Need advice on Elan boats

[vytasnosara]

Hello Zilli. I am just now looking at an Elan 43.4. How did your voyage go? I would love to get your feedback. Vytas

Originally Posted by zilli

Hello all, new to the forum. Need advice with Elan boats, particularly interested in the Impression series.
The plan:: 3 year sabbatical. Purchase a 40-45 footer live aboard in the Med, spend a year in Turkish coast/ Greek islands get repairs and upgrades done. Sail west for the second year and catch up with ARC fleet. Cross the Atlantic and spend the rest of the time in Caribbean until money runs out. Sell her in Caribbean or in Florida and go back to work.
The crew: : Wifey and I - no kids, no pets, no friends - looking forward to make some during the adventure.
The boat: After long consideration and research we have decided to buy a production boat. So lets just leave it there. Until recently I was convinced Beneteau 423 was the boat for our needs. There is ample amount of resources available for 423 which was tremendous help with the decisions. Than we came across Elan Impression series. I really like what I see so far however for a series that has been in production for almost a decade and a half there is barely any info available hence looking to connect with those who can enlighten us or point us the right direction. Particularly interested Impression 444 or her predecessor 434.
Looking forward for your comments.

[zilli]

Hello everyone- I have been silent for a while so here is a quick update for all.
I made two trips to Europe, one to Turkey Nov 2019 and second to Croatia Jan 2020. This has been quite an experience. I looked at total of 12-14 boats mainly Elan Impressions 434,444 and 45 and a Jeanneau 42ds. There will be detailed write up in our upcoming website relative to my experience. I will post the link here once the website is up. Anyone interested buying a boat in Europe should read.
I wanted to thank everyone who helped me out during my research.
Happy to report that we found our boat in Croatia in Jan, signed the papers in Feb then few weeks later the whole world turned up-side-down. We cannot finalize the deal until we can go there as we still need to do the survey, sea trial and other formalities to finalize the deal. We are hoping by end of Sep restrictions for travel will ease.

Vytas, Elan 434,444 and later 45, 45.1 they all share the same successful design/mold so the back bones for all these boats are the same. Now I had hands on experience, I think the overall package is an exceptional one. If you are looking for a true cruiser that is not trying to be a racer or hybrid racer/cruiser- look no further. She is stiff, stable, sea kindly and from the cabin doors to the helms everything feels solid. We decided to go with the newer 45 vs older models only we wanted something that is close to turn key. If you find a clean example of 434, although I would only consider private ownership at that age, I say it is worth looking into it.
let me know if I can be more help

[vytasnosara]

Hi Zilli, thanks for that feedback. If you don't mind moving the convo off forum, please email me at vytasgruodis@me.com

[Doubleplay]

Originally Posted by zilli

Hello everyone- I have been silent for a while so here is a quick update for all.
I made two trips to Europe, one to Turkey Nov 2019 and second to Croatia Jan 2020. This has been quite an experience. I looked at total of 12-14 boats mainly Elan Impressions 434,444 and 45 and a Jeanneau 42ds. There will be detailed write up in our upcoming website relative to my experience. I will post the link here once the website is up. Anyone interested buying a boat in Europe should read.
I wanted to thank everyone who helped me out during my research.
Happy to report that we found our boat in Croatia in Jan, signed the papers in Feb then few weeks later the whole world turned up-side-down. We cannot finalize the deal until we can go there as we still need to do the survey, sea trial and other formalities to finalize the deal. We are hoping by end of Sep restrictions for travel will ease.

Vytas, Elan 434,444 and later 45, 45.1 they all share the same successful design/mold so the back bones for all these boats are the same. Now I had hands on experience, I think the overall package is an exceptional one. If you are looking for a true cruiser that is not trying to be a racer or hybrid racer/cruiser- look no further. She is stiff, stable, sea kindly and from the cabin doors to the helms everything feels solid. We decided to go with the newer 45 vs older models only we wanted something that is close to turn key. If you find a clean example of 434, although I would only consider private ownership at that age, I say it is worth looking into it.
let me know if I can be more help

As I'm looking for a new boat; 45.1 is one of my options I would like to hear more about your experience. Did you have a chance to look at the new 45.1?

[dan1973ct]

Originally Posted by zilli

Hello everyone- I have been silent for a while so here is a quick update for all.
I made two trips to Europe, one to Turkey Nov 2019 and second to Croatia Jan 2020. This has been quite an experience. I looked at total of 12-14 boats mainly Elan Impressions 434,444 and 45 and a Jeanneau 42ds. There will be detailed write up in our upcoming website relative to my experience. I will post the link here once the website is up. Anyone interested buying a boat in Europe should read.
I wanted to thank everyone who helped me out during my research.
Happy to report that we found our boat in Croatia in Jan, signed the papers in Feb then few weeks later the whole world turned up-side-down. We cannot finalize the deal until we can go there as we still need to do the survey, sea trial and other formalities to finalize the deal. We are hoping by end of Sep restrictions for travel will ease.

