The Dream Boat - Amel Super Maramu 2000

S/V Kristy.  Kent Robertson's Amel Super Maramu 2000.  

OK, so my perfect boat is the Amel Super Maramu (which is Polynesian for Tradewind) 2000.  It has been that way for decades.  So just why do I love these Amel's anyway you ask?  Well for lots of reasons  I guess, but when it comes down to it, I've always just loved the looks of them.   To me, a proper sailboat has a ketch rig where there are two masts, the aft one, called the mizzen mast, is smaller than the main but still in front of the rudder (unlike a yawl which is usually much smaller and behind the rudder).  Schooner's (two or more masts with the aft one as tall as or taller than the front) are even prettier but are pretty much impractical for 1-2 people to sail and aren't as good downwind anyway.  The idea behind a ketch rig is to allow the same amount of sail area to be carried over more sails making each more manageable in heavy conditions.  Before electrically powered winches and roller furling, the thought of handing the sails on a sloop (one mast) rigged boat much bigger than 45' was pretty daunting even in docile conditions let alone when the wind comes up.  The mizzen also allows you to balance the forces on the rudder quite well making steering much easier - which saves on battery power when using the autopilot and eases the forces on the boat.

Main mast.  Note the electric in-haul/out-haul roller fuller for the main (furl's the sail into the mast from along the boom).  There is another motor about where that black winch handle is sticking out behind the mast that rolls the mainsail inside the mast.  There are two switches in the cockpit that you activate (pull down or push up) simultaneously to furl out or in the mainsail.  They're separate so that you can adjust the trim separately if need be but normally you just push or pull them together.   

That little white piece of plastic right at the front of the pulpit is definitly the best seat in the house!  Note the big electric motor on the Genoa fuller over top of it (there is actually quite a bit of room ahead of that furler motor).  The furler channel has three tracks.  One for the regular Genoa, one for a similar sized sail on the other side when going straight downwind called the ballooner and one for an attachment called "the mouse" that allows you to to use one halyard to bring all the sails up or down in order to hank on the storm staysail.  If you get into trouble, you can furl the Genoa and the Ballooner in together but they are designed to allow raising and lowering separately by that clever, proprietary furler mouse design unique to Amel.  Note the rope locker (that's not quite half of it) on the port side of the anchor cleat - it's at least 4' deep.  There is another one on the starboard side used for the monster sized fenders - it had 8 of them fully inflated with 2 un-inflated and still plenty of room to spare.  

This is the main mast.  Size is deceiving as when standing on the cabin top, I could easily walk under the two horizontal spinnaker poles and the boom was about the height of my chest.  The main boom swings ahead of the windshield which is about 15' further back from where I'm standing.  Normally nobody would be up here except on calm days when you want to be sunbathing or some such.  The three hatches allow light/ventilation into the main saloon and the forward cabin.  Notice the electric motors on the boom and the mast for in-haul, out-haul and furling.  They can be overridden by a winch handle but are normally controlled from the helm station by push button.  

The Amel's of the last 30 years have all had electric winches and electrically driven roller furling sails (including the mainsail and mizzen (rear sail)) to make things easier far in advance of even the most expensive world cruising yachts from hallowed makers like Swan, Oyster and Halbery-Rassy.  

The picture is a bit deceiving as that front (Genoa) winch is HUGE (compare it with my size 12 shoes) but it's electrically controlled and self tailing.  There is a button at the main helm station to control it but crew can also press that black button about 3' ahead of it or can use a regular winch handle as well.

Henri Amel's, the founder of Amel,  design philosophy is that a small older woman who can lift a bag of groceries should be able to singlehandedly sail the boat herself as the target market for these boats is older couples who want a very stable and comfortable boat that is also big enough to host their families at exotic locations.   They aren't designed to be racers but because of their size and the amount of sail they carry, they can easily handle regularly rack up daily mileages that surpass much supposedly faster boats such as catamarans that have to be sailed much more conservatively for best comfort and safety.  It isn't unusual to see Amel's posting 200 nautical mile days as they just lumber along in relative safety and comfort while other boats have to slow down because of the punishing ride or because they are kept under canvassed in case of squalls and bad weather at night.   One of the boats I was looking at riding south with had been through two separate hurricanes at sea where every other boat was either abandoned or severely damaged while it came through both storms entirely unshaken - well, at one point it did look like a submarine with just two masts sticking out of the water but the cockpit drained in 40 seconds and the bilge never got a drop of water in it - most Amel owners keep their paper towels down there.    This isn't just due to it's size but also it's sea kindly motion and the fact that you can reduce and change sails from within the enclosed cockpit making for a much drier and safer ride.

