Newbridge Venturer 22 Buyer's Guide
The Newbridge Venturer 22 is a Bill Dixon-designed trailer-sailer built by Newbridge Boats in the mid-eighties, offered on the used market almost entirely as a bilge-keeler with a skeg-hung rudder. She is a 22 foot 1 inch coastal cruiser with a lifting-keel sibling and a fin-keel variant, but the twin-keel hull is what buyers will most often encounter when browsing United Kingdom listings.
Layouts on the Used Market
The standard Venturer 22 carries four berths through a raised vee-double forward and settees that extend beneath it, with a small port-side galley aft and a starboard heads using a chemical toilet behind a canvas door. A two-berth version was also offered and removes the overlapping forward berths to make the cabin read larger, so a buyer should confirm which interior they are viewing. Most boats seen will be the bilge-keel version with 1,160 lbs of ballast and 2 foot 3 inch draught, while fin-keel and lifting-keel examples exist in smaller numbers and change the grounding and trailering profile.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Outboard power defines the class: a well on the port side of the cockpit houses a 6 to 8 BHP engine with remote controls, and a few owners have fitted a small diesel in place of the outboard. Beyond that, the known configurations are basic coastal cruising kit rather than heavily optioned yachts, and the head is a Porta Potti unless a previous owner installed a marine WC. Buyers should judge the cockpit well installation and any diesel conversion carefully, as those are the only propulsion deviations documented.
What to Inspect
The hull and keel configuration means the boat cannot be launched directly from a trailer unless the wheels are immersed, so inspect for wear from crane or submerged launching and check the stub-fin or bilge-keel bolts accordingly. The lifting-keel version hides a centreboard inside a shallow stub fin; verify the centreboard trunk and pivot for corrosion or grinding. Outboard-well mounting should be examined for stress around the port cockpit side, and any diesel-converted boat warrants a look at the structural modifications to the well.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The Venturer 22 appears on the used market in the United Kingdom. For a shopper, the practical checklist is: confirm bilge-keel versus lifting or fin keel, verify four-berth versus two-berth interior, inspect outboard well or diesel conversion, and plan for crane or deep-submersion launch rather than ramp trailing.
- Confirm keel type and draught for your mooring
- Check centreboard trunk on lifting-keel boats
- Inspect cockpit well and any diesel modification
- Budget for crane launch, not ramp launch
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Newbridge Venturer 22. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 3 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 26 | 1 | $3,308 | — |
| May 26 | 1 | $3,772 | +14.0% |
| Jun 26 | 2 | $3,474 | -7.9% |
Where they're listed
Newbridge Venturer 22 listings appear across 1 country. United Kingdom has the most listings with 4.
Country view
4 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | $3,540 | 4 | 0 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
4 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friendship 22 | 23.95' | $ 9,029 | 13 | 2 |
| Fox Terrier 22 | 22.08' | $ 22,657 | 11 | 0 |
| Westerly 22 | 22.25' | $ 1,654 | 6 | 4 |
| Newbridge Venturer 22You are here | — | $ 3,540 | 4 | 0 |