Superyacht The JULY 2011 ISSUE 125 › uploads › tx_p3amels › ...superyachtthe july 2011 truth...

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REPORTAMELS 212A visit to to Mallorca and a step aboard Imagine, the fi rst in the company’s series production range.Page 54

WALLY A close-up of the iconic brand’s DNA, and a look at the moves in play to future-proof it for tomorrow’s fl eet.Page 70

TOP YARDS We try to determine how to quantify a ‘top yard’ in an industry without a formalised, defi ned standards bar.00

ISSUE 125JULY 2011

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Amels 212The Art of Limitation

54 THE SUPERYACHT REPORT | ISSUE 125

In 2009 Martin H Redmayne visited the Amels facility in Vlissingen and reported on the business model behind the company’s approach to series production. Two years later, TSR’s Justin Ratcliffe was invited to Mallorca to go aboard Imagine, the fi rst in the Amels 212 series and the largest yacht to be launched by Amels to date. He discovered that throughout the ongoing economic crisis, the shipyard has remained faithful to the LIMITED EDITIONS ethos.

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THE SUPERYACHT REPORT | ISSUE 125 55



yaRD RepoRt | amels

at the height of the superyacht boom, several shipyards

recognised that building yachts to a common technical platform made perfect sense by speeding up the build process and reducing waiting times for owners. amels, based in the Netherlands, was ahead of the game when it presented its lImIteD eDItIoNs 171 at the monaco yacht show in 2005. the remarkable success of the tim Heywood design (the yard is currently building hull 14) quickly led to an expansion of the series: the 212 was announced a year later; the 171 has since evolved into the 177; the 180 is a stretched version with fold-down bulwarks; the 199 with its plumb bow was introduced in 2010; and the 242 flagship will be presented in monaco in september. No other builder of high-volume series superyachts has been able to match amels in terms of product range or commercial success.

there is no doubt that the acquisition of amels by the Damen shipyards Group in 1991 has been fundamental in shaping its approach to yacht building. as Imagine weighed anchor off port d’andratx and we headed out to sea in april, amels’ marketing manager, Victor Caminada, explained how the rationale behind the lImIteD eDItIoNs concept is the brainchild of Kommer Damen, chairman of the Damen shipyards Group, and derived directly from commercial shipbuilding practice. Caminada described the 212 as “a very beautifully finished ship”.

“the idea of mr Damen – and it started in the ’60s – is if you standardise a boat there will be advantages for everybody involved,” he explained. “First of all, you are going to get a better boat because you’re building in numbers, and it is worthwhile for the yard to invest more in the design because they know they will make more. secondly, you will be quicker in building the boat because you are getting better at it. moreover, if you start building on speculation, you reduce delivery time substantially. then, last but not least, the price obviously goes down if you have multiple numbers.”

amels had already experimented with series production with its tigre d’or platform, but as martin H Redmayne pointed out in his article that appeared in issue 104 of The Yacht Report, the lImIteD eDItIoNs marketing strategy should not be confused with that of the tigre d’or:

“that was driven by an entrepreneurial client who saw an opportunity to secure build slots and make money on the resale of completed or semi-completed projects, probably at the expense of the yard,” he pointed out. “the new Damen-driven and inspired business model was to ensure that the amels shipyard was able to deliver profit and run the facility as a business, where financial control and structured management were their key phrases.”

as part of the Damen Group, amels can also choose to distribute its resources depending on capacity between the Group’s various sites to start building on spec. the next 212 hull, for example, will be built at Damen Gdynia in poland, which has already supplied amels with 24 hulls. all fitting-out procedures and final commissioning, however, take place in the Netherlands.

another fundamental aspect of this business model is that the seemingly random hull lengths are based on gross tonnage, which relates directly to interior volume and pricing – a concept not always fully appreciated by owners. so if we compare the amels 171 at 620gt and the 212 at over 1500gt, you have almost two and a half times more volume for just 12m extra length overall. What this means in the case of the new amels 242 at 1,725gt is that there is now the internal space and external proportions for a private owner’s deck, something more commonly associated with yachts in the 80m-plus range. asked whether this also opens up the option of a solas-class vessel, however, Caminada was doubtful:

