Bill, I agree with you, we have not needed to use our dinghy to propel us yet,but review how we would do that,in case we need to deploy in an emergency. I also have rescued a sailboat just before it was going up on a reef on the south coast of Grenada with my rib and its 18 hp two stroke. We also dinghy miles to snorkel and get groceries . Our 10.5 aluminum rib only weighs 98 lbs. ,we love it and it can do 25 to 30 mph in flat water ,just measured by my brother next to me on his jet ski the other day. BTW, we store two six gal. fuel tanks tied to the stanchions ,one is normally in the dinghy.

Pat

SM Shenanigans

-----Original Message-----
From: CW Bill Rouse <brouse@...>
To: main <main@amelyachtowners.groups.io>
Sent: Sun, Jun 16, 2019 12:16 pm
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Sailing /Rowing dinghy

One downside is that what you have will not propel your boat to safety when necessary. If you have considered this and are OK with it, fine. But, if you haven't considered this, you need to re-think. You are going to places that you will need to self-rescue, and/or move your boat when you have no wind and no motor. It is hard to beat all of the advantages of a traditional RIB with a 10-20hp 2 cycle motor. I know of 2 SMs which were moved away from dangerous situations with a dinghy lashed to the stern quarter.

Best,

CW Bill Rouse

Yacht School - Supporting Amel Owners

720 Winnie St

Galveston Island, TX 77550

+1(832) 380-4970

My Calendar 

Yacht School

On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 10:48 AM karkauai via Groups.Io <karkauai=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:

Hi all,
Last year we built a 11.5 ft sailing/rowing dinghy in hopes that it would work as a tender instead of carrying gasoline and gasoline motor(s).  RIBs are nearly impossible to row, can’t sail them, but they are very stable and carry 4 people easily.

The Dink we built is a Chesapeake Light Craft PassageMaker design that was originally sold as a nesting hull.  It’s 11.5 ft LOA , rows easily, and sails well.  When both parts are bolted together it only weighs ~95 lbs.  Sounds great so far, eh?

Here are the down sides:
*It doesn’t truly nest.  So we’re now storing 11.5ft of hull in two parts.  The bigger aft part sets nicely on the aft deck,  we weren’t comfortable lashing the bow section on the forward deck, so it ended up on the aft deck over the lazarette...so we can’t access the lazarette at sea without moving it.

*It is so lightly built that it bounces around pretty violently when alongside Kristy in any kind of chop.  It is also under built and we had to add strength to the bulkheads where the pieces bolt together because of cracks that developed at the joint between planks and bulkheads.

*The rig is a gunter style Marconi sloop with a small jib.  It takes about 45 min to rig and derig.  It sails well but can’t be reefed as currently set up.  With the gunter spar it would take a major overhaul to rig for reefing and it would be an involved process, not something that would be easy and quick. When rigged and not sailing the boom is in the way of rowing.  

*It will carry 4 adults, but doing that and sailing would be impossible, I think.

We bought a Torqeedo electric outboard which pushes her along adequately, but it isn’t built tough enough for daily use in salt water.

i guess we will have to go back to the RIB and gas outboard.  Hoping someone out there has experience with a great nesting dinghy that’s truly built for use as a cruising tender.  There are a couple others that look better than the CLC PassageMaker but probably have many of the same issues.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Kent & Iris
Kristy
SM 243

Hi All.
          We have just purchased a sm 2000 (378). The previous owner has had a small issue of water in the bow locker not a lot just one or two cups.
We have tried to find any leaks by sealing each locker and shining a bright light around the seals etc.and previously hosing down the lockers whilst also inside to find any leaks to no avail.
Recently the yacht was in the carribean and we had a lot of saragosi weed and upon arriving in the med and cleaning out the lockers we found a lot of seeds from this weed therefore where ever the water is coming  in must be large enough for the seeds to come through we have come to the following possibility that the water is actually coming through the bow thrusters breather pipe. the only way we will test this is by placing some tissue or something similar on the top of the pipe to see if it gets wet.
As we will not be on the boat for another few months i just wondered if anyone has had the same issue and can confirm this can be a possibiity.


regards

steve

sm378
Dusk

Another 2 cents…

If you can smell the aroma of gasoline, it is explosive.

