Design and Construction
The hull is solid fiberglass. Buyers could choose between two keel arrangements: a daggerboard lifting keel and a fin keel. The daggerboard raises and lowers vertically, allowing the boat to enter shallow marinas with a loaded draft of only 1.8 to 2.1 feet. The fin-keel version draws 3.6 to 3.9 feet.
A 1976 facelift introduced a newly developed balanced rudder. The lifting roof, or Hubdach, is the design’s signature accommodation feature, providing standing or seated headroom that a standard trunk cabin on a boat of this length wouldn’t offer.
Rig and Handling
The Neptun 22 Back Decker is a masthead sloop with 269 square feet of sail area overall. The working jib and mainsail together account for 172 square feet.
The running rigging calls for a 57-foot mainsheet and 22.8-foot jib and genoa sheets, all around 3/8 inch in diameter. A 50-foot spinnaker sheet serves for downwind work.
Docking and maneuvering typically rely on a 2- to 3-horsepower outboard or an electric outboard producing 46 to 55 pounds of thrust. The boat’s length-beam ratio of 2.78 makes it beamier than 66 percent of comparable designs. Its displacement-length ratio of 149 puts it among the “light racers”; 73 percent of similar sailboats are heavier.
Performance Envelope
The theoretical hull speed is 5.8 knots. A capsize screening value of 2.49 means the boat wouldn’t be accepted for ocean racing. Its Motion Comfort Ratio of 10.6 is higher than those of only 21 percent of similar sailboat designs.
An immersion rate of 544 pounds per inch and a wetted surface of about 161 square feet complete the picture: this is a light, shallow-draft coastal boat rather than an offshore passagemaker.
Accommodations
Below, the Back Decker sleeps five, thanks to the space created by the lifting roof. This variable-height cabin is the defining feature of the interior, trading the cramped fixed cabin typical of a 22-footer for brighter, more usable interior volume.
No source provides details of the berth arrangement beyond the stated count, but the lifting roof makes the five-berth capacity possible within a boat of this footprint.
Production and Ownership
Production began in 1973. The 1976 update brought both the facelift and the balanced rudder. That same year, a second production site opened in Tunisia to build the Neptun 22 alongside the original line. The builder also established a facility in Warburg during the model’s development era.
With daggerboard versions and outboard-dependent propulsion, owners can expect simple, accessible systems and no inboard engine to maintain.
The Verdict
The Neptun 22 Back Decker is a clever small-boat solution: a light, beamy coastal cruiser with a lifting roof and an optional shallow-draft daggerboard. Those qualities helped make it Europe’s best-selling yacht of its time.
It isn’t an ocean racer or a heavy-weather voyager. For sheltered-water cruising and trailering, however, it remains a pragmatic, well-conceived design.
Pros
- Lifting roof provides five-berth accommodation, unusual in a 22-foot boat
- Daggerboard reduces loaded draft to 1.8 feet for shallow-water access
- Light displacement and a beamy hull make it one of the roomier boats among its peers
- Simple outboard propulsion is easy to service
Cons
- Capsize screening value rules it out of ocean racing
- Motion Comfort Ratio is below that of 79 percent of similar designs
- Not intended for offshore passage work
