Good afternoon Steve,

First, congratulations for becoming the owner of #380, you definitely acquire a beautiful sailing vessel and welcome to the Amel Family.

I can’t reply your question, but want to pick your mind on it…

Just like you, when I purchased my SM2K not so long ago in 2012, I was very excited, had lots of ideas… changing, upgrading, etc…
many people (Bill, Kent, etc.) gave the same advice: don’t change anything for at least one year.

If I may ask, what is wrong with your current Furuno radar? Just Old? Not the latest?
The technician that installed my ICOM AIS Transmitter in 2013, give me his opinion on the rest of my electronics, since he was highly recommended and I would have done (right or wrong) anything he said. He actually said my Furuno Radar (regardless of its age) is a great one, still used by many fishermen, so don’t replace it. And I follow his advice.

Regarding the Navigation equipments, my plan was to do like Francisco and Oddette on Peregrinus SM2K #250 having a B&G Zeus 12 with slave monitor, etc.).
Therefore, to be honest, the 20% spending budget on the purchasing price for the 1st year, was already spent, so I decided to keep using multiple (for back up reason) iPad with Navionics charts on and Bad Elf to send GPS location through Blue Tooth.
I am sure it is very deferent to what most people use, but has been working very well for me for the last 4 years in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
I can walk anywhere I want with my iPad (with water proof protection), etc.
If not use as a primary, I would definitely recommend use it as back up, countless stories of sailing I met (non-Amel owners) who had their primary Chart plotter failing and end up using the iPad + GPS sending.

As one of my instructors said, don’t spend too much money upgrading what is already working (and has been working sufficiently for over a decade), think more about spending money on “expected/scheduled” maintenance (like Bow Thruster, C-Drive, engine, genset, etc.).

Just sharing, and congratulations again on purchasing SM#280!

Sincerely, Alexandre
SM2K #289 NIKIMAT
Harbor View Marina, Tortola, BVI

--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 1/14/17, steve_morrison@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Subject: [Amel Yacht Owners] Electronics questions for 2003 sm#380
To: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, January 14, 2017, 3:36 PM

 









Hi all, I am headed down to Fort
Lauderdale next week to continue getting to know my newly
acquired SM and am planning on meeting with Jeff Grossman of
Associated Electronics to evaluate the current Furuno vx2
set up and discuss possible upgrades.  I have recently seen
a few comments on the forum warning against letting regular
'electronics types' poke around and work in the
electrically bonded world of Amel electronics.  Are there
specific things I need to be aware of before going ahead
with an upgrade?  Are there 24v/bonded protocols or
specialists in the south Florida
area?
I must say, the sense I get
from reading the various threads on the forum make me feel
as if I need to educate myself to a level higher than most
of those I ask to service my vessel so that I can personally
oversee all work done to her, and this seems daunting to a
new owner.  
Those that have altered or
replaced the original Nav electronics (Chartplotters, radar,
AIS, etc), what have you gone with, and where and who did
the work, or would you recommend to do the
work?
Thanks for your time,
consideration, and knowledge,Steve
MorrisonSM#380

TouraiFt Lauderdale

Thanks Eric.  Had not considered the  outhaul shaft before.  Good advise.  

Ben Driver

La Bella Vita

SM #347

On Nov 26, 2016, at 2:37 PM, 'sailormon' kimberlite@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Hi Ben,

I installed small nylon bolts on each gearbox and the Main furler and outhaul .

On the gearboxes I drilled and tapped them on either sided.

One high and one low. I pump grease into the gearbox on the low side and when it comes out clean I stop.

I use the grease gun adapter for the Autoprop to insert the grease.

I chose the small nylon bolts over the grease nipples as I could see the grease flowing out of the gearbox , and in addition I do not have any corrosion problems.

 

With the genoa the holes are on the same side (port)  and if you look at a drawing of the gearbox you will see

Where to put the holes. I do this twice yearly.

 

In addition I remove the outhaul shaft and coat it with high temperature waterproof Neva-Seize grease.

I do this twice yearly.

