Fountaine Pajot Elba 45 Specs, Price and Ownership Guide

Replacing the Helia 44 with 259 hulls to live up to

The Fountaine Pajot Elba 45 had a hard act to follow. Its predecessor, the Helia 44, ran for seven years and 259 hulls. Fountaine Pajot developed the new boat under the working title New 45, sailed it for the press off the Troia peninsula south of Lisbon in early summer 2019, and revealed the Elba name at the Cannes Yachting Festival that September. More than 100 hulls were pre-sold before the first boat left the mold, and the yard commissioned two sets of tooling to build more than 50 a year.

Despite the family resemblance, SAIL reports that the Elba 45 was designed from scratch. It is only about 6 inches longer and 6 inches wider than the Helia, yet Berret-Racoupeau claimed 10 percent less hull drag thanks to a refined chine and transom. It is also much heavier: Multihulls World put it at 14 tons against the Helia's 10.8, close to the 15.7 tons of the larger Saba 50.

Olivier Racoupeau's buoyant sterns

In a note to Multihulls World, Olivier Racoupeau explained that the Elba's hulls borrow from the Alegria 67. His team ran extensive flow simulations on the aft sections to create a more buoyant stern, arguing that a loaded cruising catamaran tends to settle by the stern and that tighter, fuller aft lines improve both downwind speed and efficiency under power. The bows are inverted and the sugarscoops extended to maximize waterline length, which is 44 feet on a 44 foot 2 inch boat.

The skegs are short, limiting draft to about 4 feet, and they are glued into composite wells rather than bolted through, so a grounding is less likely to let water into the hull. Hulls and decks are infused in polyester with an antiosmotic resin skin over balsa and PET foam, and structural bulkheads are infused too. The rudder blades are foam sandwich on stainless steel stocks.

Light air manners and motoring numbers

Every early test happened in light conditions, and the boat surprised testers. Multihulls World saw 6 knots in 10 knots of true wind at 35 to 38 degrees apparent, with leeway almost nil despite the shallow skegs, and 7.5 knots once the boat was cracked off. SAIL beat into 12 knots true at 45 degrees apparent and logged an easy 7 to 8 knots with a full-batten main and 120 percent genoa. Yachting World, sailing the Rio Sado in a maximum of 12 knots, saw the same 7 to 8 knots upwind.

Fountaine Pajot's polars show the boat favors beam reaching, nearly 10 knots with 16 knots of true wind, and suggest a gennaker adds only 0.5 to 1 knot thanks to the efficient overlapping genoa. Best upwind VMG falls between 52 and 60 degrees true. The designer also claims about one extra knot from folding propellers, a cheap option at 1,893 euros on the original price list.

Under power, SAIL recorded a little over 7 knots at 2,000 rpm and more than 9 knots at 3,000 rpm. Standard engines were twin 40 hp Volvo Penta D2s on fixed three-blade props. Yachting World quoted a 50 hp upgrade at about 1,000 euros per engine, while SAIL and Multihulls World list 60 hp units as the option.

Helm, fly lounge and three outdoor zones

Fountaine Pajot chose a bulkhead helm on the starboard side rather than a full flybridge. A dedicated trimming console with three winches and clutches sits just forward of the wheel, and lines from the port side are led across through trunking. Behind it, a lounge on the hardtop gives a large sunbathing area that Yachting World calculated at about 10 square meters, roughly three times the Helia's. Forward there is an 8.5 square meter deck saloon with reclining backrests and two trampolines.

Sidedecks are never narrower than 66 centimeters, and a handrail at the back of the coachroof makes the trip forward secure. The large aft platform has integrated davits rated for a 150 kilogram, 3.4 meter tender, and an electric bathing platform spanning the stern was a 17,200 euro option.

• Cockpit table seats 8, or 12 with the extension
• Optional built-in gas grill
• Composite bowsprit for a furling gennaker or asymmetric
• Testers wanted a step to climb onto the coachroof

No chart table, a bigger galley and a watchkeeping lounger

Racoupeau and his wife Isabelle, who handles the interiors, decided that modern cruisers no longer sit at a chart table. The Elba replaces it with a standing instrument panel near the cockpit door and gives the space to an extended galley and a modular saloon lounger that doubles as a watchkeeping berth. Headroom in the saloon is 2.17 meters and the opening between cockpit and saloon is 50 centimeters wider than on the Helia.

The three cabin Maestro dedicates the port hull to the owner, with the companionway closed off to create an open-plan suite, a real desk and a large head forward. Two guest cabins with island beds sit to starboard. The four cabin Quatuor version cost about 4,000 euros more and adds a cabin and head in the owner's hull. Both versions include a starboard bow crew berth. Berths measure 1.60 meters wide aft and 1.55 meters forward.

From $782,000 new to the used market today

SAIL quoted a sail-away price of $782,000 in 2019, and Multihulls World's ex-tax base was 435,760 euros before options. Asking prices for 2020 to 2022 boats now range from about $599,000 for a BVI charter boat to $778,000 for a private 2022 boat in Fort Lauderdale, so a well-kept Elba has held its value better than most production cats.

In 2025 Fountaine Pajot replaced both the Elba 45 and the Astrea 42 with the New 44, unveiled at Cannes that September with a choice of 30 or 57 hp diesels or a hybrid-electric drive. A new successor will put some pressure on used Elba prices, which is good news for buyers who prefer the Elba's proven systems.

What owners and surveyors flag

Yachting World found the wheel undersized and a little sticky, criticized the split galley and missed the chart table. Multihulls World disliked the vertical bathing ladder with plastic steps and some sharp corners inside. None of these are deal breakers, but they are worth a look on any sea trial.

With 24 feet 9 inches of beam you will need a catamaran slip. Budget about $42,000 to $80,000 a year for insurance, dockage, haul-outs, Volvo service and routine wear. Volvo Penta D2 engines are well supported in the US, but European-delivered boats may need shore power conversion and a check of their electronics for US charts.