Any sailboaters?

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RichNY

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RichNY
I've been looking at 38' to 43' boats for extended on board use. The Hunter line appears to meet my needs. Anyone have experience with Hunter or other brands?
 
Where's Henning? I used to live aboard a 46' Morgan when I lived in the Virgin Islands. Good solid boat and the rigging all came back to the cockpit so you could single hand it if you had to. I knew a few people who had Hunters. They liked them, and so did I, but my experience in limited to only a few trips not far offshore. Boats are like airplanes. You need to find the one to fit your mission. Things like rigging, keel depth, mast height, etc., all play into what you buy.
 
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Hunters are good boats, but you have to decide what kind of sailing you plan to do (inland, near-shore, blue water cruising, weekend cruises, live-aboard, etc.) then pick the model that fits your needs. Any boat is a compromise between performance, creature comforts, and price. Hunters seem to strike a good balance. I've owned three and each had it's good points. All sailed well and were easily singlehanded.

On the other hand, don't get tunnel vision re: Hunters. There are plenty of good boats out there on the market. Shop around.
 
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I lived on a wooden Mason 31' for several years and did a Pacific circuit on the boat (Pacific Northwest to Mexico, across to Hawaii and then back to the PNW). Almost any boat will do if you are willing to spend the time and money to set it up right. I chose a wooden boat to save on purchase costs, but the ongoing maintenance costs offset the initial capital savings. Wooden boats also have less interior room than a comparable glass design because of the space taken up by the ribs. Just be sure whatever boat you get is attractive enough to you (both aesthetically and performance-wise) that you'll spend the requisite time on maintenance and regular use. Boats are like planes - the worst thing you can do to them is let them sit. I didn't see any Hunter designs when I was out blue water cruising, but saw lots in the harbors up and down the west coast.
 
Hunters are like the Cessna / Piper of the sailboat world. Lots of them, a decent compromise for the type of sailing the typical middle class sailor does.
 
RichNY said:
I've been looking at 38' to 43' boats for extended on board use. The Hunter line appears to meet my needs. Anyone have experience with Hunter or other brands?
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Just like planes, it helps to define the mission. Extended live-aboard coastal? Lake? Bluewater? Budget?
 
I'd be living aboard for 6 months and near coast cruising on the east coast. When the weather warms up, I'll be viewing all types from Florida to Maine to see which one suits me.

I've been reading up on keels, iron and lead, shoal and fin. The lead bulb shoal keel looks to be least amount of maintenance.

One other item, anyone have experience with the Airhead head? The older 40 Hunter had the holding tank built as a compartment in the liner with a top that could/will leak.

Budget between 50K and 90K.
 
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RichNY said:
I'd be living aboard for 6 months and near coast cruising on the east coast. When the weather warms up, I'll be viewing all types from Florida to Maine to see which one suits me.

Budget between 50K and 90K.
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Coastal cruising would be fine in the Hunter. A couple of other boats to look at are Catalina and Beneteau. I've chartered several 39 to 51 ft Beneteaus, and they're good boats for the money. Cruising cats could be a good choice (large saloon between the hulls gives nice living space), but the good ones are newer designs and probably above your price range.
 
Hunter & Catalina are definitely the Cessna/Piper of the sailing world. Good boats, but it is all about how they have been maintained and what you hope to get out of them. Lead bulb shoal keel is a decent choice for east coast cruising.
 
RichNY said:
I've been looking at 38' to 43' boats for extended on board use. The Hunter line appears to meet my needs. Anyone have experience with Hunter or other brands?
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They're ok. I'm going to guess you're not doing any extended voyaging with it, mostly use it to live aboard and do some coastal cruising and day sailing, and for that they are fine. Are there better? Sure, but it's just a matter of degree of sophistication (much of which is pure snobbery and creates a PITA), or overbuilding to a degree not required for coastal service. If the market choices and compromises you desire put you in a Hunter, you're ok.

