Allures 45.9Review & Buyer’s Guide: The Aluminum-and-Composite Bluewater Cruiser Explained
What you’d actually do with her
The Allures 45.9 is a boat for a couple heading into the tradewind circuit: the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Pacific, three years around the world. The aluminum hull forgives reefs and floating timber, the lifted centreboard lets you into lagoons drawing barely a metre, and the composite deck up top means that inside and out she looks and lives like a modern European yacht rather than a workboat. Drying out on a falling tide is a standard operating mode, not a party trick.
What you won’t do with her: race (not her register, though the S version tries), and — by the settled opinion of the forums — go into the ice. For Greenland and Patagonia the community points, near unanimously, to Boréal and Garcia, with their single protected rudders and all-metal decks. The 45.9 carries two exposed blades aft and a fiberglass lid on an aluminum tin — and around that lid runs the central argument of this boat’s whole biography. We’ll get there.
Verdict
The boat whose top and bottom come from different worlds
The aluminum world has a dogma: a metal boat should be metal all the way up. One welded volume, no joints — that’s the headline argument for metal in the first place: nothing to leak. Ovni has built that way for half a century. Garcia builds that way. Boréal builds that way.
In 2003, Allures bet on something else. Below: welded 5083 aluminum — topsides and bottom, everything that meets reefs and logs. Above: a foam-cored fiberglass deck, bonded and mechanically fastened to the hull around its perimeter. The German magazine float put the point of this heresy better than anyone:
“Unlike an Ovni, say, or most home-built aluminum boats, the deck and cockpit on an Allures are GRP. While the aluminum hull makes no compromises for bluewater, the composite superstructure delivers all the aesthetic comfort... The two materials make it possible to sink every deck fastener into fiberglass — and so avoid the aluminum ever having to make risky connections with foreign metal.”
The composite deck, in other words, isn’t a cost-saving: it’s a way of removing from the aluminum the hundreds of stainless fastener holes that, on an all-metal boat, are each a potential galvanic couple. One of metal’s problems was traded for another — a bonded seam around the perimeter. Whether that’s an honest trade is question number one of this dossier.
Who Allures are. The yard was founded in Cherbourg in 2003 by engineers Stéphan Constance and Xavier Desmarest, with the stated ambition of revitalising the aluminium centreboarder. Today it’s part of Grand Large Yachting — Allures, Garcia, Outremer, Gunboat, RM — a group whose revenue grew from €33 million in 2017 to roughly €130 million in 2024, with around a thousand employees; Allures and Garcia hulls are welded in the same facility, in batches of three. This is neither a garage operation nor a dying brand, and that matters to a used buyer: parts and service (Grand Large Services, including a base in the West Indies) aren’t going anywhere soon.
What kind of boat is this — if you’re seeing her for the first time
The Allures 45.9 is a 14.75-metre centreboarder launched in 2017, hull by Berret-Racoupeau (Olivier Racoupeau), interior by Franck Darnet Design. Don’t confuse her with the previous Allures 45 (roughly 2010–2016, also Berret-Racoupeau): the 45.9 is 0.8 m longer, with a more powerful stern and, for the first time, a choice of keel. Production run as of 2025, per the yard: “nearly 60 units.”
Two versions, and this is the buyer’s first decision.
— The classic centreboarder (CB): solid internal ballast on a shallow stub, plus a light lifting board. Draft roughly 2.9 m board down, 1.1 m board up. Drying out is standard: at rest the weight sits on the bow and the wide stub, not the rudders. The board lifts on an electric winch — no hydraulics; as the tester from 48° North noted, that means remote repairs are much easier — and the linkage carries a sacrificial bolt for impacts.
— The S / Perf version: a hydraulically lifting bulb keel and a carbon mast. Around 2.3 tonnes lighter, ballast carried lower, noticeably sharper to windward. The price: no drying out, and hydraulics as a failure point.
Two rudders. Exposed composite blades aft — the opposite of Boréal’s single protected rudder. Downwind and in a breeze this means control and minimal weather helm; near rocks and ice, it means vulnerability. That isn’t a defect; it’s a latitude choice, and it was made in favour of warm water.
Ballast. The CB version carries a ballast-to-displacement ratio of 37.9% (12,600 kg / 4,780 kg, per Yachting Monthly’s figures) — the best number among the French aluminum centreboarders: the Ovni 450 sits near 32%, the Garcia Exploration 45 around 31%, the first-series Boréal 44 at 36%.
