Elan Impression 40

Automatically translated. View original

The reception at the base in Marina Mandalina in Sibenik was very good, everyone was friendly and helpful, but we still had to wait until 4:15 PM for the handover of the boat (Elan Impression 40)... fortunately, given the mainland heat, we could pass the time in two local places in the shade.

The "Silente" was handed over clean and there was no shortage of bedding, hand towels, and bath towels - we returned a good portion of the supplies. Apart from the (well-intentioned) over-supply, the Impression does lack storage space compared to other boats. However, the boat does carry about 500 + 200 liters of water in two switchable tanks.

During our two-week trip, the following problems occurred:

1.) On the first day after departure, the "Up" button on the anchor winch failed. The marina worker Luka, whom we contacted via WhatsApp, suggested we should retrieve the anchor manually and return to the base. Manual retrieval was not an option for us, so we removed the button, short-circuited the contacts, and subsequently had a brand new one installed in the marina.

2.) At some point, the shower head at the stern of the boat disappeared inside because the holding plate of the shower had broken off at its end (already at the handover of the boat). We fished the shower head out of its hiding place with some patience and installation wire and repaired the broken holding plate with the cap of a water plunger and some duct tape - it held up wonderfully until the end of the trip... and will probably continue to serve its purpose for a while longer ;-)

3.) A few days later, the 'Down' button of the anchor winch also failed in the evening in the bay of Vinisce while setting the anchor under stronger, gusty winds (the anchor unfortunately had no hold on the grassy bottom, and we were drifted along the rocky coast...). The winch could only be stopped by the main fuse inside the boat, then we also removed this button and deployed the anchor by closing the wires. Luka came to our boat the next day after our info WhatsApp and also installed a new 'Down' button.

4.) The bimini lost the nut of one of its bolts at some point during the trip, causing the support to slip out of its anchorage. Fortunately, we found the bolt, were able to reassemble the frame, and secured the bolt with a piece of wire from our own toolbox.

5.) The holder for the cover of the swim ladder at the transom of the boat was also not sufficiently secure, so the lid occasionally flipped down when pulling up the transom or even while underway... typically onto toes that happened to be right there. After a few "bruised" toes, we got used to routinely securing the cover with our own cord.

While newbies might have been annoyed by these mishaps, we remained calm: after decades of sailing, one is used to various incidents. "An engineer can handle anything," as the saying goes, and we managed the technical challenges well.

Overall, the technical condition of the boat is improvable despite good equipment, in contrast, the service of the charterer and especially the friendliness of Luka should be particularly highlighted. This was our second boat with this charterer and I would book one again.

So we spent two wonderful weeks on the "Silente"... and brought home a few nice stories from the vacation ;-)