The Sirius 20, 21 and 22 are a family of Canadian trailerable sailboats that was designed by

Hubert Vandestadt Vandestadt and McGruer Limited (sometimes styled as Vandestadt & McGruer) was a Canadian boat builder based in Owen Sound, Ontario. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fibreglass sailboats. The company was founded by Frase ...

for cruising and first built in 1976.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 112-113.

Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Boston Financ ...

, 1994. Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 138-139.

International Marine S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financ ...

/ McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Production

The series of boats was built by

Vandestadt and McGruer Limited Vandestadt and McGruer Limited (sometimes styled as Vandestadt & McGruer) was a Canadian boat builder based in Owen Sound, Ontario. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fibreglass sailboats. The company was founded by Frase ...

in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, from 1976 until 1987 when the company went out of business. More than 600 boats were completed.

Design

The designs are all recreational keelboats, built predominantly of fibreglass, with wood trim and aluminum spars. They all have transom-hung, kick-up rudders controlled by a tiller and iron swing keels that can be locked down. A fixed, lead, fin keel was an option on the 21 and 22. All models displace , carry of iron ballast and are normally fitted with a small outboard motor for docking and manoeuvring. All the swing keel-equipped models have drafts of with the keel down and with it retracted. The design has sleeping accommodations for five people, plus a dinette table and a

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

. A sink, fresh water tank with a capacity of and a water pump were factory options. The interior is finished in teak trim. Cabin headroom is . For sailing the boat is equipped with a boom vang, topping lift and jiffy reefing. The cabin is equipped with a pop-up top as standard equipment, which necessitates a high boom position. The boat is normally fitted with a small outboard motor for docking and manoeuvring. The design has a PHRF racing average handicap of 258 and a hull speed of .

Variants

;Sirius 20 :This model was introduced in 1976. It has a length overall of , a waterline length of , a fractional rig, a raked stem and a plumb

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

. ;Sirius 21 :This model was introduced in 1977 and includes positive flotation in the form of

closed-cell foam Foams are materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the reg ...

injected into some interior compartments as well as in-between the hull and liner. This innovation increased costs, but increased safety. The Sirius 21 has a length overall of , a waterline length of , a masthead sloop rig, a raked stem, a plumb transom and a pop-up top. ;Sirius 22 :This model was introduced in the early 1980s and produced until the manufacturer closed down in 1987. It has a length overall of , a waterline length of , a masthead sloop rig, a raked stem, a pop-up top and introduced a reverse transom.

Operational history

In a 1994 review, Richard Sherwood wrote: "The Sirius is built in Ontario and is mostly found on the Great Lakes. Sirius has a wide beam; and this, combined with the hard bilge and a retractable cast-iron keel, gives good stability. She is unsinkable and, if the keel is locked down, self-righting." In a 2002 review Paul Howard wrote, "one gem is the Sirius 21/22 built by Vandestadt and McGruer Ltd. of Owen Sound, Ont. a company which had a strong 25-year history before finally closing its doors in 1987. Designed at Vandestadt, the Sirius 21/22 was an innovative boat and indeed is said to be the first North American production-built, ballasted cruising boat with positive flotation. In a more expensive procedure, closed-cell foam was injected into some compartments, then into the gap between the inner and outer hull the full length and up to the deck level. The foam stiffened the hull, provided sound and head insulation as well as buoyancy. Of course, with foam-injection construction, there is some loss of space in the interior as well as in stowage lockers." In a 2010 review Steve Henkel described the Sirius 21 as, "a wholesome and respectable-looking trailer- able sailboat for short cruises". He noted of the Sirius 22, "this good-looking vessel and her near sistership both have more space down below than her narrower peers. Her PHRF may be higher than her speed potential indicates from her stats, given her low D/L. Her draft (in the swing-keel version) should make her fairly easy to launch and retrieve at a ramp. Worst features: A cast-iron keel can be a maintenance nuisance."

References

External links