This winch allows you to move the mainsail traveller (which you'll see in a few pictures).  You lift up on that little knob, slide it in the direction you want the traveller to move and crank the winch.  You move it back to centre to lock it in place.  You don't need to leave the cockpit and anyone can move the traveller even when under very heavy load. 

The boats also have seven water tight compartments (forward chain locker, forward cabin, main saloon, pilot's berth cabin, engine room, aft cabin and aft lazerette), each of which can be entirely sealed off from the rest of the boat with watertight doors.  The boat will float with all but any two of these compartments fully flooded.  This means that if you ran into a shipping container or a whale, that you don't lose the boat.  Unlike most boats with a plethora of sea cocks (valves to the open ocean), the Amel has only one and all of the engines/fixtures are plumbed from a manifold connected to that.  This means that there is really only one potential point of failure and it's connected to a strainer that can be isolated to clear up any plastic bags, etc that might plug it without taking the boat out of the water.  

This is taken by me standing inside the engine compartment under the cockpit sole.  The grey 5" vertical pipe with the slot cut in it is the bilge pump switch.  There is a float that sits in the tube and that black rod in the centre trips a limit switch which flips on the self-priming bilge pump that sits high and dry out of the bilge.  In the right side of the picture you can see the main seacock (valve going out of the hull) connected to a big grey strainer and then behind the red hose is the manifold where all of the devices needing seawater get their now clean seawater from.  Each device has it's own valve so you can separate that device from all of the others in the event of a leak or needed repairs without stopping any of the others.  Examples would be the engine, the generator, the water maker (which pushes sea water at very high pressure through a osmotic filter to create fresh water) and the supply water for each of the heads (toilets).  It's quite smart.

Each watertight compartment has valves that isolate that compartment's water fixtures from the other's so that any flooding in those compartments can't make it into other parts of the boat.  

You can see the rubber seals around the door opening.  The big 1" solid mahogany door closes up to that and then there is wide (but similarly beautifully finished) 2x4 that goes horizontally across the door opening from the other side.  There is a bolt (with a hand knob) that goes through the centre of the door and pulls the door tight to the frame to form a watertight seal.  Under the floor compartment on the other side of the opening is a valve that seals off the bilge and any drain pipes (here from the aft cabin and head).  There are four of these doors on the boat allowing you to seal off the four internal compartments.  The anchor locker, engine room and rear lazarette are self contained already.  

The aft portion of the centre cockpit.  That winch is the mainsheet (the line that holds the boom down and allows you to adjust the shape of the mainsail).  Above it is the mizzen mast and there are winches on that to allow you to furl the mizzen staysail from inside the cockpit.  You can see lots of thoughtful touches like the rope locker under the winch so that the mainsheet tails right into that bin.  The two lockers on either side are very deep and contain fishing gear (on starboard) and all sorts of lines (on port).   That's the aft cabin behind and the (very nice new) aluminum dingy on top.  We had the life-raft stored up there as well but I'd taken it down just before this picture to protect it from the sun as the boat was going to be sitting in it for the next 6 weeks.

Unlike just about every other boat that I'm aware of, the cabin top and hull are laminated together as one piece at the factory ensuring a completely watertight joint in one of the most difficult places to seal on a boat.  Similarly, the mast is deck stepped to keep any water from coming through the joint between the cabin top and the mast and the chainplates are on the outside of the boat eliminating other paths for water to ingress into the boat.  The bilges in Amel's are completely dry unlike the vast majority of most boats and keeping the salt water/humidity out does wonders in keeping down the humidity and unpleasant odours which makes for a much more pleasant cruise - and less seasick crew.

I actually took this picture to show off the ingenious Genoa car winching system (allows you to move the Genoa fairleads back and forth under load which is important when sailing downwind) but you can also see the hull/deck joint towards the top of the picture.  It forms part of a flexible box joint that is all epoxied together as part of a rub rail.  You could submerge the whole thing and it wouldn't leak water at all.   You can also see the strength in those railings (that's 1" solid stainless tubing)

One of my favourite features of the Amel is the centre cockpit with high sidewalls, a hard dodger/windscreen with an optional enclosed bimini/shelter and sheltered helm station at the centre of the boat.  The idea of hanging off the open back end of a sailboat racing down large waves in a squall isn't enticing to me.  If you are going to stand 3-4 hour watches looking for other boats, you want to be able to do it in comfort.  Too many boats look great at the dock but aren't practical in real life.

The large, deep centre cockpit.  Notice how the helm station is positioned just off the centreline (which is the left side of the companionway) and it's also halfway back from the front of the boat so is the point which experiences least motion even in the heaviest weather.  It's sitting behind a hard dodger with an openable windscreen for ventilation.  The sidewalls are about 18" above the deck (same height as the seats) which keeps the occupants very dry and the biggest waves out.  We had a wave bigger than 15' break down the rear of the boat and the water went up both sides of the boat without coming in the cockpit at all.  This picture makes the cockpit look smaller than it is.  Those benches on the side are long enough to put the blue and green cushions down lengthwise so you can put a lot of people in it.

