Hi, Alex,
As a 6 year owner of a SuperMaramu, and like you, "not the greatest mechanic", I will share my experience. I bought Kristy SM243 when she was 10 yrs old.
There is a huge learning curve with all of the systems on an Amel. None of it is rocket science, but for someone with little knowledge about electrical, electronic, and diesel repair and maintenance, it can be intimidating.
I bought my boat with the intent of living on her eventually, but so far am still working and only getting to use her for a few month a year. I usually have guests planning to join me for parts of the season, and have an itinerary that I have to keep to in order to be back to work, out of the hurricane belt, etc. This makes it difficult to stay any one place for very long while I figure something out. For the first few years I was hesitant to tackle much on my own and spent a LOT of money getting things worked on. I have had almost every system break down at least once since I've owned her. Fees for just about anything you have done are $75-100/hour. Probably 2/3 of the cost of any project is going to be labor. I am finally getting to the point that I can do many of the repairs and maintenance myself, but it has taken 5+ years to get there.
If you are going to live on your boat and cruise with no particular itinerary, you can take the time to learn about things as you go. With the great help on this forum and some remedial training (I would take a course in diesel mechanics and marine electrical repairs), you should be able to troubleshoot most anything that goes wrong, and fix most things once you gain the confidence that your diagnosis is correct.
I have spent over $200K on repairs and maintenance on my boat in 6 years, have repowered, new sails, new standing rigging, and replaced pumps and condensers and lights and switches, repaired/replaced radios and refrigeration/AC....you get the idea. I could probably have saved $100K of that if I had done the work myself.
Hope that helps you some. Don't be afraid to jump in there and get your hands dirty, it's the only way to learn.
Kent
SM243 Kristy
Brunswick GA USA
From: Alex Ramseyer <alexramseyer@...>
To: "amelyachtowners@..." <amelyachtowners@...>
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 7:12 AM
Subject: [Amel] Amel 54 Maintenance
Would you be willing to share your experience regarding the annual costs for maintaining an Amel 54?
If you own your boat several years already, it would be very interesting for me get the long-term picture, including major overhaul(s).
I'm thinking about buying a boat to live on it. If this is what you do already, it would also be interesting to know how much you repair yourself vs. external / paid work. I'm not the greatest mechanic on this planet (to put it in a friendly way) - so it would be intersting to get some insights on this aspect as well.
Thank you very much in advance,
Alex
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