Built in 1986, the Fango Heimana II was the last boat owned by Henri Amel, the founder of Chantiers AMEL. This sloop measuring almost 10 meters was produced on a small scale compared to its contemporary and bigger sisters, the Sharki, Maramu and Mango. In addition, the Heimana II was a special Fango and had been fitted with unusual equipment: like the bigger boats, she had an electric furling mast, a bow thruster and even a stern thruster, a desalinator, a fuel heater and air conditioning, as well as all the navigation and communication equipment at the forefront of 80s technology … in short, a real gem!
Retired at our shipyard since the disappearance of her “Captain”, the Heimana II suffered from not being restored and returned to the water. Fortunately, a former AMEL shipyard worker, now retired but an outstanding mechanic, who had sailed a lot with Henri Amel, recently decided to bring this historic Fango back to life. For about 6 months now, this enthusiast has been coming to work on the boat almost every day and spends hours restoring her mechanical devices, electricity, plumbing, doing a few polyester repairs, touching up some things inside (while she had still kept her original brilliance, especially her varnished mahogany).
A few weeks ago, Heimana II was hoisted to be put into our control pool (next to an Amel 50, she seemed so proud!). A real christening in the air, suspended at the end of this huge crane, 30 metres high and skimming over trees!
She just has to wait a few more days and then she can finally get back into salt water. We can’t wait to see her set sail in the ocean again!
