New Elan 320

[andymcp]

Must say I'm a little disappointed. I'm really taken with their 210, but it's just too small and basic to tempt SWMBO - I thought it would be ideal for some fun racing locally, then charter abroad for family hols.

The obvious (to me) gap in their line-up wasn't around the 32ft mark (too close to the 350) but more around the 27/28ft area. Basic tiller-steered fast cruiser like the 210, but with a little more comfort and nowhere near the price jump to the 350. I could have made a happy case for the race/charter setup with that, but I'd imagine the 320 will just be too expensive. Shame.

And that's before you get to the question of who really needs two wheels on a 32ft yacht?? Barely need one at that length....

http://www.elan-yachts.com/en/performance/elan-320.html

 

[[70521]]

I am in total agreement.

One wheel good two wheels bad.

 

[flaming]

Blimey, the 310 didn't last long in the range then!

In this boat I think the twin wheels are clearly the only way to go. A tiller is going to fill that cockpit up, and the width of the boat would require the most massive tiller extension. Great for racing - but then you're also going toned to move the coachroof forward to give space for the rest of the crew to work - and there goes your nice airy interior.
1 wheel wouldn't work because of the width of the boat, it would have to be massive to be able to sit out.

I just can't my head around these new Elans though. I want to like them, they look great and promise so much, but they aren't delivering race results and the interior is going to be a love hate thing. Personally having spent time on a 410, which I think was the first to feature that style of interior, I think it's great. But then I know plenty of people who don't like it.

Agree that a 27 footer would be good to see though.

 

[andymcp]

Nope, the 310 only lasted 4 years.....but as a sales proposition it was hugely flawed. Priced way too high and I think only one or two ever sold in the UK. Race results were terrible.

Agree about not really getting my head round the new Elans. We deliberated over a 350 for a long, long time, before walking away. It wasn't racing well initially and particularly suffered in lighter airs. In family cruise mode it went onto the chine early, and with 3 kids and a dog that's a super-wide cockpit for them to be falling around. It's a long way down... The 380/410 can still do well if sailed right, the 350 has never really made it up there although things are improving from where they first started. We were sent an evaluation of the 350 under IRC assuming various configurations, and the oddest combinations turned out to work well, with some of the normal racing tick-box options hitting it hard in real life. I just hope the race crew Elan run in the Med are working with Rob Humphries closely on feeding back their experiences into the next models in the range. And maybe this is why the 320 has been launched? If the 310 was never going to cut it, dump the model and launch one better optimised?

I'm not too fussed about interiors - once I'm asleep all mattresses feel the same.

 

[Twister_Ken]

once I'm asleep all mattresses feel the same.

Maybe, but not when you wake up!

 

[flaming]

Yes, Elan gave the 310 to the Quokka crew for a couple of winter series races. A crew that normally regards second as a poor result were nowhere.

We (in an Elan 37) have matched up against the 350 a couple of times. They rate considerably higher, but only once (this year's RTI) have they ever beaten us on the water, let alone on handicap. Even this year's RTI, which should have been made for the reaching potential of that boat they only crossed the line 1 minute 40s ahead. My own theory is that it's just too heavy to make proper use of all that stability.

I'd love to be proved wrong by the new ones though, I still think they look absolutely fabulous.

 

[Yacht Yogi]

It seems to me that Elan are pitching to the wrong market, at least around the UK. If you want a production boat for racing then buy a J97 or J109 so that there's a one-design fleet to race against and an established performance level. What's missing from the Elan range is the cruiser racer to replace the Elan-333 or Elan-340 which were much less extreme and could be sailed to their handicap potential without terrifying the family. Those boats could carry the weight of a cruising interior because they were not emphasising planing downwind at the expense of punching upwind without a massive crew on the rail.

 

[dunedin]

What's missing from the Elan range is the cruiser racer to replace the Elan-333 or Elan-340 which were much less extreme and could be sailed to their handicap potential without terrifying the family..

Couldn't agree more. The Élan 333, 36 and 40 generation were fast cruiser/racers with very nice (almost Westerly style) practical and solid wood interiors.
Élan now just makes either charter caravans with awful plastic interiors (Élan Impression) or as noted above apparently race optimised boats, also with plastic interiors but not actually racing that well.
Big shame as I cannot find anything equivalent to replace my Élan, unless I can save up 3 times the cash for an Arcona

 

[flaming]

Couldn't agree more. The Élan 333, 36 and 40 generation were fast cruiser/racers with very nice (almost Westerly style) practical and solid wood interiors.
Élan now just makes either charter caravans with awful plastic interiors (Élan Impression) or as noted above apparently race optimised boats, also with plastic interiors but not actually racing that well.
Big shame as I cannot find anything equivalent to replace my Élan, unless I can save up 3 times the cash for an Arcona

What do you make of the Dufours? Or the new Dehlers? May also be worth looking at the Beneteau first range. In my opinion the 35 is a cracking boat.

I do agree about the Elan 333, that has some cracking race results over the years, including a class win at the IRC nationals. I've never met a competitive 340 though. Nor a 380. At one Boat Show the then Elan dealer got very cross with me and told me I was costing him "hundreds" of sales because we kept beating the local 380 every time it came out to play, and nobody wanted to buy a new 380 when it couldn't even beat the old 37. He was really quite aggressive. I told him to lend us a 380 for a series and we'd see if we could make it go, but he didn't actually seem interested in promoting his product, just blaming us.

 

[dk]

Have a look at the Malango 888. It looks a real fun boat for sensible money! No connection BTW.