Many people ask me about the process of choosing our boat.
“Did you have the brand and model in mind, or were you shopping more generally to a price-point, or size, or what; how did you do it?”
Here’s my answer:
Like many others, Cindy and I discovered the sailing “liveaboard” experience via repeated bareboat chartering experiences in the British Virgin Islands. Spending a week or so at a time living on the boat and sailing between islands was a small taste of how life as a liveaboard cruiser might be. We also, like many others, watched others living the lifestyle on their YouTube sailing channels, and one of the more famous channels introduced me to the Amel brand, and specifically to their Amel Super Maramu 2000 ketch named Delos. The more I learned about this boat, the more I became hooked on the concepts behind this boat’s creation, largely imbued by the wisdom and experience of the company’s founder Henri “Le Capitaine” Amel. Henri’s life reads like an epic adventure story, and you can read more on him here. Henri designed boats ideally suited for couples who want to circumnavigate the globe, shorthanded, safely and comfortably.
Our boat is the evolutionary descendant of the Super Maramu, an Amel 54 from 2010, the next-to-last year of production for the Amel 54. The Amel 54, first introduced in 2005, is the culmination and refinement of the ideas gained and lessons learned over Henri Amel’s years at sea sailing aboard his own boats, redefining the blue-water cruising experience one innovation and feature at a time. The Amel 54 is the last model on which Henri had direct input into the design, as he died shortly after its introduction. Of course, the company stays largely true to his ideas and philosophy to this day, but it has had to make some concessions to market realities as conditions evolve. One such being that they no longer produce ketch rigged boats. This actually helps preserve the value of our boat as many people still prefer them, and rightly so. The ketch rig is more expensive as it requires more rigging and more sails, but the tradeoff is counterintuitive, as it is not really more complicated to sail than a sloop rig, while offering more flexibility and safety when choosing a sail plan for any particular wind conditions, especially on larger sailboats in strong winds. More on ketches here.
Amel 54’s main dimensions
| Overall length | 56’ 5” | 17.2 m |
| Hull length | 53’10” | 16.4 m |
| Waterline length | 45’ 1” | 13.75 m |
| Beam (width) | 15’ 8” | 4.8 m |
| Draft | 6’ 11” | 2.1 m |
| Light displacement (MLC) | 38,581 lb | 17,500 kg |
| Ballast weight | 11,244 lb | 5,100 kg |
Jumping back to our chartering experience, one important lesson I took away was that if I were to “live” aboard long-term, there are a few things these charter boats were missing that would be important to me. In no particular order, the water and fuel tanks are too small, ground tackle is usually inadequate, access to the engine for maintenance and repair is poor, room for a generator and water maker is nonexistent, and a laundry machine or other life conveniences are often missing. All these things could be mitigated, and we know many people live-aboard and cruise very successfully on these very same “charter boat” type boats. However, once I was introduced to all the safety and comfort features and amenities offered by Amel, many of which were exclusive to the brand, I stopped thinking about any other boat brands.