As Mark said, the SSB tuner is NOT a spark or arc proof unit and it says so on the installation instructions. It is not unusual for them to make sparks capable of ignition of gasoline vapors. Gasoline vapor is much heavier than atmosphere and difficult to displace. The Amel 54 has special lockers on the port side for all flammables on board including gasoline as was a major request from SM 53 owners we asked/heard from.

I have resold two SM 53 where the furthest aft bulkhead in the owners cabin was displaced forward when the SSB tuner ignited gasoline vapors. This bulkhead is the weak link in an overpressure situation of the aft deck locker. In is not an inexpensive repair to do correctly.

Gasoline containers secured on the aft deck are less likely to get swept and cause damage to the stanchions, as they are generally travelling away from the boarding wave which diminishes the initial ‘pop’ of the wave strike. Containers on the foredeck area have the force of the wave strike increased by the speed that the boat is travelling increasing the initial pop which is the part of the wave action that does the most damage. I have seen stanchions that were twisted from this. Most damage to the life line tubes is caused by large people sitting on the middle of the span. I have spent a lot of time straightening bent stanchions and lifelines in preparing an otherwise nice listing for sale, it is tedious and not much fun.

 

Have fun with your Amel, Joel

 

          JOEL F. POTTER-CRUISING YACHT SPECIALIST~L.L.C.

                                           THE  EXPERIENCED AMEL GUY

UNSURPASSED AMEL MARKETING EXPERIENCE AND PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

                                   Office 954-462-5869  Cell 954-812-2485

 

 

From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> On Behalf Of Patrick McAneny via Groups.Io
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2019 8:44 AM
To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Petrol questions/survey

 

Mark, I also agree with you, I sometimes see some small amount of leakage of gas from tanks due to heat and expansion and would never store gas below for the reason you stated . I store my tanks far aft ,where they are less prone to be impacted by waves. 

Pat

SM #123

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Erdos <mcerdos@...>
To: main <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io>
Sent: Mon, Jun 17, 2019 7:53 am
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Petrol questions/survey

I often see world cruisers with cans lashed to stanchions. It seems many of the boats on which I observe this have a set up not as solid as Amel. I have never once heard of a large wave causing damage due to cans lashed. Improperly lashed, maybe. But not damage just because of the location. So I have to ask the question, has this ever happened?

 

“We NEVER have anything lashed to the stanchions.
One decent wave and it would be gone and damage the stanchions.”

(my 2¢) My school of thought is I would rather repair stanchion damage due to a freak wave (if this is possible) than to file an insurance claim because the back end of my boat blow up from gasoline fumes. In my lazarette there are several items that could spark highly explosive gas fumes such as a short in the SSB antenna tuner, outlets or power supplies. Plastic gas cans are not immune to leakage and the threat of a leak can be amplified by abrasion during passages. Gasoline fumes are highly explosive (and heavier than air) and should never be stored in an area not adequately vented.

 

With best regards,

 

Mark

 

Skipper

Sailing Vessel - Cream Puff - SM2K - #275

Currently cruising - Vista Mar, Panama

www.creampuff.us

 

From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io [mailto:main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io] On Behalf Of Alan Leslie
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2019 1:42 AM
To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Petrol questions/survey

 

1. 10 litre 
2. External outboard motor tank
3. Lazarette - the tank doesn't leak
4. No and I wouldn't do that

We NEVER have anything lashed to the stanchions.
One decent wave and it would be gone and damage the stanchions.

Cheers
Alan
Elyse SM437

Dear Amelians,

After installing a new kit with gears and bearings from Amel last October and after using the bow thruster not more than 12 times the gears are worn out like in October.

The diagnosis of the mechanic with some experience with Amel boats is that there was too much play between the vertical and horizontal gears and that spacers or shims are needed add to the bearings in order to set the gear wheels in a proper fixed position.

First question: is Amel selling a set of shims with different thickness (0.10 to 0.50 mm)?

Second question: What is your opinion about what the mechanic told me?

Best regards,

Willem Kroes

SM#351  KAVANGA

Now at anchor near the Aktio marina close to Preveza in Greece 

1. 10 litre 
2. External outboard motor tank
3. Lazarette - the tank doesn't leak
4. No and I wouldn't do that

We NEVER have anything lashed to the stanchions.
One decent wave and it would be gone and damage the stanchions.

Cheers
Alan
Elyse SM437