Vito,<br><br>You may want to look at the ATN
"Gale Sail". Website is <a href=http://www.antinc.com. target=new>http://www.antinc.com.</a> I had a
local canvas shop create a similar sleeve to attach a
storm jib that'll hoist over the furled genoa with the
spinnaker halyard. Only tried it in protected waters in 30
kts. Works great. I will try to post a photo of this
'in action' shortly.<br>Richard<br>Xanareva (Sharki)

Our Sharki has about a 2 degree (or so) list to port as well. I've seen even more on a Maramu. Haven't heard of any explaination!<br>Richard

Does anyone have any advice for erratic speed log
readings on a sonic B&G. Also, is the 2 deg list to port
on my SM normal, I have noticed others but seem less
so. Majority of the heavy equipment is sited on the
port side, generator etc. is that why Amel moved the
battery bank to the starboard berth on the SM2000?

Hi Rich!<br><br>Thanks BTW for setting up the
website for us Amel owners!<br><br>Concerning the
batteries ... we have installed 4 (Trojan) T125 golf
batteries in the orignal area. We installed a starting
bettery to the starboard side of the engine. We actually
did that as soon as we got the boat 6 years
ago.<br><br>We also installed a 4 gallon Isotherm water heater
in the engine compartment. It was a pricey purchase
but the Isotherm out performs the 6 gallon stainless
steel that was on the boat. We wanted to gain room in
the lazarrette.<br><br>Gene (my husband) is
considering installing 4 Lifeline Glasmats 6 volts and 1
starting battery when these "die." Do you or any other
Amel owner have any input to that matter? What is Amel
putting in the new SM's.<br><br>We also installed bigger
alternator (Aqualine) for the house bank, multi-step
regulation.<br><br>Yesterday, we applied Awlgrip two-part Linear Polyurethane
enamel in Off White to the topside and to the
masts/booms. It is gorgeous. We are fortunate we have a friend
(woodworker) who sprays professionally do the job for us. I
did all the prep sanding and he did all the
prep/paint application.<br><br>Today we applied a two part
epoxy to the bottom after peeling the hull.
Monday/Tuesday we will paint the bottom with Pettit Trinidad SR
in black. We will lastly apply a red boot stripe
with a separate blck pinstripe above that.<br><br>Then
we will go to the coast and hit a piling full of
barnacles! Isn't that the way it's supposed to
happen?<br><br>I am so tired ... and through all of this, I am
also stripping/varnishing all the exterior wood/ cabin
sole/steps. I will be glad to get Stargazer to Charleston and
get back on her. I have missed living
aboard.<br><br>Delores<br>Stargazer

Delores,<br><br>Concerning the space you have
available underneath the companionway steps, we've had our
engine starting battery relocated there on our Sharki.
The separate 'house' battery bank (three 105 Ah group
31 deep cycles) sits in the engine room. I've seen
another Sharki that fitted in the standard Amel battery
bin four of the T125 Trojan 6V golf cart batteries
without modification to the battery bin (other than
fitting a new hold-down device). When I'm ready to
replace my house batteries I'll rewire for the increased
capacity with the four golf cart
batteries.<br><br>Rich<br>Xanareva

Thanks Charlie for the info on the cabinetry work
and description of the storage underneath the
companionway steps. The runged drawer is what I had in mind.
On the Sharki at the present I can fit a milk crate
there but I don't want to continue to allow it to slide
on my newly varnished floor.<br><br>As far as go
sailing ... most sailors are amazed to learn that we have
sailed our Stargazer on this freshwater lake for just
about every weekend that we have owned her (6 years).
Lake Murray is 575 miles of shoreline and has depths
up to 200 feet.<br><br>We sail year around in
light/medium/strong winds. Winter is our favorite. And night sailing
is awesome! We always take our home to some
anchorage ... our favorite being called Hurricane Hole ...
about a 3 hours motor or all day sail. So we do venture
much on this great lake. The sailing club of which we
are members has a strong group of sailors owning some
incredible yachts on this lake. We as a group gather for
many a "raft-up". We all have dinghies and venure to
shore a good bit and two of us have kayaks for
excursions. So we have "mimiced" the cruising life in many
ways. Most of our sailing friends now have taken their
yachts to the Southeast Coast and are sailing there. One
is in Grenada. <br><br>Now we are ready to sail the
East Coast and learn Stragazer's responsiveness to the
tides and currents. We of course don't have bow
thrusters but will manage and I am sure will experience a
many "exciting" time.<br><br>We have done many boat
deliveries on other boats so our experience is comfortable
with the coastal concerns. The one thing we will have
to do now is deal with hurricane warnings and
watches. <br><br>We will currently be in Charleston, SC
for a couple of years and then see how things stand
with parental health.<br><br>The Amels are the
sweetest sailing machines we have encountered. So solid
and so secure. One can't help but feel very safe
onboard.<br><br>One day we may own the Super Maramu but right now we
are very happy with our Sharki! But it is so nice to
hear from all the SM owners and know that there are
little improvements to make. <br><br>We could almost say
the same about the Sharki!<br><br>Delores<br>S/V
Stargazer

