Overview
The Amel 55 is a center-cockpit ketch built by Chantiers Amel in La Rochelle from 2011 to 2018, the successor to the Amel 54 and the first Amel drawn by Jean Berret and Olivier Racoupeau. Like the 54 it is built to let a couple cruise long distances in comfort, with powered sail handling and a protected cockpit.
Design and Construction
The propeller sits in the trailing edge of the keel, which removes prop walk but sends little propwash over the rudder, so berthing takes care. Displacement is about 47,400 lb on a 48 ft 9 in waterline. Options listed by Yachting Monthly include air conditioning, heating, a dishwasher and freshwater-flushing heads. A 12 hp retractable bow thruster is standard, every powered system has a manual back-up, and maintenance access is designed in. Yachting Monthly liked the cockpit layout: with one table leaf up you can step from the aft deck to the companionway and galley without interruption, and the lazarette is big enough for plenty of toys. The magazine also mentions cameras on the spreaders for checking the bottom before anchoring. The boat it tested was priced at £1,140,000.
Under Sail
Yachting Monthly found her sedate and comfortable rather than quick. The unbalanced rudder gives a dull helm, and when overcanvassed, especially with too much mizzen, the helm became very heavy; the reviewer advises trimming the ketch rig until she balances. Blue Water Sailing, which sailed the 55, called it a solid and fast ketch with true blue water capabilities. Its September 2016 note observed that Amel revises its boats continually, so the 2016 show boat was an improved version of the one shown a year earlier, and that Amel supplies them fully outfitted, from sails and genset to watermaker and cutlery.
Buyers Notes
Neal notes Amels are systems-rich and dependent on an AC generator, so budget for maintaining them. Prices are high. Yachting Monthly’s reviewer said a buyer needs no decades of experience because she is a doddle to sail, and that the UK dealer sees Amel competing with Hallberg-Rassy, Oyster, Discovery and Gunfleet, which makes her a relative bargain at that level.
