ABOUT AME
Engineering ambitious ideas into reality.
About Cyril Silberman
CEO & Lead Engineer
Uni-Systems Corporation founder Cyril Silberman is a Minnesota-born experienced design engineer whose team built and maintains many of the world’s retractable sports stadium roof assemblies. Another Silberman company built launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center. Silberman himself is an active pilot with thousands of hours of flight time in high-performance airplanes and helicopters. For the Boeing Company his companies have built landing gear elevators, maintenance docking, and production-line assembly tooling. Silberman has also been building boats since he was 17 years old.
A telling aspect of Silberman’s strategy regarding stadium retractable roof assemblies is that the company does not necessarily sign away responsibility for its operation and maintenance to the stadium owners. Instead, Uni-Systems feels that to assure the best operation of the roof machinery and controls, it both maintains them and monitors them in real time before and during sporting events, in fact virtually all the time. Uni-Systems retractable-roof moving parts and drive systems are embedded with sensors that send data in real time to both internal computers as well as remote operators. This data collection and monitoring activity is the backbone of how Silberman and his team intend to operate the newly minted vessel of the future.
History of AME
Development of Sobe Sunset
1999
Original Hull Built
Built by Heisley Marine Corp. in the Pacific Northwest as Marbella III, a nominally 90′ (27.4m) Divinycell-cored fiberglass motor yacht with twin 1,000-hp MTU diesels and two Onan generators.
~1999
Concept Origins
Cyril Silberman begins designing his “perfect subtropical boat.”
2018-2019
Design, engineering and market study
Broker surveys estimate up to 10,000 boats in South Florida (60–110′, valued $1M–$10M) that could benefit from the concept. Strategy shifts from a new build to rebuilding an existing hull.
2018-2019
Vessel Acquired
Purchased in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and begun to refit.
Nov 19, 2021
Spud pole patent application filed
“Hydraulic piston spud pole” filed by inventor Cyril J. Silberman. Water-driven hydraulic spud pole that anchors the vessel in up to 13′ of water.
2021
Launch
Sobe Sunset launched for the first time from the shipyard since refitted.
Jan 2023
First sea trial
Jul 2023
BOAT International
“31m Sobe Sunset begins sea trials following hybrid conversion.”
Oct/Nov 2023
Professional BoatBuilder
“If You Look Hard Enough into the Setting Sun” by Nigel Calder. Systems feature: 300 kWh LiFePO4 marine lithium battery, 750V DC bus, 700+ sensors on 36 networked computers.
Mar 19, 2024
Spud pole patent granted
U.S. Patent No. 11,932,353 B2, “Hydraulic piston spud pole.”
~April 2024
Epic Power Converters case study
Supplier case study on the 11 kW solar MPPT conversion to the 750VDC bus.
2024
BOAT Design & Innovation Awards
Sobe Sunset receives the Judges’ Commendation for innovation.
Present
Ongoing development
Engineering hardening, the yacht monitoring system historian and analytics, remote boat monitoring and support tooling.
Stay in the loop
News From the Helm
Sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on project updates & more.