Amel or Island Packet?

[Van Der Beek]

Hi Rick.

With Amel you get your moneys worth which is more than can be said for many other quality boats out there including some English and Swedish ones.

Just to list few things the Amel Super Maramu brings to the table...

Two watertight interior bulkheads and five watertight compartments, full length stainless-steel railings, skeg rudder, plenty of fuel and water to go around, a comfortable and safe center cockpit with an offset wheel, which is nice because it means you don't have to climb around it like a monkey and it never gets in the way, you get a dishwasher, watermaker, deep freezer, did I say you never risk running out of stowage? There's plenty of stowage to go around.

Now compare that to the competition, you can start by eliminating entire brands of manufactures with the watertight bulkheads and watertight compartments and full length stainless-steel railings alone.

The Amel is a very safe and very comfortable sailboat, she is not uber fast but uber fast means uber uncomfortable, she is a cruiser not a racer, but by no means a slouch.

Having said that I am biased. Not very biased just a little biased.

[Eder]

Originally Posted by sy_gilana

When we see a familiar boat on the horizon or in an anchorage while arriving, we can recognize it as an IP by the jerry jugs. Their tankage seems to be small. .

Actually my 46' IP has exactly the same water tankage as the 53' Amel and about 50 US gallons less fuel but range should be close as the Amel has a larger engine.

I guess maybe there was a sale on jerry cans at Walmart each time?

[dangerfield55]

Curlers is iPhone autocorrect
For furlers


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Kenomac]

Here's an excellent promotional video for the new Amel 54. Nicely done, but to me a person who lives half the year on a boat the same size, everything looks crammed together. Look how tight the four people are stuffed around the cockpit table and interior table. Also with the ketch rig, there are so many more lines, ropes, shrouds and an extra boom to deal with. It's as if there's too much packed into too small a space.

Where is the dinghy? There's no way the one that suddenly appears at the anchorage was stored anywhere on the boat.

On our boat which is actually 54ft, we become envious of all the open space available on a 45ft catamaran, or even on a 40ft catamaran. On the Amel, there really isn't anywhere on the boat where one can stretch out ones arms and turn around with out hitting something.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cOrbdx4CxKY

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by dangerfield55

Curlers is iPhone autocorrect
For furlers

Yeah most of us knew that. Autocorrect can certainly be very annoying. BTW: I just watched a YouTube video on how to disable autocorrect... Done.

[Kenomac]

By posting the Amel video on the above post, I want to be clear that I'm not picking on any particular boat Amel or IP, every boat is a compromize and whatever an owner chooses, most will declare theirs to be the best boat.

However, I have noticed that there are very few if any complaints from liveaboard couples on catamarans 40ft and larger. They tend to wait patiently for weather windows to open up, and rarely do I hear of them encountering rough weather. The panoramic view from the saloon and rear deck is to die for in isolated anchorages. Something not attainable on any 54ft or smaller monohull that I know of.

We're currently making the best of the boat we currently own, with no immediate plans to make any changes, but if the opportunity ever came up to make an even swap for a quality 45-50ft catamaran, I'm sure we'd jump at the chance. This observation comes from living aboard most of the time over the past six years. We spend very little time sailing, most of our time is spent hanging around at fantastic anchorages.

I'm simply recommending that the OP proceed with an open mind if living aboard is the plan, just look at all the open space on the Lagoon 450 in this video, and compare the overall ammenities to either the Amel 54 or the IP 485. The Lagoon wins hands down. IMHO

Our Oyster was originally pushased with our idea in mind to sail New England and up into Canada for five to seven years with an anticipation of running into foul weather quite often, but now here in the Med or if we'd chosen the Caribbean or South Pacific.... catamaran is the better choice.

Ken

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I429-H75rII

[Van Der Beek]

OP wants a sailboat not a glorified raft with sails on it. Why is it, that every single time someone asks for advice on sailboats, someone starts trolling about catamarans? Get over to the multihull section of the forum.

If he intends to cross oceans a sailboat will be both safer and more comfortable in anything but the smoothest of seas, a sailboat will also hold far more stowage etc etc.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Eleuthera 2014

having been aboard a Catana 50, perhaps the best built production cat around,

Not even close

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

OP wants a sailboat not a glorified raft with sails on it. Why is it, that every single time someone asks for advice on sailboats, someone starts trolling about catamarans? Get over to the multihull section of the forum.

If he intends to cross oceans a sailboat will be both safer and more comfortable in anything but the smoothest of seas, a sailboat will also hold far more stowage etc etc.

Easy does it cowboy....

The OP does not yet own a boat, he's looking for advice on what would be best for a live aboard situation. He just happened to choose two monohulls as a place to begin his search like we did six years ago.

Like his original post reads, "looking for opinions and thoughts."

I'm suggesting he broaden his search with an open mind.... That's my "thought and opinion," based on my experience.

I didn't belong to this forum until after we purchased our Oyster; it would have been nice to have read some of this advice on CF before making our decision.

[double u]

...unless money is no object it's gonna be hard for any multihull to beat on a $ for $ basis a mono of the same age...
after quite well knowing both worlds the only "real" disadvantage of a mono that I can see are rolling in a dead flat calm & in an anchorage: on a longer passage on the cat a day with a "glassy sea" was like a "holiday": sails down, waiting for the wind, "chilling" out. on the mono we'd have to fiddle around with a triple reefed main & after a while we'd motor a bit.
same in some Marquesas anchorages: on the cat one would hardly notice the swell, not so on the monohull (& she was no "roller" like the old s & s's, they would have been much worse)
& we haven't talked about "market size" yet...: multihull choices are extremely limited!

[robert sailor]

When you read the original post it talks about an eventual circumnavigation, he also establishes his budget. Ken, nothing wrong with a Lagoon 45 but as far as build quality they do not belong in the same list as an Amel. The Lagoon 45 is an apartment sized multi designed for use in areas like the Caribbean and they sure fit the bill. We attended a party on one and it sucked up over 20 of us without even a thought, they are not large, they are huge.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

When you read the original post it talks about an eventual circumnavigation, he also establishes his budget. Ken, nothing wrong with a Lagoon 45 but as far as build quality they do not belong in the same list as an Amel. The Lagoon 45 is an apartment sized multi designed for use in areas like the Caribbean and they sure fit the bill. We attended a party on one and it sucked up over 20 of us without even a thought, they are not large, they are huge.

Many talk about a circumnavigation, but very, very few actually do it following a boat purchase. Thats why it's key to find a boat one will be happiest wth doing what most live a boards do most... which is sitting in anchorages admiring the views. Most people find an area like the Med, Caribbean, South Pacific, Mexico that thery enjoy, then they stick around for a few years.

Circumnavigating is very over rated IMHO. The folks I know who actually did it, never really saw that much, but it sure sounds impressive. They covered many thousands of miles, but didnt see anything because they were in too much of a hurry. Type A personallity stuff. Another couple did it the right way and took 13 years to compete one.

[DSDman]

Best piece of data I've seen in a long time!

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[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Here's an excellent promotional video for the new Amel 54. Nicely done, but to me a person who lives half the year on a boat the same size, everything looks crammed together.

I have to agree with this. The Amel is a nice boat and is out of my budget range. But when I went on one at the boat show and started thinking about just the stuff I normally have on my boat for weekend cruising I could tell that the 'space" isn't what you would think.

[double u]

...sure kenomac, sure...!