Perry Design Review: X-482

If you are looking for a racer with cruising boat accommodations, the X-Yachts X-482 would do the job nicely. There are four different layouts available: two with four-cabin arrangements, and two with three-cabin arrangements. The four-cabin layouts are quite creative in the way the designers have nestled the extra stateroom forward, but it looks like too tight of a fit for my taste. One four-cabin version includes pilot berths in the saloon for a total of 12 berths without using the main settees. Unfortunately, you can only seat six at a time for meals. My favorite layout of the four possibilities is the three-cabin layout with pilot berths. This layout has a roomy forward stateroom for the owner with an adjoining head; no version has an enclosed shower stall. The small curved settees flanking the double berth give the area a very comfortable look. The galley is big with plenty of counter space and centerline sinks.

If you go with the alternative main-cabin layout, you can have a big wrap-around dinette to starboard with a small centerline seat. This leaves the entire port side open for the galley. This is an impressively large galley, but I would still go for the opposing settee model. The quarter cabins feature lower double berths with an upper berth. All in all, it's hard to find fault with any of these layouts. The interiors feature honeycomb-cored cabin sole panels to keep the weight down. Teak veneers are used for a rich, furniture-like finish.

The deck is carefully sculpted with recessed areas fore and aft of the mast. These make handy places to throw things like fenders while getting under way. They also break up the lines of the long cabintrunk. The broad, wrap-around coaming on top of the cabintrunk aft houses the dodger, which folds neatly out of the way. While I'm not wild about the big bump on the house, it's hard to argue with the ability to make your dodger disappear. The dodger itself is very handsome in its contours and proportions. The 482 comes with teak decks. These work well as non-skid and look good when they are new, but I would not want the maintenance burden.

The sail plan shows a very handsome design. The sheer is strong without being exaggerated. The hull is very normal-looking and pretty beamy with the beam pulled aft. The D/L ratio of 171 shows how carefully X-Yachts has worked the weight problem. The rudder has considerable sweep and is preceded by a small skeglet. Jeppesen's hulls seem to always have a very generic look to them — then they go out and take first-in-class with regularity. The standard-draft keel draws 8 feet, 2 inches, and the shoal-draft keel draws 7 feet, 2 inches.

A well-built racer with cruising accommodations.

Boat Specifications

This story originally appeared in Sailing Magazine, and is republished here by permission. Subscribe to Sailing.