 at 50' 4" is the shorter, faster Italian — 30 knots maximum against 26 — with two or three guest cabins and crew quarters. The Azimut Fly 53 at 55' 1" is the direct rival on paper, with three cabins plus crew, 634 gallons of fuel and up to 31 knots. The Galeon 520 FLY at 56' 5" is the largest of the three, with 476 gallons and three heads.

The Prestige holds the low card on draft. At 3' 5" it floats where a 4-foot-plus rival waits for tide, and shoal access is worth more to a Bahamas or Intracoastal owner than three knots at the top end. The trade is honest: you give up speed and you carry the smallest fuel tank in this group. What you get is a flush main deck, a genuine second living deck upstairs and a boat that will not strand you on a falling tide.

This is the boat for a couple who cruise with another couple and want the flybridge to be somewhere everybody actually sits, not a place one person goes to drive.

Take it seriously if you cruise skinny water. A 3' 5" draft on 53 feet opens the Keys, the Bahamas banks and the shallower stretches of the Intracoastal without the constant tide arithmetic.

Take it seriously if you entertain in the cockpit. Flush floors from galley to L-shaped bench is a small design decision that changes every meal you serve aboard.

Order the IPS 650s if your typical load is heavy or your water is rough. The gain is in how the boat gets up and holds a cruise, not in the headline speed.

Look elsewhere if you want to run at 25 knots and beyond. Cruise here is 22, and the boat is built around the deck plan rather than the pace.