New Nelo's released today

I just saw on Nelo's facebook feed and website that several new ski's have been released today. They're staying short in length but there are a couple of new ski's in the improver area like the 540 that look interesting.

There are a couple of interesting features about the new boats and I'll be doing an interview with Oscar Chalupsky this week to get his take on them.

• They've incorporated "negative rocker" in the form of a concave shape behind the seat on all the boats.  This is designed to increase speed, and apparently increases stability.
• There's a new model, the 540 which fits between the 550 and 520 in terms of stability.

I'm really sorry that Oscar's condition means he has to have chemo - but a positive (for us) is that he is living in Cape Town while he has the treatment and...  Nelo are sending the whole range of boats out here for him paddle and I'm hoping that I'll get to spend some time on at least the 540 and 550...  Can't wait.

robin.mousley wrote: There are a couple of interesting features about the new boats and I'll be doing an interview with Oscar Chalupsky this week to get his take on them.

• They've incorporated "negative rocker" in the form of a concave shape behind the seat on all the boats.  This is designed to increase speed, and apparently increases stability.
• There's a new model, the 540 which fits between the 550 and 520 in terms of stability.

I'm really sorry that Oscar's condition means he has to have chemo - but a positive (for us) is that he is living in Cape Town while he has the treatment and...  Nelo are sending the whole range of boats out here for him paddle and I'm hoping that I'll get to spend some time on at least the 540 and 550...  Can't wait.

Ivan Lawler says the 540 is only 55cm wide but is a more stable boat than the current 550 (which is 1cm wider). 

The concept is really interesting: lower seat, and then the feet sitting way down low below the hull line of a conventionally shaped ski. In theory the best of both worlds with better stability but preserved or improved ergonomics. By the looks of it it is not just the new models like the 540 getting this treatment but the old ones too like the 560. The 560 is a great boat and will catch the smallest waves but it is too tippy for just about anyone but sponsored paddlers. Hopefully the new design will rectify that. 

here is the marketing pitch on the new design features:

www.nelo.eu/nelosurfski2020/2020-concept/

Keen to get your impressions Robin, I have an older Swordfish and would be interested to understand how the stability numbers of the new Nelo compare to the Fenn range.

Ivan Lawler says the 540 is only 55cm wide but is a more stable boat than the current 550 (which is 1cm wider). 

The 540 is 45cm wide! 

Not sure about the 550, but I've requested that they add the boat widths to their website.  As Oscar says, the width only tells part of the story when it comes to stability, but I also think it's a key indicator.

robin.mousley wrote:

Ivan Lawler says the 540 is only 55cm wide but is a more stable boat than the current 550 (which is 1cm wider). 

The 540 is 45cm wide! 

Not sure about the 550, but I've requested that they add the boat widths to their website.  As Oscar says, the width only tells part of the story when it comes to stability, but I also think it's a key indicator.

Sorry, yes, that was a typo on my part. 45cm and with parallel sides too (as I couldn't work out why a more stable boat in the range would - on paper - actually be narrower than the more advanced 550). I really like the look of the 540 though so any feedback would be good.

They do need the widths listed though. It is a basic reference and sales would suffer without it.

This has been discussed on this forum before but narrow boats with parallel sides and flatter bottoms tend to have good primary but bad secondary stability. Stable on flat water but very tippy in bumpy water.  Can’t tell the hull profile from those pics though. 

I just joked my nelo dealer on fb moments ago about this new news....just bought my first nelo ski yesterday, a new 550ml...after two days of demoing it I really enjoyed it and pulled the trigger...it was for me very stable out in some choppy waters (nothing intense)….I was like "wait, as soon as I bought this bought, the NEXT day they are like "hey, we got this new thing"  lol.....I got not more money tree left so its a moot point hahaha....ill sit back and see how this one looks for what would be a purchase in the future.

The 560 for me was a bit too tippy...if it was just a fraction more stable, I likely would have been tempted to buy it...it felt kinda more wobbly than my SES (but not far off I think "overall"...I say all this because, IF this new design makes such a hull more stable and does not affect much flatwater performance....it will be my likely replacement for my SES some day (which I really like my SES).

This is all so interesting, and will follow along  

zachhandler wrote: This has been discussed on this forum before but narrow boats with parallel sides and flatter bottoms tend to have good primary but bad secondary stability. Stable on flat water but very tippy in bumpy water.  Can’t tell the hull profile from those pics though. 

