When the Elan E5 appeared, the interesting thing about it was not the styling. It was that a Slovenian yard had put twin rudders and a bulbed T-keel under a forty-footer aimed at families, and then asked that family to go and race it at the weekend. A decade on, the boat is still doing exactly that, and the yard behind it has stopped building anything of the sort.
Key numbers at a glance
- 11.96 m overall, 3.87 m beam, 2.40 m deep draft or 2.20 m shallow.
- Around 7.3 tonnes displacement with roughly 2.7 tonnes of ballast, published figures varying slightly between databases.
- 160 litres of fuel, 277 litres of fresh water, a 38 hp inboard diesel.
- Two or three cabins, six to eight berths, one or two heads.
The numbers, and what they actually tell you
A specification sheet on a performance cruiser is mostly a statement of intent, and this one is not subtle. The sail plan is generous for the displacement, the ballast sits low in a bulb, and there are two rudders instead of one.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Length overall / waterline | 11.96 m / 11.26 m |
| Beam | 3.87 m |
| Draft | 2.40 m deep keel, 2.20 m shallow option |
| Mast height above waterline | 19.75 m |
| Mainsail / jib / asymmetric | 51.36 m² / 37.6 m² / 135 m² |
| Engine | 38 hp inboard diesel |
Two of those lines deserve a comment. The twin rudders are not a styling choice: on a beamy hull that sails heeled, a single blade near the centreline starts to lose grip as the stern lifts, while a pair set outboard keeps one of them properly immersed. The result is a boat that stays controllable when it is pressed, which is precisely what you want if a family cruiser is going to be raced.
The other is the mast height. Older write-ups of this boat list three separate rig measurements as though they were mast heights, which they are not. The figure that matters for planning a canal passage or a bridge is height above the waterline, and here that is 19.75 m before you add an aerial.
Two keels, and effectively two boats
The deep version draws 2.40 m on a T-shaped bulb keel and is the one to have if you sail somewhere with depth and you care about upwind performance. Ballast concentrated low in a bulb gives more righting moment for the same weight, which translates directly into pointing ability and the ability to carry sail longer before reefing.
The 2.20 m option trades some of that away and buys you anchorages and marinas the deep boat cannot enter. Twenty centimetres sounds trivial written down and is not trivial at all in a tidal creek or on a shallow Mediterranean sandbank. Decide this on where you actually sail, not on the polar diagram.
Living aboard her
The layout runs to two or three cabins with six to eight berths and one or two heads, so a two-cabin owner’s version and a three-cabin charter version are genuinely different boats to live on. Water capacity is 277 litres against 160 litres of fuel, which is a cruising ratio rather than a regatta one.
Below decks the emphasis is on natural light through hull and coachroof glazing, with a saloon table that drops to form an extra berth and a choice of interior timber finishes. It is a bright interior for a boat of this era and beam, and it is the reason the E5 kept selling to families who had no intention of ever crossing a start line.
Why the builder’s situation now matters to a buyer
On 27 March 2025, Elan announced that it was stopping production of its sailing yacht ranges, the E-line included. The parent company, KJK Sports, which has owned the Slovenian Elan group since 2018, described a very difficult market and the need to reposition the brand completely. The yard at Begunje na Gorenjskem wound down over the following weeks, the company said it was not insolvent and that advance payments would be refunded, and the reorganisation was expected to run at least twelve months.
What has come back is a different company. Elan has relaunched at the top of the market with the SixtyFive, developed with J&J Design and naval architect Guillaume Verdier, with 73 and 80 foot models announced to follow. The yard has said it is not returning to smaller family cruisers, citing price competition and labour costs.
For anyone looking at an E5, that has two practical consequences. There will be no new ones, so the market is entirely second-hand and the fleet is finite. And parts and yard support for a discontinued line deserve a direct question to the dealer network before you commit, not an assumption.
What to check before buying one
The E5 is a well-built boat, but it is a performance design that has now spent up to a decade being sailed hard by some owners and gently by others. The gap between those two histories is where the money is.
- Keel joint and floors. A bulb keel concentrates load. Any sign of movement, weeping or cracked paint at the hull-to-keel joint is a stop-and-investigate item.
- Standing rigging age. Ask for the date of the last replacement and the last professional inspection, in writing. Insurers frequently ask the same question.
- Twin rudder bearings. Two steering systems mean twice the bearings and twice the linkage to check for play.
- Sail inventory. A tired mainsail and a blown asymmetric on a boat with this sail area is a five-figure conversation.
- Engine hours against age. Very low hours on a ten-year-old diesel is not automatically good news.
None of that is a job for an enthusiastic amateur with a torch. Rig, keel and steering are structural and safety-critical, so commission a qualified marine surveyor and, for the mast, a professional rigger. Their fee is small next to what a failed rig costs, and the report is also what an insurer will want to see.
Is the E5 a good first boat?
For a family stepping up from something smaller, yes, with the caveat that a 51 m² mainsail on a boat that likes to be sailed flat needs decent reefing discipline. It is more forgiving than a pure racer and considerably more demanding than a heavy cruiser of the same length.
Can it be raced seriously?
It was designed with that in mind, and its sail area to displacement ratio puts it firmly in performance-cruiser territory. Club racing and coastal regattas suit it. It is not a one-design, so results depend heavily on the sail wardrobe and the crew.
Does the shallow keel ruin the sailing?
No, but it changes it. Expect slightly less pointing ability and to reef marginally earlier. If your home waters would keep a 2.40 m boat pinned to the deep-water channel, the shallow version will simply be the more useful boat.
Still weighing a sailing yacht against a motor boat?
Range, comfort and running costs pull in different directions once the passages get long, and the answer is not the same for everyone.
Updated August 2026. Dimensions, sail areas, tank capacities and engine output are taken from published specification databases for the Elan E5 deep-draft version and consulted in August 2026; displacement and ballast figures differ slightly between sources and equipment varies by hull, so verify against the specific boat’s documentation. The production halt was announced by Elan on 27 March 2025 and the SixtyFive relaunch reported subsequently. Rig, keel and steering inspections should be carried out by a qualified surveyor or rigger. This article is general information, not a survey or purchase advice.