Jasper 22 Defender Performance Test – Small Boat, Big Boat Handling?

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:01][music] [music] [music] Behind me is the 22 Defender from Jasper Marine. You won't find too many aluminum boats in this size range. finished out to this level of detail. Every last exquisite detail is accounted for in these Jaspers.

[00:00:36]Look at the finished work here on the aluminum. We're in the harbor here and everything's bouncing around a little bit, but you can see the finish work.

[00:00:41]The cleats, uh, you can get them painted. You can, these are custom boats, so you can get them finished out to any color options you want.

[00:00:49]Obviously, this one's kind of a gray charcoal color. And, uh, but it is just absolutely beautiful. outfitted with twin 200 horsepower Mercury V6s. And we're going to get a chance to run this here this morning. And uh you've you've seen these boats featured on the channel a couple times already. They're absolutely beautiful. They're built up in Canada. And again, you just won't find a 22ft aluminum boat finished out to this level of detail. So, let's just uh kind of take you around this boat really quick before we head out up here on the hard top. Find an adventure rack in here. We'll see this sunroof once we get inside the cabin, which just absolutely opens up that cabin and uh lets in all the natural light. This is the storm bow as well, which gives you a cuy up in the front. You can also get this as a bow rider option with a full uh upholstery package up front here.

[00:01:39]This of course also has a uh a windless with an anchor. Just spectacular build here from Jasper. And uh look at the sides here, the aluminum. Look at how this is all sanded down and finished out. And this is all sharkided to protect this aluminum, but a lot of folks are painting their Jaspers now using them as yacht tenders. Uh you'll see them, you know, in front of a a waterfront home on the lift. They're built in Canada up in British Columbia.

[00:02:07]And the crew at Jasper just does an amazing job on these boats. Ultra deck.

[00:02:12]Step aboard here. And uh one thing I want to show you is this ladder. Check this out. Definitely a first here on the channel. But look at that. So now you don't need to store this ladder down below. This thing pops out like so. And then the legs come right out the side.

[00:02:29]Right.

[00:02:32]See if I get that out of there. Look at that. There you go. I don't know if you've seen that before. I certainly haven't. But look how convenient that is. Snaps right back into place right there. And there's your dive ladder. Uh we got a step through transom right here.

[00:02:48]Nice little locker back here.

[00:02:52]There's your fish box right there.

[00:02:56]Little work surface area in here. This boat even has a toe pylon right here.

[00:03:00]They've kind of thought of everything.

[00:03:01]There we go. So, water sports are definitely an option with this 22 Defender. Pop that back down into place right there. So, now we're not storing that somewhere else on the boat. Uh, we've got little fish lockers in here.

[00:03:15]There's one of them right there. [sighs] Another one on the uh the other side here. Wash down. We've got some steps for climbing aboard here. And uh love the full height glass in here. This is just beautiful. You'll find not only premium finishes, but premium hardware throughout this Jasper right there. I mean, everything fits perfectly into place. Fit and finish is topnotch.

[00:03:43]You'll see that right in here with the upholstery as well. Look at the upholstery in here. And this is all custom design up at Jasper. You get about any color you want. And of course, Ultra Deck has so many different color options as well to match your upholstery. But look at this interior space in here. Beyond comfortable. Everything is finished in here. We've got Endura paint. Everything is finished out in this epoxy paint called Endura. It's incredibly durable, but it also provides a high gloss finish in here that's just beautiful. And you can see everything is finished out in here and covered with a a yacht style interior finish. Up front, we've got shockwave suspension bases in here. All right, let's slide into the uh helm seat right here. Color match fabric on these Corbin seats to match the rest of the upholstery. Shockwave bases in here that provide the ultimate ride. And then notice the visibility in here. This full height glass, that wraparound windscreen, and then right here. Love the sunroof in here. Lets all that natural light in. And of course, everything's laid out pretty perfectly here on this uh on this dash. Garmin MFD in here. We've got our VHF, merc gauge, zip wig system, and uh control switches right here. And really everything's kind of right here where I can reach the controls, rest my arm on this armrest and run the boat here. Adjustable wheel with a steering knob as well. So, and then the other thing about this uh this model, we mentioned this earlier, this is the storm bow. So, it provides a cuy up front here with fabric. Beautiful space in there. You can see you've got storage pockets both sides.