Yep, I can't wait to get in one of these to try it out...  I can't quite figure out the reason for the claimed enhanced stability either.  They say that the seat has been lowered - which would of course increase stability but they also say that the hull has more "grip on the water due to the high pressure point in the concavity, which improves stability and direction

But I'm guessing that that would only be apparent when the hull is moving through the water.

Intriguing.

The hull doesn't appear very flat in this pic though.

PharmGeek wrote: I just joked my nelo dealer on fb moments ago about this new news....just bought my first nelo ski yesterday, a new 550ml...after two days of demoing it I really enjoyed it and pulled the trigger...it was for me very stable out in some choppy waters (nothing intense)….I was like "wait, as soon as I bought this bought, the NEXT day they are like "hey, we got this new thing"  lol.....I got not more money tree left so its a moot point hahaha....ill sit back and see how this one looks for what would be a purchase in the future. 

I would be rather pissed because the resale value of your 550 dropped significantly the moment the new models got announced.

These days a ski gets redesigned every 3 years, so by the time they have been adequately tested in the real world and reports from actual paying customers posted they are about to be replaced by the next model. Its not as bad as SUPs which get a redesign every freaking year. 

Meh - I’m not worried or bothered - I paddle for fun and personal growth. I’m in my first year of real training and two days of demo of the 550ml and I had fun - stable - felt fast  to me - and I know I can progress further in it. As far as lower resale value immediately - I feel I got a reasonable proce discount and while I suppose if innnew this new info I could have leveraged lower - I rather doubt it  And if so I doubt much lower 
mill just go on happily paddling  and wait for the hype to either substantiate or fizzle 

how does one substantiate claims really anyway? Seems very difficult 

You have the right attitude pharmgeek. New models are not always better for everyone. I owned a v12 g1, then a g2, then went back to a g1 because it worked better for me. Find a boat you like, paddle it a long time, and quit lusting after new boats is the way to go. I wish i was better at that!

zachhandler wrote: You have the right attitude pharmgeek. New models are not always better for everyone. I owned a v12 g1, then a g2, then went back to a g1 because it worked better for me. Find a boat you like, paddle it a long time, and quit lusting after new boats is the way to go. I wish i was better at that!

Sure... I thought I was going to paddle my 550ml for many years, but then I started to understand some of its characteristics and saw how a buddy's boat behaved, then I paddled his boat, and... I'm really happy I bought the 550 when I did, and it's great fun, but now I want a boat that behaves differently, which turns out to be one that was released a little more recently but it's not really "lusting after new boats"...

zachhandler wrote: These days a ski gets redesigned every 3 years, so by the time they have been adequately tested in the real world and reports from actual paying customers posted they are about to be replaced by the next model. Its not as bad as SUPs which get a redesign every freaking year. 

That has little to do with performance and everything to do with marketing. I'm aware of the product development process that many SUP brands use (or lack of) and if they could actually validate the claims and show there was a benefit, they'd be the only sport I know that could do this within just a 12 month development cycle. It's one of the reasons I left that sport as a new board would only be worth 50% of its retail price within 6 months of you buying it due to the annual releases.

Just an update - I found out today that the 540's cockpit is 48cm wide - so it's quite a wide a beast in comparison to the 550 which is 45cm wide...

I've seen some very positive comments though from the Nelo dealers who were at the launch.  Obviously one would take them from whence they come, but they weren't luke-warm.  So I'm more keen than ever to see what all the hype is about!

Thanks Rob, that width sounds where it should be for a model they're trying to fill.  A 48 makes for a good all around boat for most people...depending on the hull shape of course.  Interesting things about this hull though, I guess we'll wait for the actual tests and experiences. 

If you look at Nelo's ocean boat page, you will see the following sizes:
560 / 46
550 / 48
540 / 51
520 / 52
510 / 55
www.nelo.eu/find-a-boat/?mod=ocean

Does not seem right to me...

Henning DK wrote: If you look at Nelo's ocean boat page, you will see the following sizes:
560 / 46
550 / 48
540 / 51
520 / 52
510 / 55
www.nelo.eu/find-a-boat/?mod=ocean

Well now I'm really confused !!!!