Review of Elan Express

Basic specs.

The Elan Express is a sailboat.

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Rig

The boat equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

Keel

The Elan Express is equipped with a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a long keel.

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.45 - 1.55 meter (4.76 - 5.06 ft) dependent on the load.

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Sorry, we have no sailing characteristics available for this boat.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Elan Express is 2.96.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 58% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Elan Express is 44%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 69% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just above average.

Over- / underrigged

The Elan Express has more rig than 96% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for fractional rig.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	25.1 m	(82.2 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	25.1 m	(82.2 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	25.1 m	(82.2 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet	8.2 m	(26.7 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	8.2 m	(26.7 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet	20.4 m	(66.8 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	17.9 m	(58.8 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Cunningham	3.4 m	(11.0 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap	6.7 m	(22.0 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul	6.7 m	(22.0 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Elan Express it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.

References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.