We renewed our healining (foam backed) with the
new (same looking) stuff with felt backing. Took us 4
weeks work (2 people), but the result is "as new".
<br>If I knew then what I know now we could have done it
in 3 weeks. contact me if U want some
tips<br><br>Koen Velleman<br>Flash4<br>Super Maramu
No17<br>koenvelleman@...

Delores,<br>Sorry, I neglected to answer your
query about the storage spaces under the steps. I can't
easily up load a digital pic from here since we're using
a slow GSM cell phone connection. Let me briefly
describe them.<br>I've seen two options. Small drawers
hung under each step, shallow enogh to leave plenty of
room for our foot on the lower step or, as we have
done, a removable board across the step set back far
enough so the step is useable, behind which you can
store items and they will be immediately accessible. We
have 10cm (4in.) high boards that slide into grooves
mounted on either side. I store my tool bag under the
bottom step, the other two we use for daily kitchen
items like aluminum foil... Quite convenient.<br>Hope
this helps.<br>Charlie<br>S/V Malaika II

Silvercloud,<br><br>Thanks for tip. I believe you
are talking about the new cd rom manual for the 2000
Maramu. I did get a copy from Vito (a member in this
club)who I bought my boat from. It is very good and
informative. However, as we all know, Amel made some changes,
Watermaker, charger, batteries, heat etc. It is these areas
that I know will be the 1st to present problems for
me. All the same I am grateful for the cd info. Such
a great boat anyway, these little problems will be
a joy to deal with. Moved up from a 37ft Tartan, 22
yrs old so I know all about fixing stuff!!<br>Sitting
out here in Oyster Bay NY, probably the only person
on his boat tonight, 46 degrees outside but nice and
warm inside. Making the most of the last sailing days
in the North East.<br>Bob<br>Hi Vito :)

Hi Everyone,<br>We have 15MB of storage space
allocated by Yahoo for posting digital photographs, so feel
free to upload any photos that may be of interest to
the members. We can create 'albums' by yacht type and
by area to keep things organized. Let me know if you
need help posting any pics.<br>Rich<br>Xanareva

Vito,<br>I will return to the US for a month or
two to see family and friends, then back aboard in
February.<br><br>I have an SSB, but since I installed the Raytheon
RL80C combined radar and chart plotter the SSB is
installed in the left hand section where the separate chart
plotter would be. So I still have the Amel
logo.<br><br>The hanging locker shelves are across the back of the
two large lockers. Two shelves in each locker. The
other shelf is over the foul weather gear locker and
makes an excellent place to keep small items without
cluttering the chart table.<br><br>One other items I forgot
to mention is a place to store charts. It is
installed in the companionway flush against the wall
nearest the fuel tank and only sticks out about 4cm (less
than 2 inches). The top third opens and allows easy
access to the charts. It holds a surprising number of
charts. I have about 75 in there now and it isn't
full.<br><br>Charlie<br>S/V Malaika II

Dolores - s/v Stargazer Hi. Unfortunately M.
DeHaro lives and works in France (La Rochelle, near the
Amel yard) and only speaks French. I can give you his
phone number if you wish. I think your best bet for
advice on varnish work would be to contact Amel, either
directly to M. Selo, After Sales Deptartment or via Joel
Potter.<br>Your woodworking friend is probably right that it is
best not to touch Amel's varnish work. When we sold
our last boat (1982 Maramu) she was 19 years old with
40,000 blue water miles and her varnish looked new. But,
as you've experienced, her headliner was falling
down!<br>Now, get the refurbishing done and sail. That's what
Amel boats are built for.<br>Fair winds,<br>
Charlie<br> S/V Malaika II

Great Site. The best Amel site I have seen,makes me want to untie the dicklines now.

