Amel bowthruster

[bill99]

Hi to all. My name is Bill and I am new to this site. Like some others in our world, I am getting older (61) and wanting to try to complete bucket list b4 I depart this world. A few years ago I bought a Beneteau 43,took it from NZ to Fiji, had a great 6 months there, and on the way back the boat got knocked down and after up righting itself we found the rudder had gone,(we watched bits of it float away in the wash at the back of the boat) so could no longer steer the boat. Long story about after that, but got back to NZ on a container ship and Club Marine paid out for total loss. Thank you Club Marine. The joys of an unprotected spade rudder. So here I am again wanting to spend some time sailing offshore, this time thinking of across to Australia up inside the Great Barrier Reef up to the bottom of Asia.
I am thinking of buying an Amel Super Maramu because it has a reputation of being like the land rover of the sea. It has a skeg hung rudder that they say is very strong. May not be the fastest thing around but pretty bulletproof. Having been through what I have been through, I try to think in front. I have seen a few stories about the bowthruster on these boats and wonder if anyone else that has one of these, has thought about replacing the existing bow thruster with a more modern type of thruster which is not a drop down type of thruster but a fixed type in a tunnel.ie one that does not have to go up and down with seals etc. I have looked at an Amel recently that I found out after, had sank on its mooring due to a leaking seal. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks. Regards Bill.

[Oceanride007]

Think Amels are more analogous of "the Citroen of the sea". You should know that one of the very good things about the Amel is that they have a very good users group, do a "Google" search of Amel Yahoo users group. I haven't heard of a issue with the Bowthruster seal leak sinking a boat, doesn't read right, any bow thruster could have a leaky seal, but at least with Amel they retract in there own cofferdam that is unlikely to fail, anyway ask your question there.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Bill.

[edmundsteele]

Hi Bill,

You can't go wrong with a Super Maramu - they are bullet-proof. Amel claims to have never had a rudder failure. Good advice on checking out the Amel owners website.



The Amel that sank was a decade ago and the bowthruster "dropped out" of the boat that was on a mooring (the retaining set-screws hadn't been installed correctly and were loose). The owner had left it there for a family emergency and had not closed the water-tight doors, which would have prevented the boat from sinking. The "hole" left by the absence of the bowthruster shaft is normally just above the waterline but the weather picked up and the vessel began to pitch at the mooring, taking in a little water each time, until there was enough water in the bow compartment to tilt the hole below the waterline. Amel fixed the problem long ago with a safety collar, preventing the retaining set screws from backing out. Not a problem any more.



Ed

(former owner of S/V DoodleBug, now owner of M/Y DoodleBug - hey we all get old.....)