US Yachts 22 Footer

[scottorious]

I have found a listing near me in a us yachts 22 foot boat. It says it sleeps 4. I am going to contact the owner to check it out. The price seems pretty reasonable but I wonder if anyone has any information on this model. It comes with trailer and the remaining 2010 season slip fees for 2500 dollars. good or bad? or does it all depend on the rest of the condition of the boat. The year isnt given. Any input would be great thanks.

[dcstrng]

Haven’t seen one of those around in years and don’t know the quality, but if it’s the boat I’m thinking about it was sort of a cruiserized MORC style boat… a bit more substantial than the purely trailerable boats in that size as I recall – saildrive or inboard I think, is that the one…???

[GordMay]

US 22
➥ US 22 Sailboat details on sailboatdata.com
➥ US Yacht 22 photo - Jeff Gegner photos at pbase.com

[undude2002]

I have a US22 and it is difficult to find information or reviews on them. I bought it as my first sailboat and had no idea what to look for, but since then I have come to learn some of the quirks of this particular boat.

Overall, it seems to be a great little day sailer/short-range cruiser. Pretty solid construction, though a bit on the light side in terms of ballast. She seems to spin a lot in light winds, but that might have something to do with the poor condition of her sails, too. I don't know how she would handle heavy winds or big water. I have had her out in Puget Sound a couple times and on Lake Washington, which get pretty steady winds, and she seems to do fine. But I've never had her out in anything more than probably 15 knots.

They are set up to single-hand although the rigging is a little funky on mine, and I found that it's best to drop the forward lifelines when using the jib. The cockpit is a little stuffy for 3, and I don't like the split backstay or the traveller location (right in front of the main hatch, tons of shin bruises), and the boom sits pretty low so you really have to watch your head. But it's a 22' so what can you expect?

Inside, she seems fairly spacious for a 22, and you could sleep 4 pretty comfortably. I'm 6'4" and I sleep comfortably in the V-berth alone, and fine with my girlfriend, although it's a bit tricky getting in/out. The table folds down to convert the settees into another double birth on the port side and two more tall people could fit there, but I wouldn't try to squeeze more than 4 people onto this boat. There is technically another quarter birth starboard, but it's pretty short. I've converted that side into storage because there's not a lot of storage in the cabin at all. A little over 5' of headroom in the cabin makes it pretty cramped for trying to move around if there's more than one person in there.

The main thing I've had to battle as far as keeping her dry inside is water coming in through the screw holes where the lid/deck of the boat is bolted onto the hull. The bolts were all sealed inside and out, but then they screwed long wood screws through to attach a foam/fabric pad to cover up the nuts/bolts on the inside. Apparently they didn't bother sealing those, and on the outside they are covered with the rubrail so you can't access them without removing the rubrail. Water would trickle in through the screw holes when it rained, or if she was heeling hard. I've since resealed those screws and sealed the rubrail and no longer have this problem. I've also had to reseal the windows and through-hull fittings, but she's over 30 years old so it needed to be done.

These are pretty basic boats, but it has a hand-pump sink, a port-a-potty, an alcohol stove, and a kerosene heater. Very minimal electronics on board, but you can do what you want there. I wired in a couple of outlets for when I'm on shore power, but mine doesn't have an inverter so once I leave the dock there's no AC power, which is kind of a pain in the ass for long trips. Mine doesn't have a working compass or a wind indicator on the top of the mast either, so it's really bare bones when you're out there. Just gotta feel it.

Not a ton of value in these things, so a lot of these improvements are out of the budget for this boat. I've seen them selling anywhere from $1000 to $3500 here in Seattle. I've done a lot of work on mine, so I'd try to get $2500 for her, but no less than $2000. Great boats for first time sailors or folks that just want a solid, affordable day sailer to get out on the water with.