Amel designed the scuppers (cockpit drains) to be able to empty a cockpit completely full of water before the next wave came in (in the very unlikely event that you'd get any water in a centre cockpit in any case).  That NY boat did have one rogue wave in his second hurricane come over the side of the boat and fill up the cockpit but he said that it only took about 30-40 seconds for the cockpit to completely empty so it was almost a non event as it was completely ready for the next one.   The companionway down into the main saloon from the cockpit is sealed with a watertight door under the hard dodger and the sill is high enough that even if open, water is very unlikely to get in.

The aft portion of the centre cockpit.  That winch is the mainsheet (the line that holds the boom down and allows you to adjust the shape of the mainsail).  Above it is the mizzen mast and there are winches on that to allow you to furl the mizzen staysail from inside the cockpit.  You can see lots of thoughtful touches like the rope locker under the winch so that the mainsheet tails right into that bin.  The two lockers on either side are very deep and contain fishing gear (on starboard) and all sorts of lines (on port).   That's the aft cabin behind and the (very nice new) aluminum dingy on top.  We had the life-raft stored up there as well but I'd taken it down just before this picture to protect it from the sun as the boat was going to be sitting in it for the next 6 weeks.

Here's a shot of the hard dodger protecting the cockpit.  Notice that the 1/2" plexiglass window opens over the helm station to allow a nice breeze through.  The green/white lines ahead of the windows is the mainsail traveller which allows you to adjust the position of the main boom.  You can see the mainsheet coming down to it.  The mainsheet goes back to the mizzen mast winch I showed in the previous picture (it holds the boom down to get full sail area out of the main). 

I talked about the automation, but almost everything except passing a line to the dock can be done from within the cockpit.  The anchor is on an electric windlass, the boat has a bow thruster to enable easy maneuvering around the docks, and every line is led into the cockpit so no matter the conditions, the crew doesn't need to go on deck to safely sail the boat.  On our passage south, we rigged jacklines from the front of the boat down each side of the masts to the stern that we could clip on to with our harnesses if we needed to go on deck but we only went up to rig the spinnaker poles (light winds) and set a "preventer" on the main to prevent the boom from swinging across the boat in an unintended gybe.  It should be said that the boom is high enough that even my 6' 5" son Shawn wouldn't whack his head on it but we carried the preventer to avoid unnecessarily stressing the rig if we accidentally gybed while sailing deep downwind.  It would have been easy to lead these lines aft into the cockpit as well but we didn't bother as we could get them from a protected position between the cabin top sides and the paddle boards on the hand rails.

The Helm Station controls.  It's a bit dark but from left to right you have the engine start panel and temperature/ammeter.  In front on the angle is one of the two autopilot computers (the second is to the left off the picture).  Behind it you have a full 14" multi-function display which shows GPS map, overlaid radar and ship positions/information (from the AIS), real time weather plots (imported by sat phone), sonar picture of the bottom, video from any of the cameras (for entering shallow bays, etc.), and just about any other data you can think of.  Then you have boat speed through the water, apparent wind speed, apparent wind direction, depth and a anchor chain counter (tells you how much anchor chain you've let out).  In front of the wheel is of course an old fashioned compass and to the right is the panel controlling the sails (which I'll show on the next picture).

It's sideways and I can't figure out how to rotate it from within blogspot but the top right switch is the anchor chain wash down pump (allows you to wash the mud off of the chain as it comes into the boat).  The big one underneath it is the anchor windlass (in and out).  The fat one marked Foc is the Genoa fuller and the two below it are the port and starboard Genoa winches (those big ones I showed before).  The other two are the mainsail outhaul and furler.  The mizzen is controlled manually at the mizzen mast as it's a much smaller sail than even my mainsail and doesn't need electric controls.  To unfurl the Genoa, you simply pull back on the fat Genoa fuller switch while simultaneously pulling back on the port or starboard winch as appropriate. To furl it back up, you reach behind you and take a wrap off the winch and then push forward on that fat switch to wind the Genoa back in.  Same for the mainsail.  Pull back on the outhaul and the furler switches and the main rolls out right out of the mast.  To wind it back in, simply push them both forward and the mainsail rolls up back inside the mast where it is out of the wind/sun.  Easy peasy.

Speaking of those rails, unlike most boats with hollow stanchions and fairly loose wire, the Amel rails are solid stainless steel pipe and are high enough to keep you inside the boat.  I'm a big guy and regularly used these rails to lift myself into the boat from the dock and they didn't budge a bit.  This is one of Amel's best safety features.  