“We have studied that in great detail, but it doesn’t look good at this size,” he responded. “you actually have to add another 10m to include the required lifeboats on the sides of the boat, which take up a lot of volume

Amels limited editions 212 specificAtion LOA: 65.50m (215.00ft)

LWL: 59.20m (194.20ft)

Max beam: 11.88m (39.00ft)

Draught (full load): 3.85m (12.60ft)

Displacement: 1,400 metric tons

Guests: 14

Crew: 18 + 4 (staff cabin)

Tenders: x2 8.25m

Max speed: 17 knots

Cruising speed: 13 knots

Range @ 13 knots: 5,000nm

Fuel capacity: 155,000lt

Fresh water capacity: 38,000lt

Gross tonnage: 1,503

No other builder of high-volume series superyachts has been able to match Amels, in terms of product range, or commercial success.



if you want to discreetly hide them. So that’s another step, but if you run privately, you can have six cabins on the lower deck if you want, plus the two VIPs and the owner’s suite for up to 18 people.”

As befits series as opposed to custom production, the design of the LIMITED EDITIONS is market driven, although feedback from individual owners is also taken into account – one reason the 171 became the 177. For each new model, the company first conducts a market survey to identify needs and opportunities (which has also dictated the decision to go high-volume and avoid the increasingly crowded sub-500gt market). On the basis of this research, a design brief is devised and a preliminary GA and technical specifications are drawn up – the so-called ‘Product Definition Package’ or PDP – that is then passed on to the engineering department to work out the details. At the same time and to speed up the process, various designers are invited to submit proposals for the interior and exterior design.

“While that architecture is for the most part pre-planned,” said the Amels publicity material, “the key is still flexibility. The style of each space, such as the master suite, is subtly adjustable to meet each client’s personal flair, to encourage each client to convert the pre-existing architecture into a unique private floating domain, through the choice of colour, mood and material.”

Wherever possible, technical spaces and systems are centralised to make interior customisation easier. For example, on the first Amels 199 (sold to a repeat LIMITED EDITIONS client), the centralised pathways for ducting and cabling meant that non-structural bulkheads could be moved to make way for the owner’s extensive modifications, which included an enclosed lounge on the sun deck, a feature repeated on Imagine (named after the song by John Lennon) to house a gym and steam room with a large pool and wet bar outside. On the second 212, which is in build and due for delivery next summer, the elevator has been taken out, the entire main stairwell moved and the two VIP cabins combined to create one very large owner’s suite.

While Tim Heywood has been responsible for the exterior design of all the LIMITED EDITIONS to date, Nuvolari & Lenard, Laura Sessa and Andrew Winch have each won interior design contracts. In the case of Imagine, this meant that Winch had to satisfy not one, but two joint owners – an alarming proposition for most designers, but one that went surprisingly smoothly:

“Actually, it was mainly one of the owners involved at the beginning and the second one joined later, but he is more into the technical and engineering side,” explained owner’s representative Yavor Nenov, who also acts as the yacht manager. “Basically

In the case of Imagine, Winch had to satisfy not one, but two joint owners – an alarming proposition for most designers, but one that went surprisingly smoothly.



yaRD RepoRt | amels

they were both happy with what andrew Winch Design proposed, but added a few details of their own.

one of just a handful of change orders was that the stainless-steel accents be exchanged for brushed copper with an oxidised finish, a solution that has added extra warmth to the eucalyptus and leather panelling, jatoba flooring and wenge detailing. Curved, louvred ceiling cornices in eucalyptus add a pleasing lightness to the interior by accentuating the large side windows, two of which in the main salon are sliding and can be opened for natural ventilation. the Infrastop glass, supplied by Flachglas Wernberg GmbH, is double insulated with an

air cavity between the panes and a metal film that reduces heat energy transmission by up to 65 per cent.

another technical feature, this time for aesthetic purposes, is the philips lumiblade mirrorwall (reviewed in Q3 of SuperyachtDesign) in the bridge deck lobby. made from organic light-emitting diodes (oleDs), these energy-efficient, flat tiles provide a diffuse light source and are sensitive to movement, switching on and off as people pass by.

the main dining table positioned by the sliding glass doors leading to the open aft deck is especially worthy of note: crafted by metrica in wenge with scallop-shaped indents in its

Both décor and layout are eminently suitable for the charter market, which was the owners’ intention from the start.