One thing, blisters. Every polyester boat that sits in the water built after 1972 will have blisters. There is only one way to "cure" a blister problem and that is to literally cure it. You need to bring the matrix back up to 90°C to post cure it after it catalyzes to finish curing all the trapped styrenes. It's these pockets of uncured styrenes where blisters form as water intrudes. This is NOT a major problem that needs fixing.. Just keep an eye on the blisters every time you haul out, and if you find some bigger than your palm, grind those out and patch them, leave the rest. You can grind, peel, or blast the hull, repair the whole thing, and you will have more little blisters next year.

If anyone try's to sell you a "fix for blistering" that does not involve sinking the hull in 90°C fluid, or otherwise heating it to that temp for 10 minutes, they are selling snake oil, it can not work as water will permeate back through.
 
RichNY said:
I'd be living aboard for 6 months and near coast cruising on the east coast. When the weather warms up, I'll be viewing all types from Florida to Maine to see which one suits me.

I've been reading up on keels, iron and lead, shoal and fin. The lead bulb shoal keel looks to be least amount of maintenance.

One other item, anyone have experience with the Airhead head? The older 40 Hunter had the holding tank built as a compartment in the liner with a top that could/will leak.

Budget between 50K and 90K.
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You have a lot of choices with that budget. I don't know anything about the Airheads, but if you have large enough water tanks, look into running the fresh water to your toilet. Helps cut down on smell if you don't use the toilet as much.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Hunter & Catalina are definitely the Cessna/Piper of the sailing world. Good boats, but it is all about how they have been maintained and what you hope to get out of them. Lead bulb shoal keel is a decent choice for east coast cruising.
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Agreed, you definitely want one with the shoal keel option. Don't go deeper than 6', and try to stay as close to 4 as you can.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Coastal cruising would be fine in the Hunter. A couple of other boats to look at are Catalina and Beneteau. I've chartered several 39 to 51 ft Beneteaus, and they're good boats for the money. Cruising cats could be a good choice (large saloon between the hulls gives nice living space), but the good ones are newer designs and probably above your price range.
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Can't give me a BendyToy, biggest POSs I have sailed.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Just like planes, it helps to define the mission. Extended live-aboard coastal? Lake? Bluewater? Budget?
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I wouldn't expect him to have Bluewater aspirations given the question, but if he does, he needs something of a different caliber than anything yet mentioned.
 
For what its worth very few Hunters in charter fleets...I spent multiple weeks on a 42 and 46...B and R rig is easy to handle. Fit and finish is okay and sound but its a production line boat. I don't consider any of them true "Blue Water" boats but fine for coastal cruising and longer stretches with good weather planning...
 
Henning, what's behind the the bendy toy moniker, I've heard it before.
 
Warlock said:
For what its worth very few Hunters in charter fleets...I spent multiple weeks on a 42 and 46...B and R rig is easy to handle. Fit and finish is okay and sound but its a production line boat. I don't consider any of them true "Blue Water" boats but fine for coastal cruising and longer stretches with good weather planning...
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The main reason though that chater fleets don't use Hunters is that they get better fleet prices from other builders along with attractive financing packages. It's all about $$$, and since they cost the same per foot to operate, whatever takes the bottom line is what the fleet is comprised of. Never judge the quality of a brand by the charter fleet, charter boats are junk for the most part.
 
RichNY said:
Henning, what's behind the the bendy toy moniker, I've heard it before.
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Watch the bottom at high angles of heel and you'll figure it out quick. They lose keels in heavier seas. Lost some acquaintances last year or the year before due to it.
 
If I was going to buy a European production sail boat in this size, I would get a Bavaria.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Meh, I thought they were decent.

Beneteau, Catalina, Hunter.......Chevy, Ford, Dodge.
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Lipstick on a pig. I'd take a Catalina offshore before a Beneteau. When you start repairing them and looking at the engineering to them, you become aware of just how deficient they are.
 
Warlock said:
I don't consider any of them true "Blue Water" boats but fine for coastal cruising and longer stretches with good weather planning...
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Any of the C, B, H boats are just fine for good weather coastal cruising.
 
I looked at Bavaria, affordable but drafts between 6' and 7'.

Any thoughts on in mast furling?

Rigid and hydraulic boom vangs?
 
