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  2. We are just about ready!!!

Re: We are just about ready!!!

GrahamJohnston42 <grahamjohnston42@yahoo.com>
 

For what it is worth here are my thoughts on older Amels.

We bought a 20 year old Sharki this time last year and one of the significant factors in our decision to buy was the high build quality along with a common sense approach to many facets of the design, although some a little quirky!
These boats are well engineered, very strongly built and the basic structure can be expected to last almost indefinitely if not abused, or in our case at least until I give up sailing I hope!

They have solid skin hulls with non of the associated problems that can arise from balsa or foam cores.
Little exterior woodwork and certainly no teak deck to maintain or replace which was a major factor for me as I have spent enough time on my hands and knees working on teak decks.

After spending the last 30+ years building, owning new or refitting 17 previous boats I have come to the conclusion that so no boat builder gets it all right and there will be some issues but perhaps fewer with Amels than some other marks I have come into contact with.

Our Sharki was 20 years old when we bought her and required a mini refit. I did most of it last winter, renewing the standing and running rigging, electric bilge pump, manual bilge pump hoses, painted the masts and booms, overhauled the sail handling electric motors and gearboxes, serviced the heating, rebuilt the autopilot drive, renewed the main alternator, overhauled the shaft and starter battery alternators.
Jobs for this winter include overhauling the bowthruster. Nothing major for 20+ years.

Zephyr had a full out of water survey at the request of our insurers 3 months ago, the surveyor, who has 30+ years experience and is very highly respected by all UK major insurers, could find no faults with her and has been recommending Amels enthusiastically ever since.

Your budget extends to a 10 year old boat, I would have no hesitation in buying an Amel half the age of the one we have. I hope that you will be able to find a fine example and fulfil your 8-10 year plan, lucky you!


Graham
Sharki 181 'Zephyr'

--- In amelyachtowners@..., "markerdos" <markerdos@...> wrote:

Dear Amel Owners,

My wife and I are about to fulfill our life-long dream and enter the world of full time cruising. We have saved and sacrificed over the years to finally reach this point. We have enough savings that we can comfortably cruise for 8-10 years. We both have moderate sailing experience and figured we would step in slowly and grow our experience with our next boat. We owned a 38ft Cheoy Leak for 15 years and have the basics down pat. We sold Water-Melon about 5 years ago as we became land-locked with a job. It was over 20 years old by the time we sold it and was fully committed to self-destruct. We spent more time repairing than we did sailing.

Here is the question that has been hanging over us for quite some time. We really like the Amel for reasons you all are already very familiar with. Amel is at the top of our list. But, they are not cheap. Our budget for our next boat is limited. How old is too old? Amel's in our price range tend to be about 10 years old. What can we expect from an Amel as it turns 15+ years old? My belief is at any point in a boat life, it reaches a point where things start to break faster than they can be repaired. I would like to cruise safely and not spend all my time chasing after parts and doing repairs.

I am very much looking forward to hearing your opinion
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