Rhodes 22 Sailboat for Sale, a Trailerable Cruiser Buyer's Guide

Finding a Rhodes 22 sailboat for sale near you

Most people searching for a Rhodes 22 sailboat for sale near me are not hunting for a racer or a cheap first boat. They want a small cruiser that two people can tow behind an SUV, launch alone and actually live on for a long weekend or a week. That is exactly the brief this boat was built around, and it explains why owners rarely trade down to anything else in the 22 foot class.

The Rhodes 22, sometimes listed as the Rhodes Continental 22, was drawn by Philip Rhodes at the request of Stan Spitzer, the owner of General Boats, and first built in 1968. Over its long life about 1,000 were completed, mostly by General Boats but also under license by C&C Yachts in Canada and by Ray Greene & Co., Siddons & Sindle and Lofland Sail-craft in the US. Spitzer, who died in 2024, kept changing details for decades, so a late boat is a very different object from an early one even though the hull is the same.

Because the boat was sold directly by the builder, which also ran a buy-back program for factory-reconditioned used boats, supply comes in waves. Expect to widen your search beyond your own region, and budget for hauling a trailer home if the right boat turns up a few states away.

The flared hull and the keel-plus-centerboard trick

Look at a Rhodes 22 from ahead and the first thing you notice is the pronounced flare at the gunwales, a shape more common on a 505 dinghy than a keelboat. It is not styling. The compound curve stiffens the hull, deflects spray, gives crew a comfortable hiking perch and adds buoyancy as the boat heels. Henkel noted that the reverse sheer and flared topsides were carried over from General Boats' earlier 17 foot Picnic, and he questioned how much of the final shape was truly Rhodes. Either way, the hull works.

Underneath is the arrangement that sets the boat apart from the swing keels and water ballast of most trailerable 22 footers. The keel is a shallow stub molded integrally with the hull, so there are no keel bolts to weep. Inside it sits encapsulated shot ballast (Practical Sailor quotes 630 lb; sailboatdata lists 600 lb) and a separately molded trunk for a 70 lb fiberglass centerboard. The board pivots inside the boat, cannot leak, needs no hold-down line and kicks up if it hits something. Draft is about 20 inches with the board up and 48 inches with it down.

A rig that rolls everything away

General Boats chose convenience over sail shape and never apologized for it. The battenless mainsail rolls into the 26 foot mast, and a large 175 percent genoa rolls up on the forestay, so there are no sailbags to stow and no trip to the foredeck to reef. Practical Sailor put the working sail area at about 300 square feet with the big genoa, well above the 203 square feet that sailboatdata lists for the measured triangles, and noted that once a third of the genoa is rolled away its shape suffers. Self-tending and hank-on headsails were offered for owners who wanted better shape.

The hinged mast carries an unusually thorough set of standing rigging: forestay, twin backstays, uppers, and forward and aft lowers, each with its own chainplate. The traveler is one of the boat's oddities, a stainless rod mounted across the twin backstays that keeps the mainsheet out of the cockpit. The one omission testers complained about is a boom vang.

A huge cockpit and a pop-top that really lifts

The cockpit is 7 ft 4 in long and nearly 8 ft wide, self-bailing, with open-fronted benches that let you sit with knees bent and room for storage bins underneath. A transverse bench aft covers a lazarette about 6 ft wide. The companionway door hinges halfway up on a piano hinge and folds out as a chart or card table, and a socket in the sole lets the cabin table move outside.

Below, the pop-top is the feature owners talk about most. With it raised there is 6 ft 4 in of standing headroom; lowered, about 50 inches of sitting headroom remains, and the boat can be sailed in either position. Rather than pivoting arms, the aft half rides on telescoping stainless tubes with spring detents, so you lift only half the weight at a time.

The outboard rides on a low-friction sliding track on the port side of the transom and is raised and lowered with a 6:1 purchase, which is far easier than the usual bracket. A three-step boarding ladder sits on the starboard side.

Living aboard: dinette double, galley and the Swell Head

Practical Sailor called the cabin roomy and remarkably livable for the size, and the reason is restraint. The boat is laid out for a couple, perhaps with children, rather than for the maximum berth count. The dinette converts to a 6 ft 6 in double, with half the cushions flipping up as settee backrests by day, and the V-berths are 6 ft long. A telescoping table on a rotating base can be raised for dining, moved to the cockpit or stowed in tracks under the foredeck.

The galley runs about 4 ft 6 in along one side with a sink, stove and a front-opening icebox with an ice-water tap, plus 12 volt and 110 volt outlets. Opposite the dinette is a fully enclosed head that Spitzer nicknamed the Swell Head, with a marine toilet, holding tank, pump-out fitting, mirror, medicine cabinet and a tiled sole. A large hatch above it lets a tall user stand up through the deck when the pop-top is down.

Two foam sections glassed under the forward bunk and the cockpit sole were described by the builder as making the boat unsinkable, a feature most small cruisers lack. Treat that as positive flotation rather than a substitute for seamanship. For extra sleeping space, the optional Boom Room canopy turns the cockpit into a standing-headroom second cabin.

How it sails in a breeze

Practical Sailor tested the boat in 18 to 20 knots with a 1 to 3 foot chop, carrying the full genoa and main. The Rhodes was initially tender but stiffened quickly as it heeled, and two people on the flared rail flattened it noticeably. Singlehanded in that wind you would reef early. It sailed well with the board down, acceptably with the board up, and tacked under jib alone or main alone without fuss.

Owners describe a lively boat that is quick off the wind. Practical Sailor quoted a PHRF of about 258, a little faster than the Catalina 22, O'Day 22 and Chrysler 22, while Wikipedia's figure of 334 shows how much local ratings vary. Hull speed is about 6 knots.

Trailering, storage and what ownership really costs

At 2,000 lb displacement plus trailer and gear, a Rhodes 22 is within reach of most mid-size SUVs and pickups, but check your vehicle's rating with the full cruising load. The 20 inch board-up draft is on the deep side among trailerable 22s, and Henkel flagged it as making ramp launching harder than on some rivals.

Running costs are low. Budget roughly $3,000 to $7,000 a year depending on whether you keep the boat on its trailer at home or rent a slip, plus insurance, outboard service, registration and bottom paint if it lives in the water. The biggest periodic costs are a new genoa or furling main, which are specialized sails for this rig, and trailer tires, bearings and brakes.

Used values and why late boats cost more

New, the Rhodes 22 was expensive for its size, a point both Practical Sailor and Henkel made bluntly. That premium partly survives on the used market. Practical Sailor's market scan showed a 1986 boat at $14,950, a 1996 boat at $22,900 and a 2010 boat at $29,346. Expect early boats in fair condition to start below $10,000 and late, well-equipped boats with a good trailer to approach $30,000 or slightly more.

Because General Boats kept improving details and offered factory reconditioning, a refurbished older hull can be as good a buy as a later one. Ask for the hull number and year, and compare the equipment list line by line rather than assuming newer is better.