Amel 50 - Build Thread

[Adrian Chen]

Ooooh not long now....

She's looking beautiful - and summer is on its way!

[boom23]

One of the aspects that attracted me to Amel is their customer service. They keep parts inventory and a database with complete info of all the boats they ever built. So, an Amel owner can ask the factory for a boat part and they will know what was installed when the boat was built. This is a great service especially for an aging boat. And, you do not have to be the original owner.

This is another reason to have the factory install upgrades for you. In addition to having warranty on everything through one company.

I received the following email from Amel and it relates to their customer service.



"Dear AMEL boat owners,

We have been regularly informed of the activity of Mr. Bill ROUSE and his « AMEL SCHOOL », which seems to be satisfying a number of AMEL boat owners.

However it is important for us to remove any ambiguity about this activity: We, “CHANTIERS AMEL”, do not have any sort of relationship, neither contractual nor commercial, with Mr. Rouse's activity regarding the advices given or the products sold or offered by “AMEL SCHOOL”.

We would like to remind you that none of the products supplied by CHANTIER AMEL are marked with “AMEL”, and that we are currently concerned to have Mr. ROUSE stop using the AMEL brand name.

As you know the safety of our products and our customers is a top priority for us: thus we want to issue a warning on the products and advices given by Mr. ROUSE and “AMEL SCHOOL” which have not been prior to any verification by our technical services nor by our customer service.

We remind you that only AMEL services are empowered for advising you with respect of the AMEL know-how.

This will be the subject of a contact from us towards Mr. ROUSE.

We remain at your disposal should you have any question (see contact at the bottom of this letter), and we wish all of you a lot of beautiful travels and cruises aboard your AMEL.


Best regards,

Emmanuel POUJEADE,
General manager

CONTACT US: relationclient@amel.fr - Tel. +33 (0) 546 55 17 31



Chers Propriétaires de bateaux AMEL,

Nous sommes régulièrement informés de l’activité de Monsieur Bill ROUSE et de « AMEL SCHOOL », dont les activités semblent satisfaire bon nombre de propriétaires de nos voiliers.

Il nous parait cependant important de lever toute ambiguïté à propos de ces activités : Les Chantiers AMEL n’entretiennent aucune relation contractuelle ou commerciale avec Monsieur ROUSE et « AMEL SCHOOL », tant en ce qui concerne les conseils dispensés que les produits vendus ou offerts par AMEL SCHOOL.

Nous tenons à signaler qu’aucun produit fourni par les Chantiers AMEL ne porte la marque « AMEL », et nous nous préoccupons actuellement de faire cesser l’usage du nom AMEL par M. Rouse.

Comme vous le savez, la question de la sécurité de nos produits et des usagers de nos produits est primordiale pour nous : nous ne pouvons donc qu’émettre les plus grandes réserves sur les produits / conseils fournis par Monsieur Bill ROUSE et AMEL SCHOOL qui n’ont fait l’objet d’aucune validation par nos services techniques et service après-vente.

Nous tenons à rappeler que seuls les services AMEL sont habilités à vous conseiller dans le respect du savoir-faire des Chantiers AMEL.

Ceci fera l’objet d’une action de notre part envers M. Rouse.

Nous restons à votre disposition pour toute question éventuelle et, au nom des Chantiers AMEL, nous vous souhaitons, à tous et toutes, de belles navigations à bord de vos voiliers.

Cordialement,

Emmanuel POUJEADE,
Directeur général


CONTACTEZ-NOUS : relationclient@amel.fr - Tel. +33 (0) 546 55 17 31"

[boom23]

Originally Posted by Adrian Chen

Ooooh not long now....

She's looking beautiful - and summer is on its way!

Thank you!

End of April handover... I am looking forward to few seasons of Med cruising. I am sure you feel the same!

[Eleuthera 2014]

Originally Posted by boom23

One of the aspects that attracted me to Amel is their customer service. They keep parts inventory and a database with complete info of all the boats they ever built. So, an Amel owner can ask the factory for a boat part and they will know what was installed when the boat was built. This is a great service especially for an aging boat. And, you do not have to be the original owner.

This is another reason to have the factory install upgrades for you. In addition to having warranty on everything through one company.

I received the following email from Amel and it relates to their customer service.

"


CONTACTEZ-NOUS : relationclient@amel.fr - Tel. +33 (0) 546 55 17 31"[/I]

Hello Boom23,

I deleted the letter from Amel as it adds little to your thread build; you will have a FAB boat.

I suggest that Mr Rouse, with whom I've had strong words in the past, is a good source of information for all Amel owners. I request you delete the letter from your post as it is a private conversation between you and Amel. Once you've owned your boat for a few years, you may appreciate Mr Rouse's contributions to Amel boats better. Although AMEL has good after sales service, often, you will receive better information from the massed owners themselves.

