Design and Construction
The H22 was initially designed as a kit boat using the Prefix build system, a method the designer described as patent-pending, in which a laser-cut set of plywood panels and numbered frames, longitudinals, hull and deck shells, fiberglass coach roof and bow cone, mast pillar and rudder components arrive on a pallet prefix kit assembly. A builder could assemble the pieces into something recognizably boat-shaped in under a day, with total time to a pre-paint finish around 300 hours. Finished examples show smooth, clean topsides with no hard chines or slabby flat panels, and the soft rounded sections carry U-shaped forward bodies into a gentle, near-constant arc aft to a very broad stern. The boat is now molded by Lion Yachts in Latvia using glass-fibre sandwich construction Latvian glass sandwich build, and Harley Racing Yachts has marketed that fibreglass incarnation. The keel is a bulb type of 715 pounds on a constant-chord fin with vertical leading and trailing edges, giving a ballast ratio quoted variously at 40 to 45 percent; the rudder is transom-hung and high-aspect, roughly half the plan area of the keel fin.
Rig and Handling
What defines the H22 on the water is its fractional rig with sweptback spreaders and a top set of jumpers, carrying a powerful-looking sail plan that period reviewers called high-powered on the strength of a sail-area-to-displacement ratio near 30. The deep bulb keel supplies the righting moment that lets the rig carry, and a 55-square-metre masthead asymmetric spinnaker flies from a long carbon bowsprit masthead asymmetric spinnaker on carbon bowsprit, with a second 45-square-metre fractional kite also available; both tack to the bowsprit and hoist on one halyard, and a block pulls the halyard into the mast when the fractional sail is set. An earlier review notes the asymmetric chute tacked to a pivoting pole on short struts that weathers the kite almost like a masthead pole, letting the boat sail deeper downwind than rivals with simpler poles. Deck gear is Harken throughout except for Spinlock power cleats, and the layout is so clean the boat can be sailed without winches; a single winch on a barney post serves as sheet winch or, turned horizontal, helps raise mast and keel, with extension tubing giving the throw to lift the bulb. Two crew can rig and set up in about 20 minutes, and she trails easily behind a retractable or lifting keel.
Accommodations
This is a daysailer with a handy cuddy cabin for stowing gear rather than a cruising interior. The long open-ended cockpit is the working heart of the boat, with two large lockers in the sole for sail stowage and further wells and hatches adding space. The broad stern that aids downwind control also gives the cockpit its generous footprint, and the boat can be crewed by as few as two or as many as five, with three cited as a practical minimum for racing.
Refits and Ownership
Owners of the kit era faced a 300-hour build from pallet to paint, but the molded version removes that labour. The keel-raising winch arrangement is multi-purpose by design, and the numbered kit parts speak to a boat engineered for amateur completion. The shift from Prefix plywood-composite to Latvian glass sandwich means a used buyer chooses between a home-finished hull and a factory moulding, both sharing the same Humphreys lines.
The Verdict
The H22 is a clever small sportsboat that packages racer-grade rig and downwind reach into a trailerable, low-crew package. The kit heritage gives it a garage-build story, while the molded version broadens access without changing the broad-sterned, easily driven hull.
Pros
- Trailerable lifting keel with a multi-use winch arrangement for mast and keel raising
- Fractional rig with two asymmetric kites and a clean Harken deck layout sail-able without winches
- Broad stern and U-section hull give form stability and controlled high-speed downwind sailing
Cons
- Daysailer-only accommodation; cuddy cabin limits shelter and overnight use
- Kit-build heritage means condition of home-finished hulls varies by builder skill
