Elan Boats

Dave W · Posted: Jun 10, 2003 4:55 am Post subject: Elan Boats

OK, so what's the deal with this company? I saw something about them a while back in something wakeboard related but haven't heard peep from them since then. Their website claims they've been around for quite a while, but I've never heard of them until recently. Have I been living under a rock or are they news to other people too?

Check it out. www.elanboats.com

Jay Dutton · Posted: Jun 10, 2003 5:27 am Post subject:

It's American Skier. I see thier older tournamnent boats here and there but I've never seen a newer one. Maybe they went under and are emerging again?

This is from thier site. I'm suprised they don't have a v-drive.

Boats roots go back to The American Skier Boat Company, which was originally founded in 1975, by Mr. Kenneth B. Elkind, from North Miami Beach, Florida. Mr. Elkind, after retiring from the offshore racing circuits, became interested in the water skiing business. He talked with top tournament drivers and skiers to determine the performance needs from each and realized he could build a better inboard ski boat than was being utilized at the time. From this came the first American Skier boat produced by Mr. Elkind in 1976. Soon the American Skier became known as the best ski boat in the industry. Each boat was handcrafted of the finest materials available and tested by Mr. Elkind personally. The company began to grow with Elkind’s ideas that a superior product, sold at a fair price, would sell itself. The American Water Ski Association stated, “The American Skier is the standard against which all others will be judged.”

Dave W · Posted: Jun 10, 2003 7:19 am Post subject:

Their construction sounds pretty solid. They claim to use bi and tri-axial glasses, and I've never heard any other major ski boat manufacturers making that claim. It does kind of suck that their top of the line wakeboard boat is a D-drive. Not that I'm bashing D-drives, I'm actually a little wary of the maintenance access on a V-drive. It just seems like they probably aren't really going to get recognized as major players in wakeboarding with out a V-drive.

Grace B. · Posted: Jun 10, 2003 11:22 am Post subject:

We looked into their wakeboard boat. I don't remember much about it, but I do know that it has a ballast system in it. We had our American Skier since my dad bought it in 89. My dad loves that boat, we have never had any major problems with it. We actually still have it, but we are selling it because we just bought the Nautique, my dad wanted to keep it just because it has one of the best ski wakes ever.

porter · Outlaw Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 109 City: Sammamish

Charley Patterson and his partner Lindsay were brought on to shape the future wakeboard direction of the company. They were supposed to come out with a v-drive, but I'm not sure it ever happened. Charley now rides for Tige' again and has a 24v.

I rode with Charley a few times in hi Elan direct drive. He added a ton of weight to the boat and the wake was super clean, but not very hard or big. It has a very rampy wake. It also had a ballast in the swimp step, which was made of fiberglass. I liked it okay, but there are many many better boats out there in my opinion.

Grouch · Posted: Jun 11, 2003 2:47 pm Post subject:

I rode behind this boat with Charley and Lindsay also. The wake was pretty big and rampy. The swim step was a nice added factor = 700lbs of ballast they said in just the swim step.

When did Charley start riding for Tige?

porter · Outlaw Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 109 City: Sammamish

Pretty recently. Maybe about a month ago. He's pretty stoked on the 24v - but then again, I guess he'd be stoked on any boat company that sponsors him.

Grouch · Posted: Jun 12, 2003 12:03 pm Post subject:

I would be stoked also.

If you look on the mission2ride website you see that Elan is no longer a sponser and has been replaced by Tige.

Tige now has the M2R and Bisch's tour on lock down.