Elling KB350….Initial Impressions

[harrison]

First Run

Had this over a month now and only just got the bugger wet…doh!

Busy ribbing last weekend but decent conditions up north this Tuesday with zilch swell and a stiff onshore breeze. Fairly flat at the beach inside the reefs at low tide and a rather evil little 1 to 2 foot short pitch chop further out…ideal for a first test run.

Only running initially with a little Chinese Orca 8hp whilst waiting to source a ‘holy grail’ 9.8 Tohatsu…not holding my breath for this year. Anyways the little Orca is able to pop it onto the plane reasonably quickly and power on to a solid but uninspiring 14 knots one up…bouncing off limiter at 5600 revs with stock 7.5.x 8” prop. Hardly any ventilation sitting on an 8mm hdpe spacer even in chop. Definitely needs and can handle more power.

Fairly impressed on initial run, and all as anticipated tbh. At 3600mm long with a 1700mm beam and mahoosive 520mm dia. toobs feels surefooted, fairly dry, nimble, and capable of handling moderate swell and chop. The cat/tunnel hull tracks well, grips well, rides flat in tight turns and gives a relatively smooth ride pushing on through chop when you can work that air cushion. Quality wise all good and welded main seams a plus. Not a fisherman so the plethora or Borika mounts a bit superfluous for our needs, but all good for a few cleats etc.

Bought as a lightweight boat we are able to handball across site, through dunes and down beach, but large enough to have fun in various sea states, then ticking the boxes thus far. Will be be even better with a decent motor.

[harrison]

Second Run


Thursday turned out to be another great day up here in the frozen north with light winds, zero chop and a lazy 1 to 2ft rolling swell, so another test run beckoned.

Realise most will be more interested in how many horses can we bolt onto the Elling, but gone totally opposite today with a how fast will it go with me tiny Mariner 3.5

Light boat and even lighter motor so a breeze to haul through the dunes and trundle down beach (tide out!).

Pan flat inside the reefs so time to unleash the power of the mighty Mariner. Full throttle gets it (slowly) onto the plane, with a solid 11 knots max. and lots of noise. Throttle back to mid point and mucho quieter but amazingly still planing at around 8 knots.

Well impressed so far with this boat and reckon it’s gonna be ideal for our use.

[ChrisParish]

Excellent write up, as always!
I’m surprised how well it goes with the tiny engine on it.
Are you going to bring it on the Christchurch -> Swanage run or are you planning on bringing on if the ribs?

[harrison]

Thanks @ChrisParish, yes goes amazingly well with the 3.5

Planning on taking the little Mercury 340 down to Christchurch next week. Will be good to meet up, hopefully see you then.

[Sibfisher]

From a man of your experience it is an excellent wright up Ian .

It is also a very good review for those of us who have a KB350 how good and well the Elling goes with a smaller outboard also anyone who mite be thinking of buying one.
If I did not own one myself I would be thinking of buying one

Have a good time when you meet up at Christchurch next week with ChrisParish I would love to be there but it is a bit to far to travel from where I live.

[Sibfisher]

Just one question
What made you decide to buy a Elling KB350

[harrison]

Long story.

This all came about as the local tractor launch guy decided he’d only be doing weekends this year, leaving five days each week with no way to launch the rib. To make matters worse his bleedin tractor is broken down more days than not…all in all a pretty crap service.

So the plan was to get a super lightweight sib/motor set up to handball through site, over dunes and beach on weekdays when we couldn’t launch the rib.

Initially after a 3.3m TrueKit Discovery Cat or a 3.4 Takacat, took a punt on the tiny Aqua Marina, until sense prevailed and got the Elling. Always liked them after seeing in the flesh years ago at Boatworld and again at The Boat Show, often recommended others to buy one, so eventually took my own advice and the rest is history.

PS: Guess what. It’s Saturday and the tractors fooook’d yet again.

[Sibfisher]

I think you made the right choice and just look after all said you have a Orca outboard on the back of it.

[harrison]

I think you made the right choice and just look after all said you have a Orca outboard on the back of it.

Boat’s great. Jury’s still out on the motor though. Fairly underwhelmed to be honest, although starts and runs well enough and hasn’t missed a beat so far. Not sure it develops much more power than the 6 it’s based on but at the end of the day you get what you pay for. Bought as a cheap stop gap motor only until we can get hold of a 9.8.

[harrison]

Quick update.

Put a good few more hours water time on our rig, now powered by a lightweight 9.8 motor, and have to say still impressed with the Elling. I think this size motor will be the sweet spot for us, with plenty of useable power and still light enough to handball solo fully rigged up and down beach and dunes.

Solo, pops instantly up onto the plane and tops out at 19knots with motor nudging 6000rpm and giving a cruising speed of 13/14knots at a much more relaxed 4500rpm. Even two up (140 kilos) will top 18knots, although takes slightly longer to get fully planing.

Not all about speed though. Personally think Elling are missing a trick marketing this with an emphasis on fishing. Yes, a great fishing platform with flat deck deck, stable at rest and a plethora of Borika base fittings for fishing accessories, but these are Cats and huge fun.

Nice and stable just pootling around with its big tubes and a dry ride, open it up though and it’s a hooligan! Wind on the revs it pops quickly up onto the plane. Runs best trimmed to allow bows to ride slightly high, riding on rear third of tubes, the air cushion can be really worked if you keep the power on to seriously smooth out the ride in chop. Definitely a better, and faster, ride head to wind/waves. In a following sea/downwind, then slightly prone to a little bow steering now and again, just to keep you on your toes, and harder to get that air cushion working for you. Tracks really well and corners flat and has tenacious grip in tight turns, so well you need to hang on. Also good fun playing in the surf zone (moderate waves) but perhaps not quite as versatile as the true cats with their open bows and transoms. The small ‘speed tube’ style central keel does a good job limiting cat ventilation issues and we only suffer minor ventilation in some conditions even running motor trimmed well out. Unfortunately I think the central keel also contributes to transferring some shock to the floor at low planing speeds in choppy conditions.

A few negatives. Transom could/should be beefier to take bigger/heavier motors, which the hull is more than capable of. Personally, could do with less Borika mounts and more internal grab handles for a more ‘enthusiastic’ use, and a few lashing rings on the floor would be useful. Full length under tube keel reinforcing strips would also be nice for beaching etc.

If we were using for long trips, loaded, in bigger seas then probably not as comfy or feel quite as sure footed as say the T38’s or Aerotec’s which also have the ability to run bigger 15/20 horse motors. Realistically, the mono hull is a more versatile craft in my book.

As you can probably tell, very pleased with this little boat and well able to handle all conditions we’ve been out in thus far. We were originally considering importing a TrueKit Discovery catamaran but glad we took a punt on this instead. Bleedin great little ‘point and squirt’ lightweight rig for beach launching, bay hopping, playing in the surf, hooning around or just chilling.

Also good for fishing, or so I’ve been told.