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