Amel Owners Group (https://amelyachtowners.groups.io)
One of the best fringe benefits of the Amel brand is the incredible Amel Owners Group, which I joined and lurked-in for years before finally buying my Amel 54. The group has over 1,400 members, and many are active and all are helpful. This knowledge base is an indispensable resource for the owners (and prospective future owners), new and old, who want to better maintain and resolve issues that arise on their Amel yachts. Many owners happily offer to let you visit their Amel yachts if you are looking to see one in person. The group is hosted by Amel Super Maramu circumnavigator, and legitimate expert, Bill Rouse, who is about the most helpful person you could ever encounter. He even offers his highly praised and very affordable services, professionally, here: https://www.amelschool.com/
Amel 54 features
| Feature Group | Why it’s important |
|---|---|
| Deep center cockpit, electric furling, electric winches, helm station in cockpit, full-skeg rudder, feathering prop directly behind keel. Powerful, retractable bow-thruster | Safety! Reefing done without leaving cockpit. Allows for large aft-cabin for sleeping comfort. Helming from center shortens length for and aft when maneuvering in close quarters. Rudder and propeller both protected from most impacts and tangles. Low speed maneuvering is easy to master with assistance of the bow thruster. |
| Solid stainless steel handrail all around, wide unobstructed walk-around decks. | Crew safety! |
| Twin Lewmar anchor windlasses 330ft 5/8″ all chain rode, 88lbs Rocna Vulcan anchor on primary 70ft 5/8″ chain + 250ft rope rode, 75lbs Delta anchor secondary | Backup redundancy Peace of mind at anchor |
| Five separate water tight compartments, single saltwater intake through hull and seacock in water tight engine room | Hull flotation integrity in case of collision causing hull breach, or seacock/through hull failure. |
| Large house battery compartment, sealed and vented to outside | Safety: sealed and vented out, in case of battery off-gassing, or other issues. Capacity: compartment accommodates our 4x 230Amp/hr (920Amp/Hr total) 24volt batteries with room to spare. |
| Large stand up engine room accessible from cockpit floor hatch Volvo Penta D3-110 engine Cummins Onan 11kw/hr generator 40L water heater tank 100 L/hr desalinator 100A/hr + 40A/hr 24v battery chargers 2500W/h 24vDC to 220vAC Inverter Anchor wash pump, fresh water pressure pump, A/C pump, refrigeration pump, main seacock, sea strainer and saltwater distribution manifolds. | All noisy systems in one sealed off room keeps the boat quiet, keeps heat out of the cabin, isolates messy work, makes systems checks quicker and easier, large items (engine, generator) can be lifted in/out easily, maintenance work generally more human accessible. |
| Complete galley with all amenities. Fridge, and two freezers. Dishwasher, microwave, 4 burner gas stove and oven, Nespresso, water maker controls, generator controls. Ample storage cabinetry. Washer and dryer laundry machines in forward head area. Large vented gas locker for multiple tanks. | Living aboard full time, we cook everyday, and can store enough food to last us 4-6 months if need be. Ability to do laundry (in a machine) aboard is a major bonus. |
| 900L water tank, 900L diesel fuel tank, 100L/hr water maker (desalinator), 1,400W/hr solar array | Long-range off-grid autonomy, we can motor 1,000 miles, if need be. |
| -Rear master stateroom with walk-around queen bed, and ensuite dry head with enclosed shower, ample cabinetry. Second forward cabin with double berth and private access to a second dry head, with enclosed shower and lots of cabinetry. Also in forward passageway are twin bunk berths. Passageway aft has the dedicated sea berth. All berths have lee-cloths or leeboards to prevent falling out on passage. -Salon table sits 6 people comfortably. Foldaway cockpit table also handles up to 6 people. | Few comforts of home are missing from this layout for a cruising couple with occasional guests. 7 total individual berths. |
| Forward facing navigation station, with redundant instruments to cockpit helm station. Dual fully-redundant hydraulic ram actuators, pumps. Dual controls, course computers and gyro-compases. | Full suite of instruments for navigation and safety. Redundant autopilot backup, essential for short handed ocean crossing. Class-B AIS, multiple GPS receivers, 48 nautical mile Solid State Doppler Radar, VHF, wind instruments, depth sounder. |
In Closing
Only around 175 of the Amel 54 models were made between 2005 and 2011, and many people consider them the “sweet spot” in the Amel lineup, as the optimum compromise between classic and modern, and luxury and affordability. At least that’s how we see it.
Note: this post was written after a full year of living onboard full-time, and back-dated to be closer to purchase time, as we wish to keep the post dates closer to actual events and in their proper sequence.
Bonus Tip: We used Wise.com to purchase the boat, as they offered far better currency conversion rates than our US bank. We saved thousands of dollars! (the link provided is an affiliate link that costs you nothing but gives us a few bucks for sharing the information)
