Design and Construction
Amel's employee-owned yard, shaped by Henri Amel's 1980 gift of shares to his workers, built the 55 as a solid fiberglass monohull with a fin keel drawing 7ft 3in and a skeg-hung rudder. The builder's long practice of laminating deck to hull in the mold carries into this model, producing a single watertight shell rather than a bolted joint, and four full-height interior bulkheads—including a forward collision bulkhead with a watertight door—are bonded in place while the hull is still in the mold. A molded-in polyurethane imitation teak deck avoids the leak and maintenance paths of laid wood. The propeller lives in the keel's trailing edge anchor, a layout that removes propwalk entirely and shields the drivetrain from grounding damage. Every electric system has a manual back-up, and maintenance access is deliberately laid out to make routine checks easy rather than buried.
Rig and Handling
The 55 is a ketch rig carrying 1,366 sq ft of sail, and test sailors found her a doddle to sail. That ease, however, comes with handling caveats: period reviews noted she is not terribly quick, and the helm felt dull even at the best of times. When overcanvassed—particularly with too much mizzen—the wheel went very heavy indeed, a reminder that the split rig demands balanced trim rather than piled-on canvas. The absence of propwalk from the keel-mounted propeller changes docking dynamics, and Amel fits a 12hp retractable bow thruster as standard to offset the loss of steerage cues at low speed.
Accommodations and Deck Life
On deck the 55 provides a sundeck for drying off after a swim and a bathing platform shower, while the lazarette is sized to swallow plenty of toys. A cockpit tent unfurls to enclose the space in poor weather, and LED lights are placed in the deckhouse, on the spreaders, and at the mizzen boom end. Cameras on the spreaders let the anchor roller and bottom be surveyed from the helm before committing to a spot. Below, the boat arrived from the factory with air conditioning, heating, a dishwasher, microwave, freshwater-flushing heads, and TV and stereo systems—an inventory aimed at couples who want to cross oceans without outfitting stops.
The Verdict
The Amel 55 is a thoroughly considered ocean cruiser rather than a performance racer. Her construction closes the usual hull-deck failure points, her keel-protected propeller and standard bow thruster address low-speed control, and her standard creature comforts let a buyer step aboard and leave. The trade-offs are a dull, sometimes heavy helm and modest straight-line speed under sail.
Pros
- Single watertight monocoque hull-deck structure with four bonded bulkheads
- Keel-trailing-edge propeller eliminates propwalk and shields gear from grounding
- Standard 12hp retractable bow thruster, full manual back-ups, easy maintenance access
- Factory-fitted air conditioning, heating, dishwasher, microwave, freshwater heads, and AV
Cons
- Not terribly quick under sail
- Helm feels dull and grows very heavy when overcanvassed with excess mizzen