Imagine was delivered over three months before its contractual date – unheard of for a full-custom project.

surface, extra leaves stored in their own compartment in the beach club can be added to extend seating for up to 14 people. A smart detail is that the leading edges of this table, and the bar in the sky lounge, are slightly angled downwards to make them more comfortable to lean on.

The décor throughout the yacht is subdued yet tasteful, with splashes of colour provided by bold Andy Warhol prints and other hanging artwork and objets d’art. The GA is conventional, but designed around roominess and desirable intimacy for owners and guests alike. Both décor and layout are eminently suitable for the charter market, which was the owners’ intention from the start. A

full-beam master suite is located on the forward main deck, while two VIP cabins on the bridge deck have their own Parisian-style balconies. Guest accommodation on the lower deck consists of four suites, but two of them can be configured as twin-berthed suites or, by removing a dividing bulkhead, a third full-beam VIP suite for charter flexibility.

One of Tim Heywood’s stylistic trademarks are the curved bull noses on the aft section of the sundeck superstructure, which also appeared on Derecktor’s Cakewalk. On Imagine, however, panes of glass have been inserted between the bull noses and built-in day sofas added on both sides to create one of the most desirable



yaRD RepoRt | amels

lounging areas onboard – a feature that will be continued on subsequent builds.

the spacious crew quarters forward can accommodate up to 18 crew in 10 cabins, with a four-person staff cabin on tank deck level.

a characteristic of the lImIteD eDItIoNs range is the low noise and vibration levels onboard. amels sales manager and Naval architect, Johan Kaasjager recalls that on the amels 177, during sea trials with aC operating, the ambient noise in the guest cabins was a hushed 38dB(a). on Imagine, readings made at 16 knots with main engines running at 80 per cent, measurements of 42dB were recorded in the owner’s suite and in the portside forward guest cabin well below the contractual limits. as these were recorded with no furniture, carpets or mattresses onboard, the actual levels would be even lower.

UNLIMITED SUCCESSaccording to Caminada, every lImIteD eDItIoNs yacht has been delivered either on time or ahead of

schedule. timely delivery is good for the owner, because it often coincides with the start of the summer cruising season, and good for the shipyard, because it avoids contractual penalties.

What is certain is that Imagine was delivered over three months before its contractual date. Remarkably for a yacht of this size and complexity and as the first in the 212 series, it was also delivered with just five minor items on the non-conformity or ‘snag list’. In a welcome display of transparency, the signed list was provided for our perusal and included a malfunctioning galley freezer and defective lighting via the Creston system in the ship’s office. three of the items were resolved before the yacht’s departure and the remaining two had been fixed before we boarded in mallorca.

the word ‘custom’ is, in any case, a fickle term open to numerous interpretations and most shipyards will resort to standardised solutions wherever possible. even amels confuses the issue somewhat by referring to ‘premium semi-custom’

at times. But to its credit, the shipyard has always been admirably open about what it is trying to achieve.

“In 2005 we said we were going to have lImIteD eDItIoNs, this is what the boat will look like and we will build many of them – as many as the market wants,” said Caminada. “other yards hesitate because they feel that full-custom is more chic or has a higher status, but there’s not such a big difference.”

the amels lImIteD eDItIoNs 212 may lack a few of the bells and whistles of some of its full-custom cousins, which give us journalists so much to write about, but it is well designed, well built and it works. g

Images: Marc Paris and Klaus Stemmler

For more images and full specification of the Amels 212, please visit synfo.com/extras

To comment on this article, email [email protected] with subject: Amels 212: The Art of Limitation


Superyacht The JULY 2011 ISSUE 125 › uploads › tx_p3amels › ...superyachtthe july 2011 truth...

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