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Elan
Please consider my post to be more directed to eastern EU countries exporting yachts generally and less directed specifically to Elan; I''m just trying to alert readers to issues we don''t typically consider when buying most brands. Still, general issues of the Eastern European mindset re: running a factory, lack of quality culture, and the ramping up of a workforce competent in building complex systems (vs. snow skis) are all issues I''d want to have thought thru carefully, even if buying from Elan.
I would also be wary of any builder who builds exclusively for export and lacks a local customer base. E.g. Imagine Catalina or Hunter building solely for sale in Europe; would they have been as directly influenced by customer feedback when the customers are more remote, or savvy about the needs of N American sailors? Probably not. (Now to shoot myself in my very own foot: Swan built boats for decades exclusively for export and that hardly kept them from building good boats. I spoke to a Finn this year who had to buy his Swan in San Diego and ship it back; simply no inventory in his own country. But perhaps this is one exception that proves the rule...)
Let''s keep in mind that BOTY awards are meaningless when it comes to warranty support assessment and and to some degree this is true re: build quality, as well. In fairness to the evaluators, there is only so much you can cover/see/get your hands around in the course of an afternoon sail...and especially so if the weather has turned sour when the demo has been arranged.
Jack
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