Look at those beautiful railings!  Solid as a rock and at a nice height so that as long as you stay low, you won't get washed over the sides no matter how big the waves.  That big pole is one of two for each side that help keep the Genoa (or the Ballooner) pushed out as far as it will go for downwind sailing.  There is a short one that plugs into the mast and goes out to just past the main mast stays and it has an articulating joint that this end of the long pole plugs into.  There are lines attached to the other end.  White holds it up, Yellow holds it down, Blue holds it forward, Red holds it backwards so that it's run out perpendicular to the boat about 1.5-3' higher at the end than horizontal (so it doesn't catch in any waves).  One side has the Genoa and the other has the "ballooner".  With each of those sails out, the boat will track straight downwind with no need of the mainsail (although sometimes you'd leave a bit up to help ease any side to side rolling in heavy seas).  You can also put up the mizzen staysail (and it has an optional ballooner as well) although it can shadow the forward sails so isn't that effective when the wind is directly off the stern and is used on broad reaches.  The mizzen sail does allow you to balance the boat so that it steers downwind without any help from the autopilot or effort from the pilot.  

As you can see in the picture above, the topsides are well textured with fake teak (for ease of maintenance) and even the cabin tops have deeply textured fibreglass for good traction even when under water.  The fake teak on Kristy here is in need of refinishing which means a new coat of paint and then the tedious job of painting the strips (they are recessed and there is a tool you can buy to help do it).  Notice that there are a distinct lack of toe stubbers and lots of room to attach dingy's, life rafts, surf/paddleboards, scuba tanks, etc.  Also lots of room to lay down deck cushions and sunbathe!

Doesn't look it but that cabin top has to be at least 20' long and 10' wide.  All sorts of room for sunbathing, storing dingy's, etc.  Notice the fake teak topsides... it is easily painted but I found that it provided very good traction for my deck shoes or even bare feet.  It doesn't get hot like teak either.  Also see the high gunwales (side rails) around the edges of the boat...  keeps you from sliding under the lifelines/grab rails in heavy water (and traps flying fish for bait).  

The external lockers on this boat are all separately water tight and are very deep (in most cases at least chest deep) allowing easy storage of lines, fenders, outboard motors, life rafts, etc.  I was amazed at how much storage there is without ever going below.   These compartments are all protected by 2-3 "dogs" that allow you to cinch down the hatch onto a watertight seal to keep them dry.  

Kent has a lot of gear stored in this one but if I'm standing on the bottom, it comes up to almost my shoulders.  This particular locker is the watertight aft lazerette which has spaces to store two outboard motors where I'm standing.  The door behind the fuel container is a separate propane locker (which is vented overboard) and stores three barbecue style (but much taller) tanks for cooking.  

An example of a hatch "dog". Each hatch had at least three of them.  They pull the hatch down onto rubber seals that keep the water out.  Notice the 'fake teak' teak.  It's really part of the fibreglass of the boat.  This one needed to be repainted but it never requires sanding/varnishing, doesn't require thousands of holes in your deck, isn't hot to walk on in the sun like teak and is also very good nonslip.  It's an acquired taste but I quite like it.

Another ingenious feature of all of the external hatches is that they are connected by a single line that pulls a locking device into each hatch cover to prevent unintended access/theft.  This line is hidden inside the main saloon so even if the thieves get access to that area, they aren't likely going to be able to find out how to release the locks on the external hatches.  Each hatch also has a looped rope to hold the hatch open while you are mucking around in it... handy so it doesn't slam closed on a toe or a head!

This is the port cockpit bench locker.  It's about twice this big and goes another 3' or so vertically up into the picture under the topside deck.  That black line going into the far right wall through that grommet is the line I was talking about... when it's tight, it holds down the locker lid from the inside with no clasps on the outside to snag yourself (or cut off).  Every locker is similarly connected so when you tighten up that line from inside the boat, all of the lockers are completely sealed from outside access.  Ingenious.  

Cruising isn't always about exotic beaches and sundowners at the marina.  Boat maintenance is a constant requirement.  To that end, the Amel has a separate, well insulated, quiet, cavernous, stand up room engine compartment that is accessed by lifting up the floor of the cockpit (it's on hydraulic cylinders so that small woman can do this as well).   Down there, you'll find easy access to the 80-100 HP diesel (they came with Volvo/Perkins but many have been re-engined with Yanmars), 7-11 KW Onan diesel generator, 80-250L/hr water maker, air conditioning pumps, water heater, water pumps, inverters, battery chargers, transformers, etc.  All are well separated with easy access as is the main bilge pump which is an ingenious design of a completely dry float switch and pump to ensure that salt and corrosion doesn't interfere.   After suffering with standing on my head in my little compartment and having to pull my engine to replace my clutch, as well as having constant challenges keeping a dry bilge, this looks like heaven to me.  It's right in the centre of the boat so even in rough seas, it's not an unpleasant place to work with lots of fresh air, good external light and a sea kindly motion so you can quickly and fairly pleasantly get any work done no matter the conditions.