<a href=http://www.bayc.org.uk/crusader target=new>http://www.bayc.org.uk/crusader</a><br>This is Ian
Shepherd's photo-illustrated log of his voyage (thus far)
since taking delivery of his Amel Super Maramu in 2000.
Many great insights to be gained in the operation of
the SM.

Thank you for your reply. Will you live on the
boat during the winter or are you coming back home. I
too am in the process of winterizing my boat. I have
only owned it since July. She is hull # 283. The
shelves over the hanging locker is a good idea I have
been thinking of doing that. Did you mount an SSB on
you vessel. Did you mount it under the Radar? This is
where Amel recomends it be mounted, but I realy like
the Amel logo that is in that space. I was thinking
of having it mouned over the hanging locker next to
the nav station. I would have a cabinet
bult.<br><br>Thanks<br><br>Vito

Amel now supply a really first class printed manual in English - and also a CD in all languages. Maybe Amel will send you one, (it's copyright)or maybe they would agree to you receiving a copy.

Hi Charlie aboard svmalaika ...<br><br>I was
wondering where M. DeHaro is located. In the US or
France?<br><br>Although we have a skilled cabinet maker here in Columbia,
SC producing funiture quality pieces ... getting him
to work on our boat is difficult. He did custom mill
for us 3/8" ash tongue and groove which we have
installed in our main cabin ceiling. It is gorgeous! Now we
wait for more tongue/groove which all he has left to
do for us to spray vanish on it before we install
it. <br><br>Just to let you and the other Amel owners
know the older Amels vinyl lining had foam insulation
and through the years the foam disintegrated allowing
the vinyl to fall off. There has been no success
regluing back on so we resorted to covering it up because
even trying to remove it is difficult as Amel
installed the vinyl BEFORE installing many wood
pieces.<br><br>Joel has been of great help to us giving us
information concering our refurbishing of our 41 <br>Sharki.
So he informs us when we inquire of how other Amels
owner have dealt with improvements.<br><br>Getting back
to our friend the cabinetmaker ... a personal friend
... he stays incredibly busy with his custom
woodworking shop. His work would rival anything Amel does. He
is a master craftsman of wood.<br><br>So I was
wondering about seeking another woodworker for some pieces
I am interested. Sometimes there is only so much
one can ask of a friend who will take no payment for
his work. <br><br>I do like the idea of the storage
space beneath the steps. Are you able to provide a
digital pic for me to see? If so, I would like to
see.<br><br>I would also like to communicate with M. DeHaro has
I have some questions concerning the finish on the
Amels. Maybe he can enlighten me. Our 15 year old boat
is in need of some varnish repair and my woodworking
friend says not to touch the finish as there is no way
to duplicate what Amel has done.<br><br>I look
forward to hearing from you!<br><br>Delores<br>s/v
Stargazer

Vito,<br>See my note to Gary where I described
the modifications we made. <br>After our trip we are
very satisfied with Malaika II and have NO plans for
further modifications. In fact, this is a very strange
time for me. Ruth returned to the US a week or so ago
and I stayed on to get the boat ready for the winter.
In the past this always was a busy time doing long
put off projects. This year, nothing to do. Only
project was getting a full boat cover made. Partially
because she's a new boat, but also because she is as
close to perfect as I can imagine.<br>Charlie

Gary,<br>The only non-Amel options we have
installed are a bit of cabinetry made by M. DeHaro, an Amel
recomended cabinet maker. He made us a couple of bookcases,
some shelves in the hanging lockers, drawers in the
galley "liquor" cabinet and some storage spaces under
the steps and we changed from the standard Amel
electonics to an integrated Raytheon radar/chartplotter/gps
with a second, smaller unit on the bridge. Very
useful. We kept the standard B&G and autopilots. We are
VERY pleased with the boat. She is a delight to sail.
Very easy and manageable by one of us.<br>Charlie

Hi Charlie & Ruth: It is good to hear from you.
Thanks for the advice about the crash bar. Joel Potter
responded also and indicated that Amel has the bar
available for 273 euros installed, perhaps less over the
counter. I will be contacting Olivier. Any other options
that you have found useful? Kindest regards. Gary