LM 22 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

The LM 22 is built with a fibreglass hull and a fin keel whose ballast is made of lead, the keel itself being a fin configuration drawing between 1.30 and 1.40 meter dependent on the load, which lets the boat enter even shallow marinas. The 41% ballast ratio sits just above average and indicates an ability to resist heeling above average, while the 2.55 length-beam ratio is more spacious than 82% of all other designs. At a displacement-length ratio of 270 she is categorized among moderate racers, and with a motion comfort ratio of 15.8 to 16.0 she proves more comfortable than 62% of all similar sailboat designs. Her capsize screening value is 2.27 and the theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 5.7 knots, figures that place her firmly in the stable, family-cruiser end of the pocket-boat spectrum rather than the out-and-out racer camp.

Rig and Handling

The LM 22 is built with a masthead rig, and the sail area for the mainsail and jib is 20.2 m2. She has more rig than 31% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is slightly underrigged, and the sail area displacement ratio with the ISO 8666 reference sail is 14.6, rising to 17.5 with a 135% genoa. That SA/D ratio indicates she is faster than 24% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind, and her relative speed performance is 46. The standing and running rigging follow a consistent specification: halyards for mainsail, jib/genoa and spinnaker each run 20.8 m at 8 mm diameter, while sheets scale from 6.7 m jib and genoa at 10 mm through a 16.9 m mainsheet to a 14.8 m spinnaker sheet, with Cunningham, kickingstrap and clew-outhaul all at 4.4 m or below on 8 mm. The wet bottom surface is about 16 m2, a modest area that keeps antifouling and haul-out costs contained for a boat of her size.

Accommodations

The boat is equipped with 4 berths, a layout suited to a small crew or a couple with two children for coastal use. Headroom is below average, a constraint inherent to the 21.98-foot LOA and the cabin trunk proportions rather than a defect of finish. The broad beam relative to length that earns her the spaciousness ranking against peer designs is what allows those four berths to be arranged without the claustrophobia typical of narrower 22-footers, even if standing room remains limited below.

Known Issues

The available records note no structural defects, systemic rot, or recurring failure modes for the LM 22. The documented facts center on dimensional and performance specification rather than service bulletins. The immersion rate of about 97 kg/cm (544 lbs/inch) is a characteristic the owner should respect when loading the boat, as trim and draft shift within the stated 1.30 to 1.40 meter band with payload. No drainage, flooding, or fastening problems are attributed to the design in the source material.

Refits and Ownership

Because the surface of the wet bottom is about 16 m2, routine hull maintenance is a manageable task for an owner working alone or with minimal help. The specified rigging lengths and diameters are exact enough that a re-rig can be planned from the original data without surveyor measurement, and the lead fin keel is a straightforward item to inspect for grounding damage. With a few hundred boats built and the design by Bent Juul Andersen in the mid seventies for LM Glasfiber A/S, the class is established if not numerous.

The Verdict

The LM 22 is a considered small cruiser from a Danish builder at the height of its fiberglass production, pairing a beamy, comfortable hull with a slightly underrigged masthead plan and a lead fin keel that keeps her accessible to shallow water. She is not a light-air sprinter, but her numbers describe a stable, spacious pocket cruiser with predictable loading behavior.

Pros