I'm standing in the companionway looking aft into the cockpit and the helm station chair is on the right side of the picture.  It is a bit dark, but that hatch is about 6'x6' by 6' deep.  You can see the hydraulic cylinders helping hold up the cockpit sole.  If you need to pull the engine (right next to the big yellow diesel fuel tank) or the generator (that white bit to the right side of the compartment, you simply reach down with a crane (or a hoist on your boom) and pluck them out.  Couldn't be any easier and I've never seen any sailboat no matter how big have a bigger engine compartment than this one.

A bit better picture of the engine and generator.  The yellow tank on the left is the Diesel tank.  It goes right down to the floor so is huge (600 L).  That round  blue tank in the top right is the hot water heater/tank.  The engine is mounted backwards so the transmission is at the front.  It is mounted to a "C" drive that takes power in from behind, turns 90º vertically through the hull and then 90º again towards the stern for the auto-feathering (both directions) prop.  The propeller is an automatically feathering AutoProp that is well shielded behind the keel to prevent it from picking up crab pots or fishing nets/lines.  It also has a Spurs line cutter.  The white motor is the 7KW Onan Genset.  If you run this, you can run all of the house appliances (dishwasher, water maker, microwave, 3 air conditioners, washer/dryer, 3 fridge/freezers) almost simultaneously. 

Amel is known for their idiosyncrasies, causing lots of unknowing sailors to say "it's those crazy French engineers" but he did everything for a good reason.  The water tank gauge is a floating wooden pole easily seen as you enter the companionway.  The tank is down in the keel and holds 1100 litres.  With the water maker capable of filling it in 4-10 hours, you should never run out of fresh water on this boat.  The wheel is amidships and well protected behind a fiberglass/plexiglass dodger as that is the place on the boat with the least motion in rough weather.  The boat has a floating electrical ground (it's tied to the batteries and not the engine/external drives) to reduce the potential for galvanic corrosion.  There is a solenoid that controls the electrical power to both the generator and the main engine which is only energized when starting... all other times the engine and genset are not connected to any electrical sources so they can't become anodes that can corrode if other parts of the electrical system are improperly installed.  There have been many stories where a bad electrical circuit on your boat (or your neighbour's boat) causes severe galvanic corrosion (to the point the metal fails and the boat sinks).  Can't happen here.   The main systems are all 24V DC and 220V/50 Hz AC as that's what is available in most of the world and it reduces cable size requirements.  The only thing that doesn't work on 110V is the microwave and the washer/dryer but they are all also connected to the generator so even in the US/Canada, it's not a problem.  Kent has a very beefy 3KW 110V inverter at the navigation station for anything with a North American plug.

Although they have a built-in 7KW onboard generator (very quiet) for running things like the separate three cabin air conditioner, water heater, dishwasher, washer/dryer or microwave (or charging the battery bank), most Amel's have been retrofitted with either additional wind/water or solar power.  Kristy, had 600 W of solar installed on a rear davit with an additional 600W to be installed on the new dodger once installed.  This meant that even while having hot fresh water showers, we rarely had to run the generator (in fact on day one we discovered that the raw water impeller pump had given up the ghost so couldn't run it until we got around to fixing it three days later).   The main engine also has two alternators, a 12V one for the starting battery and a 24V one for the house battery bank.  The house battery bank is made up of 8 very large 12V wet cell lead acid batteries wired up in series pairs to create 24V.  We would run them down to 24.7V before ensuring that they got recharged by solar (automatically), the generator or the engine.  This was enough capacity to run all of the electronics, the autopilot, the radar, all of the house lighting, fridges, freezers and fans for 24 hours.  

You can see the twin solar panels mounted over the new davit (for lifting and storing the dingy when not on passage).  The mizzen boom and mizzen sheet are in the centre of the picture and you can see Kent's brand new Aluminum bottomed RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) or Dingy.    To the right is a fish cutting table that folds out on the port railing.  We filleted a very nice Mahi Mahi on that during the passage.  

Slightly better shot of the underside of the solar panels and the new davit.  That vertical line is the mizzen back stay going to the top of the mizzen mast.  The davit was rock solid and made from 2" SS pipe.  

