Ranger Yachts built roughly 220 hulls under Jensen Marine in Costa Mesa from 1977 to 1984. The Ranger 22 measures in as a mini-tonner and should be highly competitive under MORC, while offering the speed and simplicity suited to club racing and coastal daysailing.
Design and Construction
Mull’s brief called for flat-out speed without an ounce of extra fat, and the hull reflects it. The Ranger 22 has a lean, fine-ended hull for speed to windward, along with a flat run aft that helps her surf downwind.
The hull uses a thinner, lighter lay-up than conventional construction, yet was said to be stronger than it would have been with conventional methods. To add stiffness without excess weight, the builder incorporated Airex foam panels and carbon-fiber stiffeners. The beefed-up cabin sole also serves as structural support. For this 1977 design, Ranger Yachts used a specialized self-keying hull-to-deck bonding system with molded, interlocking, rolled-edge gunwales.
The Ranger 22 carries 900 pounds of lead ballast in a displacement of 2,183 pounds, with a 4-foot 3-inch fin keel. Her displacement-length ratio of 179 places her among light racers. Her capsize screening value of 2.42 meant she wouldn’t be accepted for ocean races.
Rig, Performance, and Handling
The sail plan is central to the Ranger 22’s reputation. A seven-eighths fractional rig gives her plenty of sail without a sky-high rating, while the high-aspect layout promotes speed to windward.
The mast has a cam-shaped section with a flat trailing edge to reduce drag. It also incorporates turbulence generators intended to give the mainsail additional lift. Writing in Good Old Boat, reviewers said the fractional rig and fin keel delivered responsive handling. They also noted that the lightweight hull planes easily in puffs, though the boat is tender in heavy air.
A PHRF rating of roughly 240 and a theoretical displacement-hull speed of 5.6 knots frame the Ranger 22 as a boat intended to be quick in club conditions rather than forgiving in a blow.
Accommodations
Below, the Ranger 22 has four big berths—the principal concession to the cruiser-racer brief in an otherwise race-pure specification. Her 7-foot 10-inch beam and 17-foot 6-inch waterline provide a berth footprint appropriate to a compact trailerable sloop.
Beyond those berths, the emphasis remains firmly on racing. Even the beefed-up cabin sole doubles as a structural member rather than serving as mere furniture. Still, the boat can sleep four for a coastal overnight.
Limitations and Known Issues
The Ranger 22 is tender in heavy air, a direct consequence of her light-displacement hull and modest beam carried to windward. She is therefore best kept in protected waters rather than taken offshore.
This limitation is dynamic rather than material, and the Airex-and-carbon construction with self-keying deck joint shows no structural defect in service.
The Verdict
The Ranger 22 is a compact expression of Gary Mull’s late-1970s performance philosophy: a Mini Ton racer that planes in puffs, responds crisply to its fractional rig, and gains stiffness and strength from foam panels, carbon stiffeners, and a structural cabin sole despite its featherweight lay-up.
She isn’t a sea boat, and she’ll heel early when the wind pipes up. As a trailerable one-design and club racer, however, she remains a crisp, purposeful design.
Pros
- Stiff and strong for her weight, thanks to Airex foam, carbon stiffeners, and a structural cabin sole
- Seven-eighths fractional rig and lift-generating mast section promote windward speed
- Planes easily and responds crisply under fractional rig and fin keel
- Four big berths in a compact trailerable hull
Cons
- Tender in heavy air and better suited to protected waters than offshore sailing
- Light-racer numbers, including a capsize screening value of 2.42, exclude her from ocean racing
