Due to client requests, Amels is once again offering fully custom construction. The Dutch yard has created the Amels Full Custom division, which will focus on 262- to 361-foot (80- to 110-meter) megayachts.
If you’re familiar with Amels’ history, you may recall that it built all-custom yachts previously. The 242-foot (73.69-meter) Ilona, delivered in 2004, is one of its best-known, as is Montkaj, from 1995, measuring 246 feet (75 meters). About nine years ago, Amels changed gears. That’s when it introduced the Limited Editions yachts. These semi-custom offerings started with the Amels 171. Today, they include five models from 180 to 272 feet (55 to 83 meters). As often happens with megayacht owners, some Amels clients have become repeat buyers, stepping up to bigger boats. Also as often happens, the bigger the yacht, the more tailoring customers request. Amels has therefore added the Amels Full Custom division to cater to them, and of course other buyers.
The Amels Full Custom approach makes sense for the upper end of the megayacht market, which the builder began addressing in recent years. Amels started construction on the first Amels 242 in 2013, for example. She’ll be delivered in 2016. The same delivery year applies to the first Amels 272.
Amels has the following brief explanation of the Amels Full Custom division on its website:
Here at Amels we’ve listened to your ideas as the superyacht market evolves. That’s why we’ve taken another step forward alongside our successful Amels Limited Editions range. We can now deliver true Full Custom yachts in the 80 to 110-metre segment. Amels Full Custom – create your vision of yachting at the highest level.
Unlike a few builders targeting the upper megayacht market, Amels already has facilities capable of accommodating this size range. It has a 656-foot-long (200-meter-long), covered, climate-controlled drydock. Furthermore, it can tap the engineering and construction experience of its parent company, Damen Shipyards Group, which has built a variety of vessels to that same LOA.
To be clear, the introduction of Amels Full Custom does not mean Amels is abandoning the Limited Editions offerings. Those are still well-suited to buyers who want faster delivery times than Amels Full Custom will take. More than 20 Limited Editions yachts have been handed over since the first one was delivered in 2007, and several more are in build. Amels will further continue to offer refits and its Sea Axe Fast Yacht Support Vessels.
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