The outhaul shaft is especially important as if it gets stuck it is a royal pain to get out.

I also sanded down the outhaul key on the shaft a few thousands of an inch.

Fair Winds

Eric

Kimberlite Amel Super Maramu #376

 

 

From: amelyachtowners@... [mailto:amelyachtowners@...]
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2016 3:00 AM
To: amelyachtowners@...
Subject: Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Re: Potential Main furler problem

 

 

Hi Ben,

soon after we bought Ocean Pearl (8 years old) we had horrible screeching from the furler. Anyone in the cabin when it was activated jumped in fright at the noise. I investigated and found the grease in the gearbox had gone hard and was at the peripheries and not on the gears. Like you I found no lubrication system. I pioneered putting grease nipples in the side of all three furler gearboxes, main furler, outhaul and genoa furler. This can be done in situ with care. I put grease nipples in. Others have put removable plugs. Either works and I regularly add a few pumps of grease. End of problem. I did a post at the time with details and photos.

If you want details of how to do it in situ let me know and I will give details. It is not difficult. However some time it would pay to dismantle the gearbox to remove the old grease. Another furler noise problem. I had high pitched noise this year from the genoa furler. I had the fore stay down for another reason and took the opportunity to recoat the forestay liberally with grease ala Amel. No more noise. So simple. I used a full grease cartridge. Logically we should expect to do this periodically as the grease will not last forever.

Regards

Danny

SM 299 Ocean Pearl

 

---

From: amelliahona <no_reply@...>
To: amelyachtowners@...
Sent: Saturday, 26 November 2016 4:16 AM
Subject: [Amel Yacht Owners] Re: Potential Main furler problem

 

 

Hi Ben:  

 

When my SM #335  was 2 years old (now 13 years ago), my main sail furling gearbox did the same thing.  It turned out to be a broken shaft on the motor.  I can only assume that misalignment caused flexing loads on the shaft and it broke cleaning through.  The rough ends of the shaft inter-digitated enough that the drive still worked but a a slower than usual speed and with loud metal-on-metal screeching.  I wasn't there for the replacement as I was in Ft. Lauderdale at the the time but Joel's maintenance tech at the time, Ray Eaton  who is now deceased, took care of the replacement motor for me.  I recall that he said it was the first time he had seen that failure mode.  

 

Wish you all the best Ben. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Gary S. Silver

s/v Liahona,  Amel SM #335   July 1, 2001,  Puerto Del Rey Marina , Puerto Rico

 

 

Dear Chuck,

Sorry, been busy with business related issue (almost done), so just going to echo what Mark wrote so that you have more feedback, sorry not to elaborate.

90% of the time I single hand and no issue. Even having a tendency to reef a little too late, always good.
Sure the wind will either be your friend or opponent when docking solo.

Never though it is too big.

Because of my work, I stay in marinas, I usually pay around $600/month (there was exceptions), will be happy to share which price and where I paid.

Sure the larger the vessel the more expensive will be the maintenance.
Standing or running rigging on the SM will be more than on the Santorin and Maramu

I spent 15 months in the Bahamas and draft was limiting, but not an issue.
In Grand Bahama I had to wait to be between low and mid tide to enter, no issue in the Berry, Nassau, Exumas, Turks & Caicos, etc.
but I decided to skip the Abacos because of the draft.

If I had to do it again, I would pick a newer SM2K, they have more batteries capacity, etc.

Sincerely, Alexandre
SM2K #289 NIKIMAT
Harbor View Marina, Tortola, BVI

--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 1/13/17, 'Mark Erdos' mcerdos@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Subject: RE: [Amel Yacht Owners] Introduction from Utah
To: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, January 13, 2017, 12:22 PM

 

















Hi Chuck,

 

I have sailed our Amel single
handedly many times. People such as Kent and Alexandre can
speak to this better
than I, but I think the Amel is a breeze for a solo sailor.
One of the reasons
we purchased an Amel is either one of us can reef sails
single handedly and never
leave the cockpit. This is a huge safety factor when at sea.
I can sleep knowing
Cindy is safe in the cockpit and can adjust sails as needed.
This was also a
big comfort factor for her when considering which boat to
purchase. I would challenge
you to look at other designs of boats and ask yourself, how
easy is it for one
person to reef? In many cases, it is not
possible.