[00:05:28]Endura paint throughout. lined headliner in there with a hatch above for egress and to let in some natural light. And they do a nice job of concealing the porta potty in here as well. Just take that cushion out right there. There's your porta potty right up here in the cuis. One of the things that sets this hole apart from some of the other boats in this size range, other aluminum boats, is the uh the the dead rise and then the entry. 57° of entry up here on the bow. And we've got a little bit of chop here on on Elliot Bay this morning out of Seattle. And uh piece of cake pushing right through it. I don't even have the zip wake system activated here right now. Uh 19° of dead rise in the stern. And uh yeah, you see how soft of a ride this is. No popping, no pounding.

[00:06:16]Not a surprise there. They put a lot of work into designing this hole. Now I'm going to go ahead and push that bow down a little bit. There we go. Ferry just pulled into downtown Seattle. So, we do have some ferry wake to deal with here.

[00:06:29]But you don't hear any pounding or popping, do you? Thing rides really nice. I'm going to go ahead and push the bow down a little bit more here.

[00:06:40]Bring that bow down. Activate that bow a little bit more. There we go.

[00:06:48]Bow's coming right down with that zip wig system.

[00:06:53]And we're smoothed right out here. Look at that. And just a little bit of chop here on the bait this morning, which is just perfect for testing this boat out.

[00:07:00]Usually we get out flat calm, we don't have the water we need to test a hole out, but this is uh this is ideal here this morning.

[00:07:08]Cornering with that deep V, that 19° of dead rise in that entry. I would imagine cornering isn't going to be a problem at all.

[00:07:17]Yeah, not a surprise with that dead rise that we're spinning around like that.

[00:07:24]>> [music] >> Just talk a little bit of fuel economy here. This is no surprise. I mean, we're cruising at 25 mph, about 3,000 RPMs, and we're burning 10 11 gallons an hour with this 22footer. Not that that's going to be a big concern with a a boat like this if you do purchase this boat.

[00:07:49]But it's nice to know uh what kind of fuel economy you might expect out of this 22 Defender. And then of course we always want to know top speed, right? So I'm going to go ahead bring that bow up a little bit. Let's go ahead and run it up. One thing about those 200 Mercuries with V6s, tons of torque and a lot of power. We're going to we're definitely going to touch 50 mph.

[00:08:14]We don't need to run all the way up to 50, but uh two and 200s on a hole of this size, I mean, yeah, there's 46 48 mph. One thing about a whole configuration [music] like this with that deep V, you know, 19° of dead rise, deep entry and outboards with [music] that much torque is you might see a little bit of bow rise. Let's just go ahead and get up on step here. I mean, we're talking like 6 in maybe, and this thing's popping right up. So, hardly any power rise here with this 22 Defender.

[00:08:47]Not a surprise there.

[00:08:50]This hole just flat out performs. You know, we're cutting through that chop out there in Elliot Bay. No popping, no pounding, no anything. 57° of entry. Uh I honestly I'm not sure if I know of a a boat in this size range, aluminum boat with that steep of an entry. So, that's the 22 Defender from [music] Jasper Marine. Uh glad we got a chance to finally get this boat out on the water.

[00:09:13]You've seen this boat on the channel a couple couple of times. We've had a great response. Every time this boat has hit the channel and uh super fun to be able to run this around a little bit this morning here on Elliot Bay, it performed about as I thought it would.

[00:09:25]Uh just absolutely exceptional performance to go along with [music] the exceptional build quality of these boats as well. You can find these guys online at jaspermarine.ca.

[00:09:34]And of course, Oaksmith Yachts here in the Seattle area is the exclusive importer of Jaspers [music] in the United States. You can find them online at oaksmith yachts.com. Thanks as always for dropping by the channel. Drop your comments and questions down below.

[00:09:46]They're always appreciated. We'll catch you next [music] time here on Live the Boat.

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