I do not like the letter from Amel; why would they discourage good maintenance and knowledge?

Mr Rouse has a religion: AMEL. It is over the top but full of good knowledge.

Enjoy your boat. :-)

[boom23]

Originally Posted by Eleuthera 2014

Hello Boom23,

I deleted the letter from Amel as it adds little to your thread build; you will have a FAB boat.

I suggest that Mr Rouse, with whom I've had strong words in the past, is a good source of information for all Amel owners. I request you delete the letter from your post as it is a private conversation between you and Amel. Once you've owned your boat for a few years, you may appreciate Mr Rouse's contributions to Amel boats better. Although AMEL has good after sales service, often, you will receive better information from the massed owners themselves.

I do not like the letter from Amel; why would they discourage good maintenance and knowledge?

Mr Rouse has a religion: AMEL. It is over the top but full of good knowledge.

Enjoy your boat. :-)

I do not want to start a debate about this topic. As you said, this is not the topic of this thread. If the moderators believe that what I posted above does not belong on the Internet, they can delete it, as I cannot.

I will just say the following:

I agree with you that good maintenance info and knowledge is invaluable for all boat owners. I have not used or know "Amel School."

I have worked for big name, non-marine, companies long enough to know that a company's identity and good name is an extremely valuable asset. For this reason, before anyone uses a big company's name or logo for profit implying, intentionally or unintentionally, that they are associated, must first ask for permission. It is a legal issue, at the least.

Again, I do not care to debate this. I am sure the matter will resolve without our input. My point for my previous post was that Amel cares a lot about customer service, and apparently their name reputation.

[Quebramar]

Boom23, all what you’ve shared and what you’ve written show how much reflection went into your options. Good on you
If you have some spare time after April, do not hesitate to share your learnings on the water. They so far have been a delight!

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Eleuthera 2014

I do not like the letter from Amel; why would they discourage good maintenance and knowledge?



Mr Rouse has a religion: AMEL. It is over the top but full of good knowledge.

I suggest you read the letter again. I believe you are overreacting and missing their intent.

They are concerned that Rouse is using their brand name and that owners might be confused with respect to products being officially endorsed and supported by Amel. That is a perfectly reasonable position and notifying owners of that fact is legally prudent.

They are not saying to not maintain your boat, only to do so, with advice from Rouse, with the knowledge that he has no official relationship with Amel.

[boom23]

Originally Posted by Suijin

I suggest you read the letter again. I believe you are overreacting and missing their intent.

They are concerned that Rouse is using their brand name and that owners might be confused with respect to products being officially endorsed and supported by Amel. That is a perfectly reasonable position and notifying owners of that fact is legally prudent.

They are not saying to not maintain your boat, only to do so, with advice from Rouse, with the knowledge that he has no official relationship with Amel.

I agree. That was my take also. Something (not good) must have happened to prompt Amel to circulate this email.

[boom23]

Originally Posted by Quebramar

Boom23, all what you’ve shared and what you’ve written show how much reflection went into your options. Good on you
If you have some spare time after April, do not hesitate to share your learnings on the water. They so far have been a delight!

Quebramar, I appreciate your kind words. I will share my learnings later this year. I hope most of them are good...

Frankly, during our S. Pacific adventure, I've been humbled so much by other cruisers' knowledge. Since then, I've always considered myself as a newbie when I'm in a group of cruisers. There's always something new to learn. That's one of the reasons I love sailing. I enjoy learning and figuring things out.

[Kgrove]

Originally Posted by boom23

I agree. That was my take also. Something (not good) must have happened to prompt Amel to circulate this email.

I don't think anything bad happened. I'm pretty sure it's just Amel protecting their brand name, and by protecting I don't mean that Mr Rouse has done anything wrong, but all companies are very protective of their brand name and making sure nobody is using their brand name in any way shape or form.

I know this isn't the point of this thread but here's what I know: Bill Rouse is a long time Amel owner. You'll run across him in two ways:

One, he has a company he called (and this was a mistake, IMO) The Amel School. For a fee, he trains people how to sail their Amel Super Maramus, 54s, and 55s. He uses his many years of experience specific to these boats to teach model specific sailing techniques, maintenance issues, etc. to help new owners better operate their boats.

Two, he somewhat recently took over the Amel Owners Group, formerly a Yahoo managed group of Amel owners who answer each others' questions and provide peers to find the best way to do anything relative to their Amel.

Mr Rouse by all accounts I've heard is providing a good service to Amel owners and is a true Amel loyalist. That said, and as a former corporate guy myself, I'm not surprised at all that Amel sent that letter due to his use of the Amel name in his company name, and particularly the way the name makes it appear he is associated with Amel. If he had named his company something more benign like "Sailing School for Amel Owners" (not very catchy, I know), Amel may not have felt the need to make sure everyone knew there is no association.

