US Yachts US 22 sailboat Vesper

Vesper

Vesper is the US Yachts US 22 SD that I bought on 06 June 2016, to sail on Lac Deschênes, part of the Ottawa River.

The boat was built in 1981 by US Yachts, which had been started as a division of Bayliner, which in turn is a division of the Brunswick Boat Group, owned by the Brunswick Corporation. US Yachts was sold by Bayliner in about 1979 and continued as an independent company until the mid-1980s.

The US 22 was first marketed by US Yachts in 1979. It was later developed into the Pearson Yachts Triton 22 and marketed under that name from 1985.

Design

The US 22 is a Gary Mull design, derived from his 1977 Ranger 22. Mull said of the Ranger 22 design, "the basic parameter was fun. When we had a decision to make in the design office, we always asked, 'Is it going to contribute to making it more fun?' "

In describing his design goals for all his boat designs, Mull said that he was making "just a really nice boat. It has to be good looking, and it has to sail well. It has to have good balance, and it has to have an airy, bright, pleasant interior so you don't feel like you are going to jail when you go down below. It's got to have a comfortable cockpit where you can work the boat without bashing your elbows or tipping over or whatever. It's a boat that, if you want to cruise it for a while, you can do it by simply loading aboard the stores and some clothes, and just do it. If you want to race it, you can do that by off-loading some of the stores and gear and going racing. And, of course, it's not going to be a successful IOR boat, because it's not an IOR boat, but it's probably going to be a better cruising boat than 99 percent of the cruising boats on the market, which are caricatures of cruising boats."

Description

The boat is a small fractional sloop, with a main sail, jib, genoa and a spinnaker. It is built mostly from fibreglass, with some teak wood trim. It was designed to be sailed by two people, although it can be equipped for single-handing, with additional winches and fittings.

The US 22 was built with three types of keels: a standard fin keel, a swing keel and a shoal keel. Vesper has the shoal keel, which gives it a draft of just 31 inches, (2.60 feet, 0.79 m).

The boat has cozy accommodations below deck for up to four people to sleep. It also has a small table, kitchen and toliet. It is just about the ideal "couples" boat.

Handling

In sailing the US 22 SD I have found its handling is really delightful. It is light on the helm, sails upwind well, tacks and gybes easily and handles winds up to 25 knots with ease and confidence.

Motor

The boat came with a Johnson model J65LOED two-stoke 6 hp (4.5 kW) outboard motor, but I found it less than ideal and so sold the motor in July 2016 and got a German-engineered Torqeedo Travel 1003L electric motor instead (since upgarded to a 1003C). The Torqeedo is much cleaner, lighter, quieter, more reliable, ecologically sustainable and recharges with sunlight via a solar cell. It quickly disassembles into three parts for transport and, at 14 kg (30.8 lb) total, is light enough to easily carry it home at night, so it doesn't need to stay with the boat.

Name

The last owner of the boat said that it had never been given a name, but the Nepean Sailing Club records show that it was originally named Vesper, so I decided to keep the name.

Vesper means "evening" in classical Latin. It is associated with evening prayers (vespers), a Royal Navy First and Second World War destroyer, HMS Vesper and a drink credited to James Bond in the novel Casino Royale, as well.

US 22 SD Specifications

General

Length overall: 22.00 feet (6.71 m)
Waterline length: 19.92 feet (6.07 m)
Beam: 7.92 feet (2.41 m)
Draft: 2.60 feet (31 inches, 0.79 m)
Displacement: 2,450 lb (1,111 kg)
Ballast: 950 lb (431 kg)
Cabin headroom: 57 inches (145 cm)
Engine: Torqeedo Travel 1003C electric motor
Max motoring speed: 4.3 knots (8 km/h)
Hull speed: 5.98 knots (11 km/h)
Tacking angle: 92° (measured, with genoa)
PHRF: 264

Sails

Fore triangle height (I): 24.80 ft (7.56 m)
Fore triangle foot (J): 8.70 ft (2.65 m)
Mainsail height (P): 25.00 ft (7.62 m)
Mainsail foot (E): 7.50 ft (2.29 m)
Genoa area: 107.88 sq ft (10.022 m²)
Main sail area: 93.75 sq ft (8.710 m²)
Total sail area: 202 sq ft (18.8 m²)
Sail area to displacement ratio: 17.79

Photos

Click to enlarge photos, hover for caption

Boat details

Sailing on Lac Deschênes

Artwork

Our Sailboat