LEGO Reviews Ideas40487

Sailboat Adventure

Name: LEGO Sailboat Adventure 40487
Brand: LEGO
SKU: 40487
Rating: 4 (7 reviews)

77 · RECOMMENDEDINVESTMENT GRADE: BBB2021330 pcsHigh agreement · 95%

Expert reviews

2analyzed

Owner ratings

Consensus

BUY

BrickScore

Recommended

Owners

Synthesized Verdict

"Widely regarded as one of the best gift-with-purchase LEGO sets ever made for its elegant color scheme and faithful fan-design execution, the Sailboat Adventure earns a BrickScore of 76.9, though prospective aftermarket buyers should be aware of reported white-piece quality inconsistencies that affected a subset of units."

The Sailboat Adventure (40487) earned near-universal praise from expert reviewers as one of the finest gift-with-purchase sets LEGO has ever released, with The Brothers Brick and JANG both calling it aesthetically exceptional and noting it faithfully preserves the spirit of the fan-submitted Ideas design. A small number of LEGO.com owners flagged genuine quality-control issues with discolored and imprecise white sail pieces, which created a visible split in the owner pool: overall the 7 LEGO.com ratings land at 4 out of 5, with 70% recommending. Experts focused on the design; some owners focused on the QC disappointment.

Where they split: Expert reviewers were uniformly positive on design and aesthetics, but a vocal subset of LEGO.com owners (who gave 20/100 scores) reported serious white-piece quality-control failures, describing visible gaps and yellowish discoloration. This owner-vs-critic split is worth noting: critics reviewed design, some buyers received QC-flawed copies.

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LOVED (7)

01Dark tan hull, dark orange deck, and gold highlights deliver a classic, elegant color scheme
02Complex interior construction for the scale, including brackets and gold flex-tube gunwales
03Brick-built sails using standard bricks and slopes, consistent from both sides
04Removable cabin sub-assembly with small interior and rotating tiller
05Dolphin secondary build with water splashes, described as adorable
06Retained soul and most building techniques of the original fan design
07Sticker referencing the fan designer's family member adds a personal touch

CRITICIZED (5)

01Nautically inaccurate rigging: boom rotation direction and main sail connection differ from correct seamanship
02Bowsprit assembly is too long for the boat's scale and has structural stress points causing pieces to separate
03Minimal cabin interior with only a small table and limited standing space
04Some white sail pieces reported as discolored (yellowish) and imprecisely molded by multiple owners
05Absence of rudder beneath the stern, no pennant at the mast top

What reviewers are saying

"The Éloïse is a lovely little sailboat, and definitely one of the best that LEGO has produced at this scale."

The Brothers Brick

"just on first glance it is one of the nicest if not the nicest of all gifts with purchase at least to look at ever"

JANG's LEGO Reviews

Ecosystem

40448 Vintage Car — Like the Vintage Car before it, this set shows that designs pulled from fans can have a novel approach, bringing lots of great detail to subjects that have traditionally been quite simple LEGO models.

21327 Typewriter — Part of the same gift-with-purchase promotion category as other Ideas sets, though this one is numbered in the 40xxx range rather than 21xxx

Original fan design on LEGO Ideas platform — LEGO retained the soul and most building techniques but made some changes. The original fan design had the boom connected at the front with a forestay line, which made more nautical sense; the production version has rigging errors.

Other gift-with-purchase sets — This is one of the nicest, if not the nicest, of all gifts-with-purchase sets aesthetically.

IdeasTier 2Investment Grade

By Reviewer · 2

Avg score

Consensus

BUY

The Brothers Brick

Expert Video Source

BUY

"The Éloïse is a lovely little sailboat, and definitely one of the best that LEGO has produced at this scale."

Key Pros

✓Lovely color scheme: dark tan hull, dark orange deck, gold highlights give it a classic, elegant look
✓Complex interior construction for its scale
✓Two minifigures with appropriate sailor costumes

Key Cons

✕Lack of rudder beneath the stern's til
✕Anchor is attached amidships rather than at the bow, which is not a great place for an anchor

JUMP TO REVIEW

JANG's LEGO Reviews

Expert Video Source

"just on first glance it is one of the nicest if not the nicest of all gifts with purchase at least to look at ever"

Key Pros

✓One of the nicest gift-with-purchase sets aesthetically
✓Retains soul and most building techniques of original fan design
✓Brick-built sails using genuine LEGO building

Key Cons

✕Mainsail and jib rigging are nautically incorrect (boom rotation direction and main sail connection)
✕Bowsprit assembly is too long for the boat size

JUMP TO REVIEW

Dimensional Analysis

Investment Layer

Buy now (1)Wait for sale (0)

Exclusivity

The Brothers Brick: Limited-time Gift with Purchase promotion (August 1-29, 2021); VIP-only first week

JANG's LEGO Reviews: Gift-with-purchase (no longer available); threshold was $200+/€200+/£200+ on LEGO.com

Resale

JANG's LEGO Reviews: Prices on eBay when these first come out usually do not go too high if LEGO produces enough of them.

Minifigures & Standout Parts

In this set (2)

Sailor

Standout parts (per reviewers)

Printed 1×4 board tiles in dark orange
Same pattern as the new board tile from 21325 Blacksmith Shop, except without nails. Eight included.
Trans-light-blue crystals
Have been somewhat scarce with only a few large sets containing one each in recent years
Medium blue dolphins
Have appeared in a couple of sets before (notably the LEGO Batman Movie Series 2 Collectible Minifigures) but fantastic to have two included here
One-by-three and one-by-four printed tiles in dark orange
Relatively simple but effective wood texture printing
Pearl gold pieces (newer and older varieties in transition)
Mix of drum lacquered pieces and regular molded pearl gold; shows production variation
Flex pipes/flex tubes in gold
Used for bowsprit assembly but create structural stress points

What Owners Say · summarized from 7 written reviews (LEGO, Amazon, Walmart)

Owners praise the creative build, unique design, and adorable dolphins, but a significant portion report serious quality control issues with discolored and malformed white pieces that undermine their experience.

COMMON PRAISE