Pocket Rocketr

You start with a pallet of pieces.

Melges: the price. The new H22 has been designed by Humphreys, along with partner Jim Moore, to build at home from a laser-cut set of plywood panels. He calls it the Prefix method and has a patent pending. In short, this is a precision kit boat for assembly in your garage.

You start with a pallet consisting of frames, longitudinals, hull and deck shell panels, fiberglass coach roof and bow cone, mast pillar and rudder

These pieces can be assembled into something that looks a lot like a boat in less than one day

components. These pieces can be assembled into something that looks a lot like a boat in less than one day. This is fun and immediately gratifying. All pieces are numbered for easy identification. Total time to finish the boat just prior to painting is about 300 hours. From what I can see in the photographs, none of the high-tolerance woodworking normally associated with boatbuilding is required in this project. it is an impressively orchestrated construction method.

So we have a plywood kit boat. Close your eyes for a moment and

The H22 has smooth and clean lines with no hard
chines or slabbish flat panels in the topsides. Photos
show the finished boat to have the look of a molded boat.

that description can conjure up some scary images. Now introduce Rob Humphreys as the designer. Humphreys has drawn very goodlooking boats for a long time. His skill is very evident in the look and style of the H22. Lately, I have seen several boats going together from pre-cut panels supplied by the designer. It is an interesting exercise, but too often these boats have the look of designer's geometry experiments. The H22 has smooth and clean lines with no hard chines or slabbish flat panels in the topsides. Photos show the finished boat to have the look of a molded boat. Geometry should never control the shape of the boat.

The H22 has a very handsome set of lines. There is enough BWL for decent form stability and the topsides are flared to help. Beam is 8.2 feet. The sections show a

With an SA/D of 30.64, this can confidently be called a high-powered boat.

rounded, soft shape with U-shaped forward sections and a gentle almost constant arc to the aft stations. The stern is very broad. Total weight is 1,628 pounds for a D/L of 90.85.

With an SA/D of 30.64, this can confidently be called a high-powered boat. The deep bulb keel provides the sailcarrying power. The rig is a fractional type with swept spreaders and no runners. The asymmetrical chute is tacked to a pivoting pole that is controlled by short struts. These struts provide the vector to get the pole well to weather almost to the same degree as allowed by a mast-mounted pole. This gives the H22 the ability to sail deeper downwind than similar boats with less articulated poles.

The keel is a bulb type weighing 715 pounds for a ballast-to-displacement ratio of 40 percent. Note how long and skinny the bulb is with the LCG of the bulb appearing to come right at the trailing edge of the narrow fin. The fin shows a vertical leading and trailing edge with corresponding constant chord length. The keel is raised for trailering with an ingenious sampson post-winch arrangement that allows multiple uses for the winch. Note that the high aspect ratio rudder is approximately half the plan form area of the keel fin.

Efforts have been made to give this little 22-footer some cruising amenities, but I wouldn't go so far as saying it has an interior. I suppose after a long day of racing and celebration you could crawl below and pass out, unless you were one of the crew elected to sleep under the tent in the cockpit. It's a daysailer with a handy cuddy cabin to stow your gear.

Is it a good idea to build a boat at home? Yes, if you want to build a boat. It's not enough to just want a boat.

The deck layout is designed to be inexpensive and versatile. A single winch is mounted on a barney post. This winch can be mounted vertically to be used as a sheet winch or can be tamed on the post to a horizontal position to assist in raising both the mast and the keel. An extension piece of tubing fits into the winch-mounting base to give the additional throw required to get the keel up. Wells and hatches in the cockpit sole give additional stowage.

Is it a good idea to build a boat at home? Yes, if you want to build a boat. It's not enough to just want a boat. Those projects usually end up with partially finished hulls sitting and warping in a side yard covered with a blue plastic tarp, later to re-emerge with a pilothouse or trolling rig for commercial salmon fishing. I think this design, with all the major structural members pre-cut, will get you a long way fast. This will leave you with the low-skill-level jobs like glassing and fairing for completion.

So there you have it, a slick and polished product designed for the home builder that doesn't look like a home-built boat. Most projects directed at home builders are stamped with that lack of finesse that makes them scream, "Homebuilt!" Packaged and prefabricated designs assembled by professional builders also usually are burdened with the same set of geometrydriven aesthetics. Any builder would be proud of the H22. You can get the basic hull and keel package (resin and fiberglass not included) for approximately $12,000.