Living with her: voices from two circumnavigations
There are two substantial independent bodies of owner testimony on the 45.9 — and both are honest.
A Capella of Belfast — Julian and Patricia Morgan, ordered new in 2017, 20,000+ miles: the Atlantic with Jimmy Cornell’s rally, Panama, Galapagos, Polynesia, New Zealand.
“We bought an Allures 45.9 new in September 2017 and are now in New Zealand having sailed over 20,000 NM in the last two years or so.” And, in the same breath, a line every new-boat buyer should memorise: “The first year or so of ownership of a new boat is a time when minor and sometimes major issues need to be resolved.”
From their blog at acapella.org.uk: the code zero tore more than once (the “torn (again) code zero” was mended on Santa Cruz “for what we feel is rather an expensive price”), and the boat hauled out in New Zealand for a planned refit before the voyage home. A telling detail on pace: when A Capella rode home to Europe on the deck of a cargo ship, the Morgans watched the ship make seven knots into fierce headwinds — “quite frankly we go faster than that.”
Broadsword — John and Lucy Strachan, hull Z23, circumnavigating from Scotland since 2022. Their blog, seamountains.co.uk, is the best heavy-weather material on this boat:
“Conditions were pretty full on, everyone in life jackets and clipped in, the boat fairly well healed over with three to four meter waves breaking on the beam, occasionally soaking the cockpit. Broadsword is buzzing at 8 kts.”
And the same author, riding out a gale at anchor in the Bay of Islands: “each gust of gale will whip her round to a new point of reference with a violence that stains every aluminum sinew to the limit... being onboard Broadsword is a bit like being in a carwash set on a giant skateboard pulled along by an out-of-control dog.”
Strachan also left the sharpest testimony on the yard itself — about taking delivery in Cherbourg:
“When we arrived in Cherbourg in mid August, the boat was far from finished and we spent the first week with electricians, plumbers and many more on board with us every day... To say the hand over was a disappointment would be an understatement. We had expected five consecutive half days with respective specialists talking us through the intricacies of the boat. Instead, we had our account manager grabbing an hour here or half an hour there talking through topics in a rather random and chaotic way.”
For a used buyer this is, oddly, good news: the first owner has already cured the boat’s infant ailments. But the snag list and the warranty history become mandatory questions.
Daily runs. The yard claims “daily averages of over 160 nautical miles” — a marketing figure, unconfirmed by independent logs; the magazine tests (Sail, 48° North) all ran in light air. What is confirmed: a fairly narrow groove upwind (48° North’s phrase), a tacking angle slightly under 90 degrees with nearly 5 knots of boatspeed in 7 knots of breeze (Sail Magazine), and two-finger steering in the puffs (float). Yachting Monthly summed up the character: “She might not be the most responsive boat to helm, but when she’s going you feel like nothing is going to get in her way.”
The great debate: the lid on the tin
In December 2019, Charles Doane — one of the most authoritative English-language writers on cruising boats — put into words, on Attainable Adventure Cruising, the objection that has hung over the whole Allures concept ever since:
“Boats from Allures... feature aluminum hulls with all glass decks. To me this negates what I see as one of the main selling points of a metal boat: a unitary hull-and-deck structure with minimal possibilities for chronic leaks. At some point the joint on an aluminum/glass boat is going to cause very annoying problems that will be a pain to resolve.”
Note the grammar: “is going to cause” — future tense. That’s a prediction, not a damage report.
The yard’s answer sits in every press release: the junction is “perfectly mastered,” adhesive plus mechanical fastening, a solution “patented and proven for more than fifteen years.” The engineering logic of the seam is well aired on the forums too: aluminum and composite expand at different rates with temperature, so the joint must be elastic — and modern structural adhesives deliver exactly that, routinely.
Now the finding that matters most from this research: across twenty years and every Allures model — 39.5, 44, 45, 45.9, 40.9, 51.9 — not a single documented case of the structural hull-deck joint leaking could be found. Not in the forum threads, not in surveyors’ war stories, not in brokers’ defect disclosures. There is testimony pointing the other way — the owner of Allures 40 hull #1 (2005), writing on Hisse-et-Oh (translated from French): “the composite/aluminium bond is impeccably engineered — the hull is almost as rigid as if it were all aluminum.” Owner complaints about “leaking hatches and instruments” do exist — but those are hatches and deck instruments, the ailment of every production boat, not the seam itself.