RichNY said:
I looked at Bavaria, affordable but drafts between 6' and 7'.

Any thoughts on in mast furling?

Rigid and hydraulic boom vangs?
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In mast furling is nice. But you lose some sail area with them. And just remember the more moving parts, the more parts you may have to fix if it breaks.
 
RichNY said:
I looked at Bavaria, affordable but drafts between 6' and 7'.

Any thoughts on in mast furling?

Rigid and hydraulic boom vangs?
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My thoughts on sailing rigs in general anymore is to remove them and make a high efficiency, high speed, wave piercing, displacement M/Y out of them.:lol: Seriously, you save money over 10 years, sailing places is expensive in wear and tear, plus you end up using it as a motor boat half the time anyway, just an inefficient one dragging around a keel, and incapable of fitting under most bridges, so exploring the cool inland water ways is excluded from you program options.

However, for someone that wants to sail, furling systems are a mixed bag. If you are sailing short handed or single handed mostly, and don't require maximum performance, then a good furling system is definitely an option to explore. I really don't play in this level of the industry anymore so I can't give any brand recommendations. Some are great, some are junk. I do know that the ones at the bottom of the price range are all junk. Name systems like Harken and such are typically decent systems.

All the furling systems however compromise sail shape.
 
Shopping for and finding my Bonanza took 6 months. Boat shopping is going to take some time to find the right one. I have a feeling that I'll be buried in the boat I buy, lots of hulls for sale out there. A lot of hidden issues to uncover in each one before the purchase.
 
RichNY said:
Shopping for and finding my Bonanza took 6 months. Boat shopping is going to take some time to find the right one. I have a feeling that I'll be buried in the boat I buy, lots of hulls for sale out there. A lot of hidden issues to uncover in each one before the purchase.
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What budget are you buying in at?
 
I'd love to get a nice 32' (or thereabouts) sailboat. Just something to tool around the coast with, maybe take to Catalina from time to time. I'm pretty sure I've talked my wife into either a boat or an airplane, but I think I still have some work to do if I plan on getting both. Well, at least not without sleeping on the boat full-time. :D
 
Henning said:
I wouldn't expect him to have Bluewater aspirations given the question, but if he does, he needs something of a different caliber than anything yet mentioned.
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Pacific Seacraft if going blue water.
 
RichNY said:
Shopping for and finding my Bonanza took 6 months. Boat shopping is going to take some time to find the right one. I have a feeling that I'll be buried in the boat I buy, lots of hulls for sale out there. A lot of hidden issues to uncover in each one before the purchase.
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Just like a plane, you need to narrow your mission, otherwise is just too much information.
 
teejayevans said:
Pacific Seacraft if going blue water.
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If you want a slow boat, there probably is no better. If you want a great compact liveaboard, there probably is no better (some of their space efficiency ideas are awesome). If I am traveling across the ocean? No chance, it needs 10 kts and a wheelhouse. I don't go slower traveling, I prefer a boat that will keep 18kts in a Force 5 comfortably, that way you can get out of the way of severe weather. I've travelled around the world under sail without a wheelhouse, it sucks. At least we had a 10kt+ schooner though:lol: Any slower than 18, you are going to get caught in heavy weather, so it better be built for it.
 
Valiant Boats at Cedar Mills on Lake Texoma builds a really good slow boat as well.
 
Henning said:
If you want a slow boat, there probably is no better. If you want a great compact liveaboard, there probably is no better (some of their space efficiency ideas are awesome). If I am traveling across the ocean? No chance, it needs 10 kts and a wheelhouse. I don't go slower traveling, I prefer a boat that will keep 18kts in a Force 5 comfortably, that way you can get out of the way of severe weather. I've travelled around the world under sail without a wheelhouse, it sucks. At least we had a 10kt+ schooner though:lol: Any slower than 18, you are going to get caught in heavy weather, so it better be built for it.
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PSCs are, if you choose you dates carefully you can avoid extreme weather, ie If in North Atlantic, sail in May. If you want to go fast...buy an airplane, now if they just made airplanes you can live aboard.
 
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