One of the key features that attracted me to this boat was the redundant systems.  Although the boat has electric winches and furlers, each of them can be bypassed easily with manual winch handles so the failure of any electric system does not jeopardize sail handling.  Another very good example of this is the redundant autopilot and steering systems.  The boat has a fairly conventional wheel steering system that is driven by chains and cables and hydraulics to the rudder under the aft cockpit.  The first autopilot drive is connected through separate chains and cables to the rudder providing a second mechanism to steer the boat.  If for some reason both fail,  the second autopilot linear drive is connected directly to the rudder quadrant (in a different spot) allowing the boat to continue to be steered from the cockpit.  Both autopilot drives are hooked up to independent autopilot computers (that can be switched between drives with a flick of a single toggle switch).  There is also an emergency tiller, stored in the aft lazerette, that can be dropped through a special watertight port into the top of the rudder itself if the rear rudder quadrant fails.  Finally because the boat is a ketch rig, you can easily use the rear mizzen sail to balance the rig so that you can direct the boat where you wish.  Even with the 40+ knot winds we saw on our trip, sailing was a two finger effort as the sails were balanced so well.  

While the boat does have a significant reliance on electrical systems, the wiring on this boat is a work of art.  Rather than having wires run willy nilly everywhere, they are all run in enclosed conduits with plenty of spare cable pulls and open access panels to make installing new gear easy.  There are access panels everywhere allowing easy repair and access to all gauges and equipment.  The navigation station drawers and panels all slide out allowing you to get at the back of all of the equipment and install new hidden equipment such as the wireless and cellphone boosters, AIS (Automated Information Systems), splitters, etc.  Everything is protected by clearly marked switches and circuit breakers (with one notable exception of the bow thruster up front... not sure why as it draws over 500A).  

Inside the boat, there are our main cabins and two full heads in addition to the engine room accessed from outside in the cockpit sole.  The forward cabin has two 6' 5" berths complete with removable lee boards to keep you in the berth in heavy weather.  The port side berth can be extended to supposedly be a two person berth but I think you'd want to be pretty friendly to use that for any length of time.  Each berth has about 8 lockers to store just about anything you could ever think of and in addition, there is a fairly large hanging wet locker for that cabin adjacent to the attached head compartment.  As mentioned, this cabin is protected by two water tight doors, one for the chain and fender lockers up front, and one aft of the wet locker/head compartments as you enter the main cabin.  These are 1" thick solid mahogany doors with a separate wooden bar and a metal toggle bolt that cinches the door tight onto it's water tight rubber seals.  Even without the bar/bolt, those seals make for a very quiet boat.  The head compartment is fairly roomy and contains a toilet, deep sink and wrap around shower curtain protecting all of the copious storage and sink area.  The heads are electric as is the hot and cold running fresh water.  No Horatio Hornblower type cold salt-water showers under a bucket on this boat.  

Standing in the "hallway" between the forward cabin (in this picture) and the main saloon.  Behind me is a watertight door.  To my right is a hanging wet locker.  To my left is the forward head.  We're looking at the starboard forward cabin berth (there is one on port as well.  This is where I slept and had an absolutely wonderful ride.  I don't know what they made those cushions from but they are more comfortable than my mattress at home.  I've taken the lee board down as we are in port but it basically is a long board that goes along the full edge of the bed to keep you from rolling out.  It's stored under the shelves above my bed.  

That leather flap at the front covers the bow thruster so you can easily get at it (and check for leaks).  The compartments at the foot of the berths have water tight doors behind them into the chain locker so that if you hit something at the front of the boat, it could fill up with water and this cabin would remain completely dry.  You can also climb through that door to get into the chain locker if you were so inclined.  Kent has 250 metres of chain in there so not a lot of extra room.  

All sorts of storage on both sides.  Those cabinets are at least 24" deep.  

Forward head.  Lots of storage, electric head, very deep sink so it doesn't overflow on the lean and a shower curtain that wraps around to keep everything dry (plus a nice thick wooden bathroom door).  Even in heavy seas, it was easy to get good footing, lots of grab rails and be able to stand up and take a shower.

You can see the grate in the shower stall.  It drains into the "grey water" in the bilge before being pumped overboard.  The heads have a separate holding tank (and a valve that allows the effluent to be pumped overboard when outside the three mile continental limit).  The sinks (including the kitchen sink) all drain into the grey water system so the rule on the boat is that nothing goes down the sink - we used lots and lots of paper towels to wipe down the dishes, pots and pans before washing them.  Kent's bilges had no smell and they all drain very strongly into the engine room so anything that goes down is only under the cabin sole (in hoses) for seconds in any case.

This is the forward cabin's wet locker.  It is in that hallway adjacent to the forward head.  The water tight door is on the right and the cabin door is on the left.  Hard to tell but there is a ladder, a full size wet vac and my and Steve's suitcases in there.  Lots of room for your foulies! 

Coming aft, you are in the main cabin.  On the port side there is a large table with a wrap around bench that can easily seat 6-8 people.  In a pinch, you could have 2 people sleep on those benches and in fact in heavy weather while doubling up on watches, one of us would lie down there as the motion was pretty kindly being in the centre of the boat.  Under each of these benches are large fridges/freezer compartments (they can be setup either way) as well as very deep floor compartments for storing beer/wine/cans/and other heavy stuff.

