Elan yachts, up to 12m, good bad or indifferent? Or something else?

[steve yates]

As an alternative to the hnter she saw, Jo is quite taken with the Elan yachts interiors. I'm not so keen on their looks, but susect they may be much better than the hunter 40 she looked at before.

We want to stay under the 12m pricepoint for med marina's, anyone know about these boats? or had one? I read somewhere that the older 2004 ish models were much better built than later ones, true or not?

Would you buy one for med cruising? if not, what would you get instead?

 

[dunedin]

What generation / year of Elan? They have changed hugely over the decades.

The Elan 333, Elan 36/362 and Elan 40 from 1999 or so were brilliant sailing yachts with very practical and sturdy wooden interiors. Designer and another key person involved were British, so interiors more Moody/Westerly than Adriatic in style. We had a 362 for 10 years and brilliant boat.

Later ones different- not necessarily worse but more plasticky interior, perhaps better for their sales to Med charter market.

 

[steve yates]

We don't know, hence the question which ones give better value, better build/seaworthiness or better accom?

 

[flaming]

We don't know, hence the question which ones give better value, better build/seaworthiness or better accom?

Elan have had a number of ranges over the years. The ones with the best reputation were the performance cruiser/racer range. So 295, 333, 36 (later 37) and 40. They got generally updated and became the 340, 380, 410 and 450. 450 was a bi of an outlier, and basically the forerunner of the current generation of performance cruisers that they have. Generally, they seemed to get it "right" with one boat per update. The 333 has an incredible reputation as a fast cruiser and trophy winning cruiser racer. The 37 and 40 also have good reputations but not quite in the same league when it comes to general standing. The 340 and 380 just never really worked. I've never come across a competitive example of either on the race course, and I think they were not amazingly popular with the fast cruiser set either. However the 410 and the 450 were big hits.
They also launched the impression range, somewhere around the late noughties if memory serves, which are their pure cruiser offering. Don't know a lot about them as they were never on my radar.

The current E range, or the range that they replaced(the 310, 320, 350, 400 and 450) are boats I would look at very seriously for a fast cruiser brief in the Med. The 400, and the E5 that replaced it are under 12m.
Quality wise, I've done a lot of sailing in a 37, and generally I think the quality to be a bit better than the Beneteau/Jeanneau of the same era.

 

[dolabriform]

After sailing a 1995 38 in Croatia and loving the handling we've just bought a 1999 36.
Up until the 38, we'd never known anything about Elan, and now we are smitten. I feel that the interiors are better quality and better thought out than similar AWBs from Ben, Bav etc. Designed by Rob Humphries, they sail really well.

 

[cmedsailor]

I have an Elan Impression 45 bought new last year. Much larger (13m) than what you are after but can provide information if you are interested.

 

[steve yates]

Yes please cmedsailor

 

[Lightwave395]

Be careful about length for marinas, my boat is 39 ft 6 inches. It's 11.99m on IRC cert. The marina decided to measure her halfway through the year and came up with 12.04m and a bill for the difference !

 

[vyv_cox]

Several 333s lost half their rudder due to fatigue at a section change in the stock. Don't know about other models. I believe some have been replaced as a precaution.

 

[cmedsailor]

Yes please cmedsailor

OK, I can answer only for the Impression 45.
It feels strong, safe and powerful. It might be a cruiser but it’s relatively fast. With in mast main sail (vertical battens and roach) 8 knots is very easily achievable in anything above say 14 knots of wind. It sails nicely, solid feeling.
I get the impression that it heels a lot if you are not careful with the canvas but strangely sailing at 25 degrees or sometimes more the rudder never looses grip. it has a STIX of 50 which means a lot.
Build quality, I think it’s quite good. Lot’s of cabinets in the saloon and galley.
Design is something very subjective to judge. It’s a design that started in 2004/5 and every time Elan kept the same hull and made changes both inside and outside.

 

[Bellacruiser]

After much research and chartering we purchased an 2005 Elan 384 Impression last year (11.55m).

Very happy so far, and with the build quality. We chartered one of the same year for a week before buying and viewed many. Happy to answer any Qs on PM. Two Youtube channels (Finding Avalon and Project Freewheel) have similar era/specced to ours and another forumite has one in the Solent (DawnRazor I think).

We love the faux-coach roof/high salon (hubby is 6'2") and the "skylight" type windows too. I understand the pros of a twin helm but on a boat this size we liked the single helm. Also, whilst 11.55m the stern doesn't taper in as much as some, so the LOA (11.55m) vs LWL (11.25m) is similar and all space used.

If you wanna test one, ours is in charter in Croatia for this summer haha (we have a Mediterranean sabbatical planned for 2022 but when we purchased her from a private owner, the charter co managing her was happy to keep her on. It's a small private company with a lot of repeat business and the boats are really well maintained, so it made sense for us and we get someone doing all the maintenance and keeping an eye on her!)

 

[Bellacruiser]

OK, I can answer only for the Impression 45.

If we hadn't also been keen on staying sub-12m that's what I would have gone for. Have sailed one and there's one in the fleet with our boat that I lust after. Interestingly Elan's new 40.1 Impression is 11.99m. Suspect that wasn't a coincidence..