Most Venturer 22s left the factory with bilge keels, though Newbridge also built fin-keel and lifting-keel versions.
Design and Construction
The Venturer 22 measures 22 feet 1 inch overall, with an 18 foot 1 inch waterline and a beam of 7 feet 10 inches. She carries 2,750 lbs of displacement.
Bill Dixon gave her a modern, high-volume hull with tall topsides and substantial cabin tops. The builder used painted styling stripes to break up that visual height. The most common configuration combined twin bilge keels with a skeg-hung rudder, allowing the boat to sit upright when beached. Fin-keel and lifting-keel variants also left the molds.
The lifting-keel model has a centreboard housed inside a shallow stub fin. Draught is 2 feet 3 inches for the bilge-keel version, 3 feet 8 inches for the fin-keeler, and between 2 feet 2 inches and 3 feet 8 inches for the lifting-keel model.
In bilge-keel form, the boat carries 1,160 lbs of iron ballast and has a ballast ratio of 42 percent. That makes her more heavily weighted than two-thirds of comparable designs. Her displacement-length ratio of 205 places her among moderate racers rather than heavy cruisers.
Rig, Handling, and Auxiliary Power
The Venturer 22 has a masthead sloop rig carrying 248 square feet of main and genoa. Her sail-area-to-displacement ratio is 19.94, suggesting a reasonably lively rig for a boat of this size. Wetted surface is about 139 square feet, and theoretical hull speed is 5.7 knots.
Yachtdatabase.com calculated a capsize screening value of 2.24, which would bar the boat from ocean racing. Its Motion Comfort Ratio of 14.1 is more comfortable than that of half of similar sailboats.
The standard auxiliary installation used various 6 to 8 BHP outboards, mounted in a well on the port side of the cockpit and operated through remote throttle and gear controls. A few boats have been modified to accept a small diesel.
Accommodation
The single-cabin interior fits four berths into the trailable hull. In the saloon, a vee-double berth is raised forward so that the narrow ends of the settees can tuck beneath it.
Newbridge also offered a two-berth version. Its interior is similar but omits the overlapping forward berths, making the cabin feel larger.
Aft to port is a small galley. It includes a removable stowage box and a worktop forward of the cooker. To starboard, the heads compartment has a zipped canvas door and a Porta Potti chemical toilet, though a marine WC can be fitted. A fold-down chart table is mounted on the bulkhead that forms the forward face of the heads compartment. It’s an efficient concentration of the boat’s service spaces within a 22-foot hull.
Launching and Trailering
Although the Venturer 22 is small enough to trail, her hull and keel configuration makes it better to crane her on and off the trailer. She can’t be launched directly from the trailer unless its wheels are fully immersed.
The twin-keel and stub-fin centreboard layouts provide shoal-draught versatility along the coast, but they also prevent a simple ramp launch. Owners who expect to move the boat regularly should allow for either crane access or a launch that permits deep trailer submersion.
Refits and Ownership
The principal owner-facing modification recorded among these boats is the conversion of a small number from outboard to diesel power in the cockpit well. This exchanges the simplicity of a portable engine for quieter, fixed propulsion.
Otherwise, the design has proved adaptable to its trailer-sailer role without systematic structural alteration. The high-volume hull has aged as a practical estuary platform rather than a project boat.
Verdict
The Venturer 22 is a thoughtfully packaged small cruiser. She trades offshore ambition for coastal and estuary practicality, fitting four berths and a usable galley into a trailable package most often sold with bilge keels.
Her high ballast ratio and modern volume make her stable and roomy for her length. The keel arrangement allows beaching, but it also makes launching from a trailer more complicated.
Pros
- Fits four berths and a galley into a 22-foot trailable hull
- Twin bilge keels allow beaching and shoal-draught exploration
- Ballast ratio is higher than that of 66 percent of similar designs
Cons
- Can’t be launched directly from a trailer unless the wheels are immersed
- Capsize screening value excludes her from ocean racing
- Most versatile where crane access or deep-submersion launching is available