The honest takeaway for a buyer: this remains an argument of philosophies, not of statistics. Doane’s prediction has not publicly come true even once in twenty years — but nor can it be conclusively retired: the fleet is young (the oldest 45.9s aren’t yet ten), and chronic leaks are a disease of a boat’s second and third decades. Surveying the joint perimeter is mandatory; panic is not.
Buying a used Allures 45.9: problems and what to check
From here on, this dossier switches to survey mode. Print this section and take it to the boat.
Delivery and the snag list: the boat’s medical history
The yard’s one documented weak spot is the quality of new-boat handovers (Strachan’s testimony above). Ask the seller for the complete first-year warranty record and proof it was closed out. An unresolved snag list is a bargaining item.
Galvanics: aluminum’s daily routine
The yard publishes its own rules openly: hull and centreboard anodes are magnesium; electrically decoupled items (shaft, propeller) take zinc; copper-based antifouling is “totally incompatible” with aluminum; and after any electrician’s visit, run the current-leakage tester — a standard fitting, so confirm it’s aboard and working. Hire a surveyor with genuine aluminum experience, not a fiberglass specialist moonlighting.
The hull-deck joint
No field failures on record (see above), but the check is free: walk the perimeter inside for moisture tracks, outside for cracking along the seam. Separately — hatches and deck instruments: that’s where leaks are documented.
Centreboard and trunk (CB version)
Inspect the trunk, the lifting winch and its cable (a consumable — ask when it was last replaced), and the sacrificial bolt. One precedent from a sister model: an Allures in the 40-foot class lost its centreboard at sea off Cuba on a four-year-old boat; per the delivery skipper’s account on Hisse-et-Oh, the yard’s reaction was “ça peut arriver” — it can happen — and the replacement came at the owner’s expense. Not a 45.9 case, but it obliges the question: has anything in the board assembly ever been touched?
The S version
The lifting keel’s hydraulics need a service history — hoses, pump, seals. And remember: no drying out on an S.
Rudders
Two exposed composite blades. On the CB version the beaching weight sits on bow and stub, not the blades — but any grounding marks on them justify a closer look. The yard itself recommends a visual inspection of rudders and steering linkages before major passages.
Systems
The failures owners actually document are not structure but plumbing and rigging periphery: Strachan’s heads blocked repeatedly, including mid-gale; the Morgans’ code zero kept tearing; first-year electrics. Survey the boat as a system — pumps, valves, and above all any aftermarket wiring, because every previous owner’s “improvement” on an aluminum boat is a potential stray-current leak.
Allures 45.9 price and market: a thin market with a high floor
A new 45.9 in 2016 started around €335,000 ex-VAT; “a fully equipped boat with VAT and all should cost about half a million,” as Interesting Sailboats put it at launch. Yachting Monthly’s 2018 test boat priced at £476,870. The yard no longer publishes a list price; the model remains in production, with a build time of about two years.
The used market: 2018–2022 boats ask €495,000–590,000 — meaning well-equipped examples hold at or above their original as-delivered price. At any given moment, one to four boats are listed worldwide, all platforms combined; the French platforms (Band of Boats, Annonces du Bateau, bateauavendre.fr) are mandatory watching, because YachtWorld won’t show you everything. Good boats go quickly: bargaining room is thin, but never at the survey’s expense — the snag-list history and the galvanic health matter more than the discount.
The same scarcity economics that prop up Boréal work for the seller here: a two-year queue for a new build supports the price of every used hull.
Market snapshot: August 2026. This section is updated with each revision.
Allures 45.9 vs Boréal, Garcia and Ovni: what buyers actually compare
The formula the community has settled on, from a YBW thread titled “OVNI vs Garcia vs Boreal”:
“Boreal has the advantage as a pure high latitude expedition yacht (single rudder, interior watch dog-house, protected cockpit...). Allures is more orientated to low latitude tropical/tradewind sailing (massive wide stern, twin wheels, twin vulnerable rudders, huge cockpit) and performance sailing.”
Boréal 44 (live dossier) — the opposite pole at the same money: all-welded aluminum, a pilothouse with a real door, one protected rudder, a drip stove. Pure high latitudes. But the queue for a new one runs two to three years and the used market barely exists; the Allures, as the same YBW thread put it, “is ready after 9 month and slightly roomier.”
Garcia Exploration 45 — the most direct cross-shop: same group, all-aluminum, everything-inside interior, Jimmy Cornell’s choice. Heavier — comfort-submarine against the more sailorly 45.9. The Morgans of A Capella were friends with Pete Goss on his Garcia; the boats launched almost together, and “Julian and Pete had spent many hours debating specifications.”