Main dining area.  The table also drops down to form an even bigger bed area if necessary.  I can't imagine why you'd need all of this space.  

All sorts of storage (each of these is at least 18" deep) and lights from port lights above (plus two opening hatches).  You can sit here and watch movies on a screen on the opposite wall.

One of the two fridge/freezers under each of the main cabin settee's (they can be either).    You can't see it here but Amel provides a long black rope from the top of the lid to a hook on the ceiling to keep the lid open while you root around in it.  Ever single locker door on the boat has a strap that goes around something to hold it open so it doesn't slam on your fingers or toes.  It's the little things that impress the most.

There is another bench on the starboard side but it's a bit far from the table for eating (although above it, there is another pull out berth complete with lee boards).  More storage above and inside all of the benches.

The starboard side sofa, slide out berth above it and looking into the forward cabin.  You can see that hallway I was talking about with the head on the port side and the wet locker on the starboard side. Again, port holes above (Covered by curtains)

A bit better view of the starboard sofa.  That padded neck rest/shelf is actually another berth.  It pulls out over top of the sofa and there is a flat screen TV under that leather cover.  Again, lots of storage.  Drawers at both ends of the sofa and lots of storage under it.  The floor panels also pull up (both down the hallway as well as under the main saloon revealing huge storage lockers for cans, beer, wine, etc (heavy stuff that could get wet).  There are six of these in the main saloon alone.

One of the under floor lockers.  The one under the most forward settee's feet can store 1008 cans of beer!

Behind the settee's is the galley on port and navigation station on starboard.  The galley is U-shaped and has a removable rope loop that you can use to make sure that you don't go from port to starboard on a big swell.   The galley has it's own small bar fridge with small freezer, a double sink, large cutting area, dishwasher, bread locker, microwave, washer/dryer and oodles of storage.  The owner told me that this boat has 78 separate storage compartments (the smallest of which is about 1 cubic foot).  I think I'd have to have a spreadsheet telling me where everything is stored!  I know that one Amel I follow on youtube managed to put 1,008 cans of beer in one of the floor lockers alone!

Full sized U-shaped galley.  Under the bucket is one of the two fridge/freezers. This one is small and is just used for things you are going to need in the next few days like open milk, salads, condiments, etc.  Super deep double sinks, dishwasher (that the coffee pot is sitting on), gimballed three burner stove and oven, bread box (under those blue towels), and a washer/dryer (under the papers at the very bottom of the picture).  Behind that net is a microwave oven.   The electrical panels above the sink are the main house electrics (breakers and switches for everything from nav lights to power for instruments and radios as well as a gauge to measure house 24V DC electrical bank.  The big compartment in between the two panels provides access to the steering gear, the first autopilot and both navigation computers.  The second panel is for stuff on the 220V AC bus such as the water pumps, the microwave, the inverters, water maker,  dishwasher, washer/dryer, etc.  The three red gauges are for the new solar panels.   I should also point out the access panel on the ceiling.  If you slide that open, you gain access to all those legacy wind, depth, speed instruments as well as to the wiring chase that will run all the wires from the helm station to the navigation station and the batteries.  You don't need a wrench to get at any of it.  That water gauge I talked about in the companionway is that vertical line of wood attached to the galley cabinetry. Looked at head on, you can easily tell how much of the 1100 L of water you've used and whether or not you need to turn on the water maker (controls for which are over top of the coffee maker).  The black switch above the coffee maker turns on the generator.  

Aft of the navigation station (on the starboard side of the engine compartment) is another wet locker for any gear that you might want to take off when you enter the boat and the pilot's berth on the starboard side of the hull inside the rear companionway passage.  This is the best berth in the house as you are right on the centre of movement and can see up into the cockpit through a small (opening) porthole to look at the instruments and make sure everything is still OK (or talk to the helmsperson).  There are water tight doors on both sides again protecting the  main and aft cabins and allowing some privacy.

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Nice big navigation station with a full size chart table.  Lots of iPhone charging ports, an old GPS unit, a bunch of sunglasses and a microphone, another 14" multi-function display (capable of everything the one at the helm station shows), a single sideband high frequency radio (transmits and receives at HAM radio frequencies so it can go thousands of miles), a very fancy audio entertainment system, the main controller for all of the legacy speed, depth type instruments and a VHF radio for short range communications.  The yellow vertical box is a 110V inverter for devices that need that (like the shop-vacs or North American power tools).  All kinds of storage.  Note the back strap that connects to little eyes on both sides of the chart table.  When that's around you, you are belted right in and don't move at all.  Very comfortable.  Each of those three bays that the navigation equipment is mounted into slides out by undoing (by hand) a large plastic hand nut under the counter.  You can take out all three units and sit them on the desk and still have plenty of room for all the babbling.  They go about 3' back so most have other "black boxes" hidden inside (such as the AIS transponders, cell/wifi boosters, wireless routers, etc.)

