AMEL - Death of the Cruising Ketch ?

[barnakiel]

Newest Amel 60 is ...


not a ketch !!!


but a sloop !!!


Death of the cruising ketch?


(previous newest Amel - 50 - was a sloop too!)



barnakiel

[Bill O]

Most likely because most people want sloops. They, like most boat builders follow trends to sell their products.
We like our ketch and find the set up very useful.

Even w/all the naysayers, we will keep the cruising ketch alive!

[a64pilot]

With push button power everything, some of the advantages of a ketch disappear.
But the bottom line is they build what a new boat buyer wants, and maybe the person that buys that expensive of a big boat is a different person than they were years ago. I think the person who buys a new expensive boat doesn’t often do long distance cruising, I think many of those those are the second or maybe third buyers of the boat, and of course they factory is less concerned about them.
At least they are still in business, many aren’t.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Most likely because most people want sloops.

Is next AMEL a cat then?


b.

[robert sailor]

Amel is simply building boats that their customers want to buy. If you want to buy a ketch there are lots of used ones. Simply no desire for ketches anymore, are there? No more full keels, no more ketches, no more round ports, no more tan bark sails, no more oil lamps, no more paper charts.....ok you guys help me out..what else is no more in newsailing boats?

[Paul J. Nolan]

No more piston hanks!

Paul

[robert sailor]

No more CQR anchors, no more manual windlass's, no more salt water pumps in galley, no more ice boxes.

[robert sailor]

No more quarter berths and no more pilot berths above settee.

[SVHarmonie]

The simple fact is that most (not all, but most) of the customers who are looking to plunk down significantly more than $1Million for a new boat are either looking for something to marina hop in the Med, or are inexperienced sailors who don't have enough experience to know what they really want for water sailing">blue water sailing.

We see it all the time here: "I just finished my ASA101 and I just put in an order for a 55 foot cat to sail around the world!"

I think the Amel 50 is an awesome boat, but I wouldn't trade even up for our 25 year old Super Maramu. It's just not my kind of boat. The number of boats built PRIMARILY for making long, comfortable, safe, ocean passages gets smaller every year.

[robert sailor]

No more incandescent bulbs

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

With push button power everything, some of the advantages of a ketch disappear.

If you've never sailed a ketch rig, you really don't appreciate the advantages of it. The push button only makes it easier.
Maybe too many sail options available/to think about w/the ketch rig, so the sloop is easier for many.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Amel is simply building boats that their customers want to buy. If you want to buy a ketch there are lots of used ones. Simply no desire for ketches anymore, are there? No more full keels, no more ketches, no more round ports, no more tan bark sails, no more oil lamps, no more paper charts.....ok you guys help me out..what else is no more in newsailing boats?

Plenty of things!


But one Herreshoff had his opinion on that.


barnakiel

[SVHarmonie]

Originally Posted by Bill O

....
Maybe too many sail options available/to think about w/the ketch rig, so the sloop is easier for many.

Ain't that the truth! If you can't control it from a touch screen today's "sailors" don't want it!

[robert sailor]

When you start plunking a second mast on a sailboat you really restrict the interior layout as well as the exterior. There is certainly nothing wrong with an older Amel ketch, they are nice boats but their day has come and gone.
The new boats are faster and higher pointing, just better sailboats. The interiors are very nicely done and read like a high end apartment in fit and finish. Hard not to like them. Hard Dodgers were never terribly pretty looking but they sure are from the inside.
I like the new ones, I like the old ones but progress requires change and Amel had to bring a new and exciting design concept to the market because if they continued to build the older models they would not survive in today's marketplace.

[NorthernMac]

Condoran is the future




That said, for me, a Santorin would be about ideal if
I got more boat.