Baby cuddies might just be the most interesting boats around. After all, the job they’re asked to do is damn near impossible. Alex Smith reports on the latest effort from Chaparral . . .

Consider this. Lying down with your partner swallows up seven feet in length and five feet in width. You also need space for a cockpit, a helm console, an engine, a good sized fuel tank, a swim platform and seating for an entire family. It’s amazing how much a 21-foot cuddy has to do.

Constrained by length and beam the shape squeezes upwards at the foredeck and outwards around the hull angles until, bulging at the sides and blunted on the bottom, she’s still expected to leap onto the plane like a horny whippet and fly along at 40mph on seas that could launch a scalpel.

It’s just not on the cards so what you get with any small cuddy is a blend of compromises - credible rather than scintillating sports boat performance; a safe rather than opulent cockpit; a serviceable rather than comfortable room for the night. To ask any more is to ask too much, but the Chaparral 215 strikes a very attractive balance.

You can’t expect a cuddy to leap up like a horny whippet and slice through lumpy seas at 45mph

First up, there’s ample evidence of Chaparral’s commitment to “value-added standard features”. There are six stainless steel sunken cleats with swanky Chaparral insignias. There’s a JBL stereo with speakers inside and out. There are stainless steel grab handles, docking lights, a stainless hull guard on the stem, quality canvasses, dark hull graphics, a thoroughly decent bolstered helm seat and a dash-top compass.

There’s even a cockpit galley and coolbox aft of the helm seat, and all of it is yours without having to resort to the options list. Come to the dash though and you may feel the need to check the alternatives, because on the test boat it’s based around those traditional over-glossy, wood effect panels.

They are in fact constructed from high-grade aluminium, which will apparently endure a bit of concerted blowtorch abuse without warping. But even so, it’s a hideous, over-used and over-rated style of trim and the marine industry needs to follow the rest of the world in recognising that it’s about as contemporary as a white-walled tyre and about as cool as Phil Collins. Bin it.

Back aft, the walkways to port and starboard of the engine space mean that the engine housing has to be of the lift-up kind. That way, you allow scope for a mechanic to wield a spanner, and still offer plenty of cockpit versatility for having guests on board.

Down below, the cabin is precisely what it has to be on a 22-foot boat - an upholstered hole where you can chuck your gear or bed down for a sleep. With some reasonable headroom you can actually eat down here too, but if the weather’s good, look up top.

Drive time

Get her up and running and she’s surprisingly sprightly. She’ll happily power up into the 40s, where in the turn she exhibits some very game heel. Despite the weight of the boat and the relative buoyancy of the 20-degree transom, she remains quite reluctant to lose grip or fall off the plane, even under moderate provocation.

In fact she might look like a miniature sports cruiser, and weigh in at a portly 3,500lb but she feels more like a plaything than a people carrier. True, there are only limited dividends to be had from fine alterations on the angle of the leg. And if you do trim her out too far, you get a sedentary reduction in drive rather than a handling tantrum. But even so, she’s reasonably quick and more engaging to drive than most in her class.

The Chaparral 215 SSi makes a fine standard package and an ideal boat for a relative beginner to try everything and decide which element of the experience turns him on the most. She’s safe, very well built and thoroughly competent. The generosity of feature provision is of course reflected in the price, but it only takes a quick drive to recognise that this boat is a very substantial leap from the bottom rungs of the boating ladder.