Back to the original thread: That is one damn gorgeous boat. If I were going to buy a new boat, I think the A50 is the one boat I would be most likely to buy... the HR44 is probably my #2. I like the engine room and the covered helm position of the A50 better... best features of the Amel boats IMO.

[boom23]

Kgrove,

We can only speculate about what happened. I've had similar experience regarding using another (large) company's name. I can go on forever on this topic...

Thank you for your comments on our boat! We are very excited. The engine room and the covered helm position were two of the main reasons we picked an Amel. After 3 seasons in the S. Pacific with my ex-Lagoon 450, we really value these features. We also really liked the product concept and build quality.

[Kgrove]

Originally Posted by boom23

Kgrove,

Thank you for your comments on our boat! We are very excited. The engine room and the covered helm position were two of the main reasons we picked an Amel. After 3 seasons in the S. Pacific with my ex-Lagoon 450, we really value these features. We also really liked the product concept and build quality.

yes... I'm targeting an Amel 54 for similar reasons. I actually like many aspects of the A50 better (especially the front interior layout), but a used A54 better fits my budget.

I'm curious - what were the most difficult options for you to decide to include in the build? What were the last 1-2 items on your list that you decided yes and what were the next items where you nearly said yes but ended up not including in your build?

[boom23]

Originally Posted by Kgrove

yes... I'm targeting an Amel 54 for similar reasons. I actually like many aspects of the A50 better (especially the front interior layout), but a used A54 better fits my budget.

I'm curious - what were the most difficult options for you to decide to include in the build? What were the last 1-2 items on your list that you decided yes and what were the next items where you nearly said yes but ended up not including in your build?

I think the 54 is a great boat! At the Amel dock, I spoke to a 54 owner who was putting his boat on the market. It looked really well cared from the outside.

The answer to your question is very complex... Many factors affected my decisions. I hope the following makes sense.

Because my previous sailboat was the Lagoon 450 and I spent time in the S. Pacific, I liked one level, airy interior with windows. I also liked a protected/enclosed cockpit and helm. I wanted a boat that is fun at anchor for 2-6 people, but also comfortable and safe during long crossings. Also, my plan is to keep this boat for a long time (famous last words...).

As this is a large purchase, I wanted to catch as many problem areas (to me) as possible while the boat was getting built. This way, I could ask the factory to change things. So, I visited the factory several times and I walked through the boat looking for things I liked or did not like, based on how I plan to use it.

The Amel boats are well thought out due to the company's history and the "Amel spirit". But, every boat can improve, especially a newly designed & built one. I found the factory open to buyer suggestions for improvements that were not in the options list.

My most difficult options were the options/improvements that I anticipated I would need long term. These included, additional interior/exterior handholds, additional lee cloths, additional pad eyes for jacklines, self tacking staysail, stern anchor line guide, red/white overhead lights for cockpit and salon, additional solar, dive compressor, davits, 230V/120V electrical, larger anchor, StarBoard instead of exterior teak, Gennaker instead of Spinnaker, storage instead of seat/table in master stateroom, underwater lights, and Ambassador rope cutter. I am sure I am forgetting some things...

I got some additional input on solar panel mounting brackets and dinghy selection from this forum, which was timely and very helpful.

There were some options, like air conditioning, diesel heating, microwave & dishwasher, that I was not sure. But, since I plan to keep the boat for a while, I decided to go for it. For this price, I do not want to rough it.

Some options I did not get include the stern cushions, walnut wood interior (looks amazing), stainless anchor chain, performance sail material (boat comes with Hydranet sails), spinnaker, and probably few more.

Anyway, that's all I can come up with right now. My goal was to make this boat as perfect (to me) as possible. I hope I came close...

[mglonnro]

Originally Posted by boom23

Because my previous sailboat was the Lagoon 450

I assume this might have been discussed somewhere but sorry if/when I'm now asking again: why didn't you embark on a similar project with a new multihull of some brand?

[boom23]

Originally Posted by mglonnro

I assume this might have been discussed somewhere but sorry if/when I'm now asking again: why didn't you embark on a similar project with a new multihull of some brand?

I did discuss it earlier, but here is the summary. My wife and I got tired of the violent & LOUD bridgedeck slapping, creaking and jerky movement during crossings. In the S. Pacific, the ocean can be very rough and we saw our share. A multihull is amazing at anchor but can be very trying in rough weather. This has been our experience... I am sure that others may feel differently.

Also, in the Med, the waves tend to be steep and with short period. Not the ideal waves for a multihull.

When I was trying to decide on a boat, I looked at higher end multihulls. I did not find anything in the 45 ft range that met my requirements (high quality, not racing oriented, minimum bridgedeck slapping, no creaking, spacious galley, easy to singlehand, easy to maintain, protected helm, stern master). A 50ft multihull is almost huge for a couple. Maybe one day soon, someone will built a multihull to tempt me back.