Design and Construction
Both hull and deck are solid fiberglass, and the boat carries a wing keel rather than a fixed foil, which lets the Aloa 17 settle into a draft of roughly 1.64 to 1.94 feet depending on load and therefore nose into shallow marinas that would stop a deeper-keeled 17-footer. The beam measures 6.56 feet against a 17.39-foot overall length, an l/b ratio of 2.65 that makes her slimmer than 54 percent of comparable designs. She is no heavyweight: at 1,944 pounds displacement with 485 pounds of iron ballast, the 25 percent ballast ratio sits higher than only 15 percent of similar boats, and a DL-ratio of 202 places her among "moderate racers" with 34 percent of peer designs heavier still.
Rig and Handling
The Aloa 17 is rigged as a fractional sloop, and her working rig uses jib and genoa sheets of 17.4 feet at 5/16 inch diameter, a 43.5-foot mainsheet of the same diameter, and a 38.3-foot spinnaker sheet. With 134 square feet of sail area against her displacement, the SA/D ratio comes to 13.78 — enough to keep her lively without demanding a racing crew. The theoretical hull speed for a displacement boat of her length is 5.1 knots, and the wetted surface of the keel and hull below the waterline covers about 107 square feet.
Performance Character
Where the Aloa 17 distinguishes herself is motion comfort. Her Motion Comfort Ratio spans 7.2 to 15.7, and against similar sailboats that figure ranks her more comfortable than 96 percent of all comparable designs. The capsize screening value is 2.10, a number that by the reviewing standard would bar her from ocean races, so her talents plainly lie in sheltered and coastal waters rather than offshore passages. Load sensitivity is pronounced for a boat this size: the immersion rate is about 333 pounds per inch, meaning each 333-pound addition of cargo lowers her exactly one inch.
Known Issues
The wing keel arrangement demands owner vigilance over time, since a pivoting foil in a fiberglass trunk is only as trustworthy as its pivot hardware and sealing.
The Verdict
The Aloa 17 is a slender, light, and comfortably riding small sloop whose wing keel and shallow draft open quiet anchorages to a boater of modest means. She is not built for the open ocean, but as a trailerable coastal weekender she offers a rare combination of low weight and high motion comfort for her size.
Pros
- More comfortable in motion than 96 percent of similar sailboat designs
- Wing keel yields 1.64–1.94 ft draft for marina access
- Light 1,944 lb displacement with fractional sloop rig is easy to trail and handle
Cons
- Capsize screening value of 2.10 excludes her from ocean racing
- Ballast ratio higher than only 15 percent of peers limits stiffness
- Load immersion of 333 lb/inch makes cargo planning critical
