Could This Be the Ultimate All-Weather Adventure Boat in Its Class? | Jasper Defender Open Bow

The Jasper Marine Defender 22 Open Bow may be one of the most versatile compact aluminum adventure boats we’ve toured. With twin Mercury 200s, an enclosed heated pilothouse, a true walk-through open bow, serious fishing capability, and even a rooftop tent that turns the boat into a floating campsite, the Defender 22 packs an extraordinary amount of capability into a trailerable package. Welcome back to YachtLens from the Seattle Boat Show, where Rick Hoffman is joined by Michael Chapel of Oaksmith Yachts for a complete walkthrough of the Jasper Marine Defender 22 Open Bow. Designed and hand-built on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, the Jasper Defender 22 combines heavy-duty welded aluminum construction with premium yacht-style finishing and an unusually flexible layout. Despite the “22” designation, the Open Bow measures approximately 27 feet overall, with a 24’6” hull length and 21’4” waterline length. This Seattle Boat Show example is powered by twin Mercury 200-hp outboards. Michael takes us through the aft cockpit, fishing and accessory systems, convertible seating, storage, suspension helm seats, pilothouse, heating system, walk-through bow access, anchoring system, engine options, range and performance. And then things get particularly interesting. Later in the tour, we head outside after the Seattle weather improves to demonstrate the Defender 22’s rooftop tent system. The tent effectively adds another dimension to this compact adventure boat, creating an elevated sleeping area for overnight cruising, remote coastal exploration and boat camping. Whether you’re looking for a serious Pacific Northwest fishing boat, an all-weather aluminum pilothouse boat, a compact coastal cruiser, or simply one of the more unusual adventure boats on the market, the Jasper Defender 22 Open Bow deserves a close look. ⚓ JASPER DEFENDER 22 OPEN BOW — KEY SPECS • Length Overall: 27’0” • Hull Length: 24’6” • Length at Waterline: 21’4” • Beam: 8’6” • Draft: 1’6” • Dry Weight: 4,700 lbs • Fuel Capacity: 87 US gallons • Entry Deadrise: 50° • Transom Deadrise: 18° • Passenger Capacity: 8 • Power: Single or twin outboards, up to 500 hp total • Test boat: Twin Mercury 200-hp outboards • Approx. performance discussed in this walkthrough: up to 56 mph with the twin 200 configuration, cruising approximately 30–35 mph • Approx. range discussed in the walkthrough: 200 miles Actual speed, fuel economy and range will vary with engine configuration, loading, conditions and operation. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ MORE INFORMATION Oaksmith Yachts Seattle, Washington Oaksmith Yachts website Jasper Marine Defender 22 at Oaksmith Yachts Defender 22 model information Jasper Marine Jasper Marine website Jasper Defender 22 Open Bow Official Open Bow model page CONTACT MICHAEL CHAPEL Michael Chapel Yacht Advisor — Oaksmith Yachts Phone: 228-282-2666 Email: michael@oaksmithyachts.com Michael’s Oaksmith biography and contact information: Meet the Oaksmith Yachts team ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Jasper Defender 22 Open Bow 00:20 Meet Michael Chapel | Oaksmith Yachts 00:38 Twin Mercury 200s & Aft Cockpit 00:50 Fishing Setup, Storage & Accessories 01:27 Convertible Table & Daybed 01:52 How Is a “22” Actually 27 Feet Long? 02:08 Interior Storage & Cabin Layout 02:30 Shockwave Suspension Seats & Helm 02:54 Twin 200 Power & Heated Pilothouse 03:08 Walk-Through Cabin & All-Weather Design 03:47 Open Bow Seating & Storage 04:00 Portable Head & Bow Versatility 04:13 Windlass & Ground Tackle 04:39 Exterior Design & Aluminum Construction 05:12 Engine Options 05:32 Speed, Range & Fuel Capacity 05:49 Build Quality & Final Details 06:10 Rooftop Tent — The Big Surprise 08:30 Final Thoughts on the Defender 22 Chapter times should be checked against the final uploaded master after picture lock. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ JOIN THE YACHTLENS COMMUNITY If you enjoy detailed yacht and boat walkthroughs that go beyond the glossy brochure, subscribe to YachtLens and turn on notifications for our latest tours. We explore distinctive yachts, adventure boats, passagemakers, powercats and cruising vessels from boat shows, builders and docks around the world. Distinctive Yachts Explored, Frame by Frame. 👍 Like the video if you’d like to see more boats like the Jasper Defender 22. 💬 Would you choose the Open Bow or the enclosed Storm Bow? And would you actually spend a night in that rooftop tent? Let us know in the comments. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #JasperMarine #Defender22 #AluminumBoat #AdventureBoat #Yach