The Hurley 22/Hurley 700 Pocket Cruiser

I bought Pusan, my Hurley 22, in December 1996, and have sailed it ever since on the Dutch IJsselmeer. This page contains my own 'Hurley impressions', which are basically the opinionated bits of text I had left over after I had finished the Hurley Owners Association website. I hope that this page will be of help to people considering to buy a Hurley - or a small sailing boat in general. When I took that step a few years back, I knew very little of what to look for and what to avoid. Maybe these impressions can help you decide whether the Hurley 22 is for you. There are so many around, that finding one at an attractive price is easy.

Click here if you feel like sharing the profound moments of my first voyage. I separated that emotional side of things from the Hard Facts below.... If you feel like discussing the Hurley 22, or sailing the Dutch IJsselmeer in general, let me know!

    -- Oscar Vermeulen
        oscar@oscarvermeulen.abelgratis.com


My experiences with Pusan

In 1996, I was looking for a small yacht that would allow me single-handed sailing on the IJsselmeer, which is the logical place to sail when you live and work in Amsterdam. From an article in Practical Boat Owner I thought a Hurley 22 (which, by the way, is often known here in Holland as a Hurley 700) would be perfect. Small, handy, but strongly built and much more seaworthy than most modern-day 22-footers. I found Pusan on an old yard, in really quite decent condition. First looks were enough - when I saw the boat I knew I'd buy it.


 

I am not the racing type. For me, reliability is much more important. Up till the time I bought Pusan, all my sailing experience was either with family on the North Sea (nice, very nice but too much for me right now) or with small boats. With limited experience, I knew I'd better buy something that would take care of me and the Hurley so far has proven its ability in that sense. It feels very confident in heavy weather - but on the downside, it also is a bit more sedate than its typical light-weight contemporary. Especially since I have the bilge keel version, which makes performance when sailing close-hauled somewhat unimpressive. It's great for shallow waters and tidal areas such as the Dutch Waddenzee, though.

I love the idea of the engine well - the outboard sits in its own well effectively serving like an inboard would, but without all the anxiety an inboard diesel gives in terms of maintenance. My outboard is an 8hp Yamaha of at least 20 years old, and performs admirably. No hassle, when it needs maintenance you just lift it out and drive to the repair shop!

Sailing the Hurley

The boat has a rather old-fashioned hull form: narrow and low on the water, which helps you feel in close contact with the water. Although the interior is cramped as a consequence, in the cockpit this is a definite advantage compared to the typical Floating Micro-Camper sold today.

Its bilge keels are also far from the more modern, short and deep form; and the same is true if you have the fin-keel version. The ballast ratio, at close to 40%, also points to a boat with very nice sea-going characteristics but not a speed demon. All this is quite true in practice. I love the way she cuts through waves with little effort or fuss - it makes you feel you're on a much bigger boat out on the open water. Performance is simply average compared to other boats her size - pleasing but nothing spectacular. However, for some reason, in very light winds my Hurley zooms past most boats; something I attribute to the very long mast and defitinitely also to my oversize mainsail. This speed advantage disappears with moderate winds, when I make typically 4 to 5 knots.

I have to reef quite quickly when winds start to pick up. With a wind force of about 4.5, she needs a lot of helm and when the wind gets to slightly more, she won't listen very well without a reef. With a reef in, sailing her in heavy winds is a pleasure. The boat is entirely unimpressed by (for this size of boat!) heavy seas and seems to enjoy the ride as much as I do. The one complaint I have is on the boat's (lack of) steadfastness - with any amount of wind: when you let go of the helm for 10 seconds, you're sailing in a different direction. Trimming the sails carefully obviously helps, but the boat remains sensitive.

Considering to buy a Hurley 22? My experiences

So far, I've had only one minor problem: the Hurley's mast rests on the cabin roof, without any support on the inside of the cabin. This started to put too much pressure on the cabin roof, and with heavy winds strange noises pointed to the fact it needed reinforcement. I had to fit a metal pipe that rests on the hull, and supports the roof right under where the mast is placed. This solved the problem completely, but the marginal space inside got even more cramped.

To the right: note the pole that supports the mast. The boat in the PBO article from which I copied this picture apparently already had it in place - I had to put it in when the cabin roof started to yield under the mast's pressure. This is the only structural weakness I've encountered so far. Easy to fix, *if* you're a bit into DIY which I am not. Thanks, uncle Chris!

Sleeping in the front end of the cabin with two persons now takes some acrobatics. This mast support thing seems to be a structural fault of older Hurley 22's - I've seen something about this in the Dutch magazine Waterkampioen, and many Hurleys have a pole visible in their interior. Oh well. Otherwise, the build quality seems excellent. I've had no more problems than the incidental clamp that needed replacing. All in all, I'm very happy with my little boat. It is as maintenance-free as boats get, the outboard-in-a-well makes engine trouble a trivial matter in terms of repair costs, and this little boat is by far the most serious open-water cruiser I've experienced in its size!

The Hurley is very affordable compared to some other 22 footers. Despite that fact, this boat is *not* going to give you maintenance headaches! Also, the good thing is that there are enough of them for sale, so that you can pick & choose the one you like. Unless you need a bilge keel, I definitely can see the preference for a fin keel version. My Pusan does let you know that she is a bilge keeler when sailed close to the wind.

Differing versions

There is obviously the main distinction between fin and bilge-keel versions. However, there's more to look at when buying a Hurley. I already mentioned the mast support that I think, longer term, you really need. Some boats might not have them.

The approximate age of a Hurley is easy to recognise. *Very* early versions had a front window in the cabin. It was removed, I guess, before 1970. Boats built after about 1976 (again, I guess the approximate year) have one large window on the cabin side. Older boats have two smaller ones. This is a matter of taste, I think the two-window version looks a bit more, well, nautical. Another crucial difference is said to be mast length, although I haven't seen much difference strolling through Dutch marinas. I would say that having a longer mast is desirable: given the boats ballast ratio it can handle the extra bit of pressure and certainly, the relatively heavy hull can use the extra drive in light winds to good effect.

It seems that the Hurley 22 was built by a whole range of yards. The original yard, Hurley Marine, folded in 1975, and since then production went from South Coast Marine, Ravensail, South Hants Marine, to Hurlwind. Many of the boats sailing in the Netherlands seem to be completed by Holland Marine in the early 80s, although the hulls came from the UK if I am not mistaken. The Dutch-built/finished boats can be recognised by the 'Hurley 700' text embossed on the cabin hatch.

Have a look at two 'boats for sale' sites:
- Marinet (UK) (they have a Hurley page but it seems generally empty)
- Botenbank (NL)  (Search on 'Hurley' and you'll be sure to find a few)

Click here if you feel like reading more on Pusan - the profound moments of my first voyage.