Ovni 450/435 (live dossier: Ovni 435) — the people’s all-aluminum centreboarder: cheaper, plainer, and the fattest used market in the class. Lower ballast ratio (around 32% on the 450), execution without the gloss.
The class formula: pure high latitudes — Boréal; maximum integrated comfort — Garcia; budget and go-anywhere value — Ovni; warm-water miles and pace — Allures 45.9. Within that four, she is the most yacht-like: the strongest ballast pull, the most modern stern, and the only one offering a choice of keel.
Garcia Exploration 45
Read the dossierOvni 450
Open questions
The AVS and the ISO 12217-2 stability booklet for the 45.9 have never been published; the only way to close that question with numbers — especially for the lighter S version — is to request the booklet from the yard during purchase. Real daily runs, against the claimed “160+ miles,” await owners’ logs. The S version’s weights disagree across sources (−2,280 kg per the yard; ballast 4,800 → 2,500 kg per no-frills-sailing; 10,630/2,520 kg per sailboatdata) — a factory specification sheet would settle it. The “nearly 60” production count is the yard’s figure, with no public hull registry. First-person drying-out experience on a 45.9 specifically has not surfaced. Owner interviews (the Morgans, the Strachans) are candidates for the next revision.
Allures 45.9 specifications (CB version)
| Hull length | 14.75 m |
| Beam | 4.54 m |
| Draft (board up / down) | ~1.1 / ~2.9 m |
| Displacement | 12,600 kg |
| Ballast | 4,780 kg (B/D 37.9%) |
| SA/D | 18.8 |
| Construction | hull — aluminum 5083 (TIG/MIG, inspected welds); deck — foam-cored GRP |
| Rudders | 2, composite, exposed |
| Centreboard | lifting, electric winch, sacrificial bolt |
| Design | Berret-Racoupeau (hull), Franck Darnet (interior) |
| Built | 2017 — in production |
| Production | ~60 hulls (yard, 2025) |
| CE category | A |
FAQ
How much does a used Allures 45.9 cost?
€495,000–590,000 for 2018–2022 boats; one to four are listed worldwide at any moment, and well-equipped examples sell fast. New, she started around €335,000 ex-VAT in 2016 and costs substantially more today (the yard no longer publishes a list price).
Does the aluminum-hull-to-composite-deck joint leak?
No documented case has been found across twenty years and every Allures model. The critique (Charles Doane’s) is a conceptual prediction, not a damage report. The leaks Allures owners do document are hatches and deck instruments — the ailment of any production boat, not the seam.
What’s the difference between the Allures 45.9 and the Allures 45?
The 45.9 (from 2017) is 0.8 m longer, with a more powerful stern, an updated interior and — for the first time — an S version (lifting bulb keel plus carbon mast). The Allures 45 is the previous generation (roughly 2010–2016, about 34 hulls).
Is the Allures 45.9 suitable for high latitudes?
Formally, she’s a CE category A ocean boat with an aluminum hull. But the community consensus sends ice-bound buyers to Boréal or Garcia (single protected rudder, all-metal structure, pilothouse). The 45.9’s element is the tradewinds, the tropics, and drying out in lagoons.
CB or S version?
CB: drying out, autonomy, a winch instead of hydraulics (repairable anywhere), internal ballast. S: faster and sharper upwind, ballast carried lower in the bulb — but no beaching, and hydraulics as a failure point. Tradewind circumnavigators mostly choose the CB.
Allures 45.9 or Garcia Exploration 45?
One group, two philosophies: Garcia — all-aluminum, maximum integrated comfort, the ice; Allures — lighter, more sailorly, more elegant, warm water. The 45.9’s ballast ratio is markedly better (37.9% against roughly 31%).
Method: this dossier was assembled from the yard’s own documentation, sea trials by Yachting Monthly, Sail Magazine, 48° North, float Magazin and Cruising World, the analyses at Attainable Adventure Cruising and Interesting Sailboats, owners’ blogs (acapella.org.uk, seamountains.co.uk), threads on Hisse-et-Oh, YBW, Sailing Anarchy, STW and the Allures-Garcia Owners Forum, and brokerage archives 2017–2026. Quotes are given verbatim in English; French and German quotes are translated with meaning preserved. Where sources disagree, we either resolved the conflict with data or left it honestly open. Some forum quotes were retrieved via search snippets where blogs block automated access; they will be verified during owner interviews, whose testimony will join the next revision.