# Old Tanzer 22 for ocean sailing ?



## mainer24 (Sep 16, 2012)

Hello,
I'm looking into buying an affordable boat and found a Tanzer 22 <$2000. In a lot of reviews I read about people sailing it in lakes. Would it be a safe boat for coastal cruising in Maine ? I had a C&C24 and I felt safe with it in up to 4 feet waves or swell, and it felt stable enough to be sailed slightly "over-powered" and the rail almost in the water. Does anyone know how the Tanzer 22 would compare ? In terms of stability, difficulty to capsise, speed ? And what are the weaknesses of the Tanzer 22 that I should check before purchasing an old one ? Thanks a lot !


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## PaulinVictoria (Aug 23, 2009)

Plenty of them around up here, fine for coastal cruising.


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

Go for it. The Tanzer will feel different from your CandC 24, but still capable.


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

Check for leaky ports on a T22.
Soft decks, chain plates.
The usual stuff.


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## Jimmy E (Sep 19, 2011)

Learned to sail aboard a T-22 . As best as I can recall , pretty robust, but than so was I, 30 years ago.

Jimmy


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## bobmcgov (Jul 19, 2007)

Very stout boats -- roughly 3000# IIRC, half of that ballast. Yet surprisingly quick, & able to punch thru short chop like few boat its size. Funny-looking kid, but then Tanzer always had an unusual design sense. It's about as rugged a coastal boat as you'll find in that size. Tho if you could snag a Wilderness 21, that's even better. Not many of those on the East Coast.

ETA: The 'lakes' the T22 was designed for are the Great Lakes, which can throw up conditions that make Buzzard's look like a millpond. Johann Tanzer relates taking the prototype T22 out for testing, which consisted of he and his sons trying to capsize or break the boat. They stuck the mast in the water repeatedly without harm.

Couple links:

http://www.tanzer22.com/Home/library/faqs
http://www.canadianyachting.ca/boat-reviews/one-design/91-tanzer-22-boat-review-sail


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## mainer24 (Sep 16, 2012)

Thank you for the advice and links ! These tanzer22 do look akward and the deck seems closer from the water than other boats this size (they "sit low in the water" ?): do the cockpit get waves more often? It seems that tanzers have the deck screwed to the hull, and not bolted like other boats; is it less reliable ? The one i am considering has the rubber "bumper" covering the hull-deck join that gets loose and it might not be just cosmetic ? Could that compromise the hull-deck fitting ? Although the ports don't have signs of leaks, the wood separation between the cabin and "bedroom" is delaminating ; again, is it just old age or is this wood a bulkhead that has to be in perfect condition ?


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## rikhall (Feb 7, 2008)

Our first boat was a T22 - we loved her. As we got older we wanted more room. Moved to a T28 (exactly like a T22 only bigger.) Now an Irwin 34.

A friend of our sailed his T22 from Saint John NB, Canada to the Caribbean and back. A T22 will most likely take way more punishment than you ever will.

If you are young enough, go for it. ( I turn 67 on Saturday)

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wYLtke3ulqs/UWWvGtlquZI/AAAAAAAADCY/BqTpel_69bQ/s800/pog%2520windy.jpg


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## Tattonscorner (Nov 2, 2016)

rikhall,

I just bought a Tanzer22 last night, and I'd like to find out more about this friend who sailed to Caribbean. I will be doing some sailing in NB, NS, and hopefully Caribbean.

Cheers


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## Sal Paradise (Sep 14, 2012)

My dock mate has a Tanzer 22 and I've looked at it both in and out of the water, and it really looks sturdy compared to my Catalina. But it's still a 22 foot boat, taking it long distances is for the extremely hardy.


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## chuck53 (Oct 13, 2009)

Tattonscorner said:


> rikhall,
> 
> I just bought a Tanzer22 last night, and I'd like to find out more about this friend who sailed to Caribbean. I will be doing some sailing in NB, NS, and hopefully Caribbean.
> 
> Cheers


This is a 3+ year old thread and rikhall hasn't posted here in a year. You probably won't be hearing from him.


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## Pendragon35 (Jun 26, 2014)

I sailed a Tanzer 22 (fin keel) from Suttons Bay in Leelanau County all over West Traverse Bay and northern Lake Michigan for eight years. You are close to the water and in big waves (I've been out when they are 10 ft), it's scary but I never felt the boat was in danger. I've also had her mast down to the water (my fault: I was single handing and should have reefed but I was close to the mooring so.....then the wind gusted . She came right back up as soon as I loosed the main sheet. 

She was a quick little boat, in informal racing she easily beat Catalina 30's. We sailed with a 110 (standard jib on a T22), slab reefing main, 155 and my favorite, a 130 I bought used. The 130 was the best to be honest. We cruised with a gimbled one burner stove with propane hung near the companionway. 

I have an Alberg 35 now which I love but I have to admit, sometimes I miss my nimble little Tanzer. Great, solid boats.


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## wsmurdoch (Jan 23, 2007)

We bought our T-22 K/CB with a trailer new in 1981 and still own it. It has been the length of the Tennessee River from Knoxville to the Ohio River and along the US east coast from the northern Chesapeake Bay to St Augustine with multiple trips to the NC Sounds and the Chesapeake Bay all generally a week of two at a time with my wife and I aboard and with our two daughters until the older one turned 15. (She became hell on wheels.) We now keep it on a mountain lake in NE Tennessee.

I hope you have found the Tanzer group on Yahoo. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/tanzer/info . ....and the old T-22 web page Tanzer 22 Class Association .

At least one T-22 has been sailed west to east across the Atlantic.

We are now retired and have a Pacific Seacraft 34 which we have taken to the Bahamas for five or six months each year for the past nine years. While we have been around a Catalina 22, a Compact 23, and an O'Day 22 in the Bahamas, we have yet to see a Tanzer 22.

Check out the picture at the top of the June 6, 2015 post in my wife's blog. Irish Eyes to the Bahamas You just have to be much more cautious and picky about your weather with a small boat.

I'd love to draw 2-1/4 foot rather than 5 foot in the Bahamas, but a age 65 my wife will not tolerate the T-22's accommodations.


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