The aft companionway with pilot berth.  You can see the lee board on this one.  The battery bank is under the berth and you can see one of two battery switches (this one is the 12V starting circuit) at the bottom left of the picture.  The other 24V house bank switch is right below it.  To the right is the engine room.  The door I'm standing in as well as the next one down the hall to the aft cabin area are both watertight bulkheads - as is the engine room beside this.  All sorts of shelving here too.  You can almost make out the (opening) porthole on the right side that goes up into the cockpit.  When you are lying on the berth with your head away from us, you can see all the instruments of the helm station.  

There is a pin that allows you to lock the engine room compartment as well as a handle for a fuel shutoff valve and a manual trigger for the halon fire suppression system on the port wall (as well as a small port light allowing some light from the cockpit).

Fuel shut off and fuel gauge.  This is in the aft companionway so you don't need to go into the engine room to shut down any source of fire.  There is a separate lever that pulls the halon fire suppression system if it didn't fire automatically as well.

Under the very large pilot's berth (supposedly the most comfortable berth in rough weather on the boat) is the house and starting battery banks.  The bunk cover lifts up easily to provide easy access to check the acid levels in the batteries,  The main house and starting battery bank switches are mounted on the outside bottom side of the pilot berth (easily accessed from the navigation station).  There is lots of storage above the pilot berth as well.  

12V and 24V Master battery switches.  The top of that mattress is about waist high on me so you can see how big those batteries are,  There are 10 of them in there.  

The owner's (aft) cabin is accessed through the pilot berth companionway but is separated by those water tight doors and has a separate wet locker, full head (toilet, sink and shower again) and a double bunk as well as a settee and 'makeup' table/work area.  This is where most owners stay as it is quieter and more removed from the main areas of the boat.  Under the double bed is the easily accessed rudder quadrant and the second autopilot (not usually used at night because of the noise it makes).  There is all kinds of storage in this cabin and the aft head compartment.

Aft cabin, owner's bunk.  It's about a queen size mattress.  (Looks much smaller than it is).  Lots of storage and windows (all covered here).  

"Make-up" table and settee in the owner's cabin.  More storage and windows above.  

Aft head.  You can see the shower control nozzle on the left wall.  Nice opening port on this one to get some fresh air.  

Each of the three main compartments have their own separate air conditioning and heating systems with separate thermostats as well as cooling fans.  Air conditioning takes a lot of power so it's usually used at the dock (typically in the Mediterranean) or for short periods to remove the humidity from the air while under generator.  

Nice deep, well protected cockpit.  Under the towels is a fold out table with drink holders.  We put the foam seat covers up as we were walking in and out of the cockpit at the dock.  You can see the large cockpit sole that lifts up to reveal the full sized engine room.  All of the lockers (and the engine room hatch) are locked from inside the boat.    

While this boat was designed to be sailed by an older couple, it has additional formal berths for 4 more adults and extra space that can be repurposed for an additional three after that.  I can say that after being on the boat for a week without setting foot on shore with three guys, I didn't feel the slightest bit cramped and we always had places to go to be by ourselves when we wanted.   The Delos crew had 7 people with full provisions for 7 months going across the Indian Ocean from Thailand to South Africa (hence the 1008 cans of beer).  I like the idea of being able to handle family, grandkids and friends without inconvenience while maintaining room to have separate spaces for contemplation or just to get stuff done without disrupting anyone.  

How can you not love a helm station like this?  With 40 knots of wind on the stern quarter, racing down 15-20' waves, I was as dry and safe as a hobbit even with a big one crashing over the stern.  We've got the side and end panels of the fully enclosed dodger off but I was in shirt sleeves most nights even when you'd want to be all dressed up in foulies and gloves if you were outside the cockpit.  

Amel has made quite a few different types of boats (today they are making a 50' sloop, a 55' one like this (but much bigger and faster but they start at about 1 Million Euro's for new ones ) and a 64' one.  They also made a 46' version called the Maramu and then later the Santorin.  Those can be had for very reasonable money but I wonder if they might be just a bit small (they have all the same features/cabins, but are smaller in every dimension).  After the Super Maramu, they made a 54' version which had a slightly wider hull shape and is a bit faster but they are about twice the money of the 53' Super Maramu.   In 1999, they refreshed the Super Maramu and called it the Super Maramu 2000.  This added things like the 8 battery house bank,   better furling systems and some other minor improvements making this the desirable boat.  Before the SM, they had a boat called the Mango which was 52' and was it's forerunner.  That's all well and good but I've decided that the Super Maramu 2000 is just about the perfect boat for me.