 

I have never thought our Amel
was too big. If fact, we think the opposite. Amel is so well
designed we do not
feel it is big at all. Some marinas and moorings in the USA
charge extra for
boats over 50'. We just say "see ya" and stay
elsewhere. We have
never been at a loss for a place to stay. For the most part,
businesses are
willing to take our money. You have probably noticed the
draft and mast height
are not Intracoastal friendly. But, if you want to travel
the eastern Intracoastal
Waterway buy a power boat (you are going to have to motor
the entire way anyway).
We have sailed eastern US and went outside. It is easier,
faster and in my
opinion much safer.

 

We recently sailed the Bahamas,
an area notorious for shallow waters. When we told other
cruisers we draw about
7' they give us the "oh my" face. If you are
looking for a shallow
draft boat, buy a cat. When you draw 2' you can get into
places off limits to
mono-hulls. IMO there is not much difference between a
6' draft and a 7' draft
when sailing shallow waters. A 7' foot draft usually
means you are just going
to run aground one minute before the 6' draft. For the
most part we try to stay
in 10', or more. In our entire Bahamas cruise, there
were only two places we
opted not to enter. We thought we were deep draft in the
Bahamas until we met
someone with a 9' draft. They had been to all the placed
we visited.

 

The real question you have to
ask yourself, is do you want a safe proven blue water
cruising boat, or
something else. We opted to purchase a boat that we knew
would take us anywhere
in the world with comfort and safety. If you start making
sacrifices such as
less draft or lower mast height, you are giving up some of
the characteristics
that make Amels awesome blue water cruisers.

 

 



With best regards,

 

Mark

 

Skipper

Sailing Yacht: Cream Puff

SM2K #275 - Currently cruising:
Key West, FL (stuck
waiting for weather!)

 

 

 

www.creampuff.us



 





From:
amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com]

Sent: Friday, January 13, 2017 11:59 AM

To: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com

Subject: RE: [Amel Yacht Owners] Introduction from
Utah





 

 







Hi All,



Thanks for taking the time
to respond in detail it helps
tremendously! Two quick questions. I have read of Monsieur
Amel's vision
regarding his design and light handed sailing. Have you ever
said to yourself
"This craft is too large for us" if so in what
aspect. Sailing,
maintenance, housekeeping, storage-haul out, slip fees. One
other question.
Have you ever said "I wish I had a shallower
draft". Has the draft of
the SM kept you away of spoiled your days? Do you have
regrets with either of
these. Do you just deal with it, embrace it or indifferent.
I know these are
basic questions but this will be our largest and deepest
draft boat to date.





 





Best Regards,





Chuck





 

On 13 Jan 2017, at 17:25, Kent Robertson karkauai@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Nice, Alex!  If (when) I have to do this, I will look again.  So it looks like you could change the shackle without removing the car from the track?

Thanks for all the nice pictured instructions!  You're hired!

Kent

Kent Robertson

S/V Kristy

karkauai@...

Panama cell: +507-61171896

USA cell: 828-234-6819

On Jan 13, 2017, at 3:35 PM, Alexandre Uster von Baar uster@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Here it is John:

http://nikimat.com/boom_extension_car.html
http://nikimat.com/boom_extension_car_rebuild.html

Sincerely, Alexandre
SM2K #289 NIKIMAT
Harbor View Marina, Tortola, BVI

--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 1/13/17, johnabo2003 <no_reply@...> wrote:

Subject: [Amel Yacht Owners] Replace shackle on main outhaul car SM 2003
To: amelyachtowners@...
Date: Friday, January 13, 2017, 2:22 PM


 









The shackle on the outhaul has developed the well
known crack in the welded bar. Can I remove the pin that
holds the shackle in place whilst the car is still on the
boom or do I have to remove it using the Amel provided short
piece of track.
ThanksJohn SM #391









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