Friendship 22 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

De Ridder's brief was a trailerable small cruiser that could genuinely function as a family yacht — not a daysailer pretending to be something more. At just under 7 metres overall, the 22 manages berths of two metres forward and 1.95 metres in the saloon, seat heights and companionway clearance that suit adults, and a layout honest about what a 22-footer can and cannot provide. The hull proportion and wide-for-its-era stern give the boat a timeless look; every dimension, angle and detail fits in a way that rewards a second look at the dock.

Hull and Construction

Meijer built the Friendship 22 with the consistency of a craft workshop rather than a production line. A boatbuilding-plywood interior with thick veneers and wood-panelled lockers was completed by the same long-serving craftsmen, one 22-footer every week. The stability of the workforce — some employees clocking more than two decades at the yard — produced a structural quality that remained unusually consistent across the production run. The hull is solid polyester spray laminate with hand-laid roving mats; the deck is a balsa sandwich with an inner shell.

Osmosis is not a common complaint on these hulls — apparently the gelcoat formulation was above average — but the balsa sandwich deck requires attention wherever penetrations were added after launch. Moisture ingress into a balsa core is slow and insidious, and soft areas around any retrofitted through-deck fittings signal a repair that may run to significant expense. When inspecting a used example, press the deck systematically around any non-original hardware before committing.

Rig and Sailing Character

The Friendship 22 carries a 7/8 fractional rig with a mast hinge at the base — a practical feature for a boat that regularly travels on a trailer and negotiates fixed bridges. The sail inventory is generous for the size: mainsail, high-aspect jib, two genoa options, a working jib, and a 29.7 m² spinnaker. With a sail-area-to-displacement ratio in the low twenties, the boat is no slug in a breeze.

What the YACHT test captured well is the boat's dual personality. In a gust, the Friendship lies down to her rubbing strake, lengthens the waterline in her own wave system, and sets off — thoroughly in her groove. She is agile rather than docile; the tiller demands attention and rewards an engaged helmsman. The attached rudder with its long lever can throw the boat round a corner on demand, making confined harbours and crowded moorings manageable. She is emphatically not a straight-ahead motorboat-under-canvas.

Multiple keel options were offered from the factory: 0.70 m, 1.10 m, and 1.35 m draught in the fin version, with a bilge-keel variant and a ballast centreboard also designed in as first-principles options rather than afterthoughts. The 1.35 m fin delivers the best performance against leeway and contributes to stability late in a knockdown, though it rules out some shallow-water cruising grounds.

Accommodation and Interior

The interior reflects the same pragmatic competence as the hull. The berth dimensions and saloon seat height work for average-sized adults — a real achievement in this length band. A sliding pantry is a notable convenience. Lockers line the inside of the hull in the traditional Dutch manner, finished with the heavy veneers that give the interior its quality feel.

Layout variants came from the factory: the standard open saloon, or a version with a dog bunk on the starboard quarter and a lockable main bulkhead creating a separate foredeck cabin. The open plan is generally considered the better choice for the sense of space it preserves, and on a 22-footer the psychological benefit of an uninterrupted interior is real.

Headroom in the cabin runs to 1.54 m — honest for the size — and the companionway position means a crewmember can stand taller under a sprayhood when conditions demand. The cockpit dent spacing suits medium-sized people when heeling, suggesting De Ridder thought about ergonomics across the boat rather than only at the drawing-board dimension stage.

Known Issues and What to Check

Three structural concerns recur on older examples and warrant specific attention before purchase.

The keel attachment is the most consequential. Hairline cracks at the aft end of the keel, visible inside the bilge, indicate grounding damage; the chocks are generous but the strongback is shallow, concentrating stress when the boat takes impact. Any cosmetic topcoat over this area should be removed for inspection. A laminated reinforcement inside the bilge at the keel root is a sound precaution on any boat that has sailed hard. Check also that the keel bolts carry stainless nuts on stainless (or non-ferrous) bolts with proper locking provision — early examples used steel bolt-and-nut combinations prone to corrosion. The keel-to-hull seam should be sealed with an MS polymer, not sanitary silicone.

The balsa sandwich deck, as noted above, is the second concern. The third is the engine installation. Some boats left the factory with a Volvo Penta petrol engine on a Saildrive. If the fuel system is not demonstrably leak-proof, the explosion risk is not theoretical. A diesel conversion is technically straightforward, though the cost relative to the boat's value requires careful thought.

Refit and Long-Term Ownership

The Friendship 22's size and weight work in its favour for ownership economics. It trailers behind a powerful mid-range vehicle, which means launch, retrieval, and winter storage can all be handled by a single owner with modest equipment. The 6 hp engine specification is adequate for harbour work in calm conditions.

The trim and hardware are of their era — cleat arrangements and fitting positions reflect 1970s thinking — but nothing about the running rigging layout is eccentric or difficult to update. New sails release meaningfully more boat speed; the design itself is not the limiting factor. Owners who enjoy fitting out a boat have good raw material to work with.

Spare parts are a practical concern. The brand changed hands repeatedly after the Meijer family retired, and the last known rights-holder has since closed. Secondary supply through owners' clubs — particularly the Dutch association and active websites in Germany and Switzerland — remains the most reliable source of technical knowledge and hard-to-find components.

The Verdict

The Friendship 22 is a genuine design classic in the specific sense: not a retro curiosity, but a boat whose proportions and ergonomics still hold up against contemporary alternatives at the same length. The first YACHT "Very good" award reflected a boat ahead of its class in 1978; the used examples circulating today are evidence of how well that quality of construction ages.

Pros