5 Things I Love & Hate About our Amel Super Maramu

After owning Nalu a little over a year and sailing, traveling and living on her for about four months (only), I have found many, many things I love about this boat – and a few I don’t. As we get to know her better, things may change and I’ll write an update 😉 But for now, here is my Top 5 for things I love and things I dislike about our new home.

5 Things I Love about our Amel Super Maramu

Not an easy list to make, as there is a lot I love about this boat. But I made a top 5 anyway:

1. She is built like a tank

She’s a very solid, sturdy lady and I trust her 100% to keep us safe under pretty much any circumstance. She comes with watertight bulkheads as well, so even when disaster strikes, we at least have a chance of keeping her afloat long enough to either get to shore or get help.

2. She’s very seakindly and comfortable

Even with as little experience as we have with her, we have been in a little bit of weather and bumpy, confused seas and more serious waves with her. She seems to love it, and just keeps going like a train on rails. When there’s not enough wind, she can be a bit of a rolly boat, but give her a nice breeze and off she goes – and she’ll keep going without much fuss.

3. Plenty of storage

I’m including her capability of carrying plenty of water and diesel (1000 & 600 liter respectively) with this one. While there’s still a surprising amount of wasted space, this boat has lots and lots of storage and we won’t have much trouble stowing all our spare parts, tools, food and personal stuff.

4. Large U-shaped galley

I love cooking and good food is very important at sea. Since we have so much storage, it’s easy to carry stuff like, for instance, a bread maker. Her very roomy, well laid-out gally makes cooking at sea a joy instead of a chore.

5. Center Cockpit

I’m definitely a center cockpit fan, preferring this lay-out over aft cockpits anytime. It works really well with Nalu as well, providing a huge engine bay, roomy aft cabin and extra storage or a sea bunk, depending on your use of the space. Center cockpits allow for much more privacy as well, which -to me- is important when it’s your home and office as well.

And much, much more!

And yes, I could go on a bit about things I love about our Amel Super Maramu. Her huge saloon, with the large U-shaped settee, her beautiful woodwork, the low maintenance / all fiberglass set-up, the huge extra freezer/fridge under the settee, her large and comfortable showers, the large cockpit … There is a lot I like and love about this boat. I’m aware that an Amel is definitely not everybody’s cup of tea – but she sure is mine!

5 Things I Hate about out Amel Super Maramu

Apart from a few small things, like the decks getting way too hot to walk on, this is pretty much the complete list. There isn’t all that much to dislike about this boat ♡ but there are, as always, a few things:

1. Can’t see out

With over 2 meters of headroom she’s large and roomy … but I can’t see out. The windows are way too high for me to look out of. No more staring out of the window when making my morning coffee or seeing anything more than clouds and birds. I can barely even reach the hatch in the saloon 🙁

2. Mid-ship diesel exhaust

Yes, it’s a short, easy way out from the engine room, but the hull is permanently covered in soot and, worse, with a bit of wind from that side, the diesel fumes are blown into the cockpit. On our way out of the Med, this made me sick twice. Literally.

3. Short little beds

It seems to be an unwritten rule in boat design: don’t waste too much space on beds. I’m only 1.68m so I’ll fit pretty much anywhere, but Martijn is 1.95m … The bed in the aft-cabin is both too narrow for both of us and too short for him. The sea bunk in the passageway is very narrow but long enough. The V-berth is okay if set-up as a double and he lies down diagonally. We have plans to remedy the situation when we get home, but I can’t help but wonder why a 16 meter boat doesn’t come with decent sized beds.

4. Lack of ventilation

No dorade boxes or anything, just three hatches on deck and one (fairly useless one) on the back of the aft cabin. Which makes the aft cabin the worst place to be when temperatures rise. We’ve tried almost every conceivable combination of open and closed hatches and companionway, but the aft cabin is just not a good place to be on hot days. We’ll be adding a hatch to the aft cabin, as we’ve already seen on several ASM’s – and now we understand why.

5. Too much wasted space

One of the reasons the beds are too small are the rounded corners. It looks beautiful, but it the space behind it isn’t used. It gets worse in the saloon where there’s an uncomfortable little settee with a pull-out sea bunk above it. That extra bunk is small and narrow, with a sad excuse for a mattress (because it has to fit under the cupboards). Behind it – no man’s land. That’s a lot of wasted space just for an uncomfortable settee and bunk … One of our first projects will be to (have a shipwright we know well) create a deep, full width, comfortable settee that doubles as a comfortable bed/bunk for us.

Bottom line: she’s the perfect fit for us!

Some people adore their Amel so much, they take offence when you say there’s a few things you’re not all that happy with. That’s absolutely lovely, please keep enjoying everything about your boat! This is just my personal opinion, looking at her as our home (we’re both very experienced liveaboards, having each lived on our own boats for years), our office and our cruiser.

I love this boat for everything she is, and while we will make some changes (like add a hatch and have a better settee made), I’ll deal with the diesel fumes in the cockpit, her love for rolling when at anchor (we’ll buy her some rocker stoppers) and other little things. Since we moved aboard permanently last April, I have very much fallen in love with this quirky girl and I hope we’ll be able to enjoy many wonderful adventures, miles and years with her!