Review of Allegro 27

Allegro 27 anno 1973. Båden er opgraderet med bovspryd, rulleforstag, gennemgående sejlpinde, nyere Volvo 2002 motor, vindror, strømløs centralvarme (GeHå) etc. - Mange af disse både har sejlet langfart

Basic specs.

The Allegro 27 is a sailboat designed by the Swedish maritime architect Lars Olof Norlin in the mid sixties. Several hundred boats have been produced. The Allegro 27 is built by the Swedish yard ACVA-Båt AB.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Allegro 27 or similar boat for sale

Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.

Interior

The boat is equipped with 5 berths.
Note: the boat has also been sold to be self-made/-interiored, which means that the quality of each boat may vary.

Rig

The boat equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.

Keel

The Allegro 27 is equipped with a long keel. A long keel provide a better directional stability than a similar boat with a fin keel; on the other hand, better directional stability means also that the boat is more difficult to handle in a harbour with less space.

The keel is made of iron. Many people prefer lead keel in favour of iron. The main argument is that lead is much heavier than iron and a lead keel can therefore be made smaller which again result in less wet surface, i.e. less drag. In fact iron is quite heavy, just 30% less heavy than lead, so the advantage of a lead keel is often overstated.

Allegro 27 can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.25 - 1.35 meter (4.10 - 4.40 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

The boat is typically equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD1B diesel engine at 10.0 hp (7 kW), which gives a max speed about 4.5 knots.

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Allegro 27 is 1.94, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.6 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Allegro 27 is about 135 kg/cm, alternatively 757 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 135 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 757 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Allegro 27 is 20.4 - 21.5.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 62% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just above average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Allegro 27 is 2.91.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 66% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Allegro 27 is 44%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 69% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just above average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Allegro 27 is 204 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

66% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Allegro 27 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 14.6, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 17.3.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 34% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

The Allegro 27 has more rig than 58% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is slightly overrigged.

RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Allegro 27 is 27

The relative speed performance is 27 which means that a it is faster than 27% of all similar sailboat designs.

Maintenance

Bottom Paint

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 15m² (161 ft²).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.

Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	22.8 m	(74.8 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	22.8 m	(74.8 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	22.8 m	(74.8 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet	8.0 m	(26.3 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	8.0 m	(26.3 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet	20.1 m	(65.9 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	17.7 m	(58.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Cunningham	3.4 m	(11.0 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap	6.7 m	(22.0 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul	6.7 m	(22.0 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.

Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Allegro 27 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.

References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.