Vytas, Elan 434,444 and later 45, 45.1 they all share the same successful design/mold so the back bones for all these boats are the same. Now I had hands on experience, I think the overall package is an exceptional one. If you are looking for a true cruiser that is not trying to be a racer or hybrid racer/cruiser- look no further. She is stiff, stable, sea kindly and from the cabin doors to the helms everything feels solid. We decided to go with the newer 45 vs older models only we wanted something that is close to turn key. If you find a clean example of 434, although I would only consider private ownership at that age, I say it is worth looking into it.
let me know if I can be more help

I also would also be very interested in hearing how your inspections and purchase of the Elan went overseas. If you have posted your experience up to the website please share. Sorry to hear that your purchase is currently delayed. Hopefully we can all get back to some sort of normalcy soon. Thank you

[DeValency]

Elan are generally well built boats, but what matters more is the actual condition and maintenance as well as any offshore cruising upgrades. These can easily make a difference of tens of thousands. Think of tankage, added shrouds, engine size, water maker, solar, battery bank, cockpit protection, life raft, dinghy... etc...

It should, however, be easier to sell a Beneteau or Jeanneau in the Caribbean at the end of your trip, as these boats are very common over there. So consider this factor.

Originally Posted by zilli

Hello all, new to the forum. Need advice with Elan boats, particularly interested in the Impression series.
The plan:: 3 year sabbatical. Purchase a 40-45 footer live aboard in the Med, spend a year in Turkish coast/ Greek islands get repairs and upgrades done. Sail west for the second year and catch up with ARC fleet. Cross the Atlantic and spend the rest of the time in Caribbean until money runs out. Sell her in Caribbean or in Florida and go back to work.
The crew: : Wifey and I - no kids, no pets, no friends - looking forward to make some during the adventure.
The boat: After long consideration and research we have decided to buy a production boat. So lets just leave it there. Until recently I was convinced Beneteau 423 was the boat for our needs. There is ample amount of resources available for 423 which was tremendous help with the decisions. Than we came across Elan Impression series. I really like what I see so far however for a series that has been in production for almost a decade and a half there is barely any info available hence looking to connect with those who can enlighten us or point us the right direction. Particularly interested Impression 444 or her predecessor 434.
Looking forward for your comments.

[jbrbetc]

Zilli - sorry I'm late to the party. We purchased an Elan 434 in Croatia in Mar 2018, spent summer in the MED, did the ARC2018, Caribbean cruising, 2019 hurricane season in Trinidad, then Panama late 2019, Galapagos, US West Coast and home to Vancouver, Canada for March 2020. So far 17,000 NM on our Elan and very impressed. Elan and other production boats were a fit for our mission, given routings and time of the year.

I've done a couple Victoria-Maui races on a Beneteau 50 and have raced Bene 36.7 around Vancouver Island a couple times too; so familiar with other production boats offshore. Our Elan is very well balanced, easy to sail and handles well.

We chose an ex-charter boat that had been very well maintained. We found the 'corporately' owned boats much better maintained than ones owned by private owners in charter fleets. Our boat was impeccably maintained. When we first looked at it in February all sails and upholstery was in dry storage. All floor boards were unscrewed (for deep cleaning), the stove was wrapped in shrink-wrap, etc. Also, everything had the boat name on it unlike other charter companies were sails, etc seem to be replaceable rotables. Our experience was that some companies in Croatia take very good care of their vessels.

I checked out Elan's website for the 45.1, good to see the boat is essentially the same design. Only concern that would be a deal breaker for us is the galley location. It would be hard to work at sea being forward and linear. We prefer the 434 galley location more aft and lots of corners to brace yourself. Also not sure if I like the fold down transom given many of the concrete wharfs we tied up again throughout the MED.

Being a racer I thought I'd have issues with the performance of the furling main but now that we've sailed with it, I'd hesitate to go back to slab reefing.

Invest in a spinnaker pole or whisker pole for the trades wind sailing! That's our only real regret. 500 litres of water was more than enough for our crossings and we learned to live on that for almost 1 month between fills/marinas in the Caribbean. Fuel tankage was also okay with 250l, but we carried another 80l in gerry cans for the 24 day trip Galapagos - San Diego. At anchor she tends to dance a bit when the wind is up but we just got used to it.

Congratulations on your purchase and enjoy every minute of it once you get going. Please let me know if you need any further info but you've got a great plan and you'll love it once you get the green light.