Hunter 340 capable for ocean crossings

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J

JC on Bainbridge

Most boats will fair better then people

I don't really care what kind of boat you have, (within reason) that boat will do better in a storm than you will. You may be more comfortable or safe in certain boats, but everyone has a different definition of comfort and safe. I know a guy, with his girl friend, sailed from San Diego to kiwi land, and back to Hawaii, on a 26' tri, built with a 1/4" plywood hull. He later sold it, and it sunk. Like others have already said, it is the skipper.
 
Jun 2, 2004
425
- - Sandusky Harbor Marina, Lake Erie
Sorry - wrong design can sink the skipper

Cruising anywhere requires design, equipment, and crew prepared for the possible contingencies of the voyage. Some skippers have survived long voyages on unsafe designs, or without the right equipment. That makes them lucky, not good. And weak designs have sunk compentent skippers again and again. If you want experience, the best on this site is Henk Meuzelaar - search the archives for him, it's all good reading. IMHO, the topic of sailboat design is a good conversation for us. I applied what I learned to selection of our cruising boat for the Great Lakes. But compentent, experienced designers tend to agree on good cruising design for the open ocean. I try to apply and pass on what I have learned from them. David Lady Lillie
 
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NautiMoments

Will the boat and rigging structurally survive

Yes John, I am another newbee asking the same old question. But as David pointed out the actual data can be interpreted differently. There is so many people out there who think that the boat has to be as long as possible; but from what I have read and heard from people out there, due to the wave length, a 38-40' boat is best if you want to avoid pounding. And the smaller boat will go up and down the waves better. Of course hull design is a factor. As most have said it totally depends on the skipper as to how safe you will be. You must know the limits of your boat, how to sail it and when to go bare poll. If you broach any boat in heavy seas you are asking for possible disaster, but will the boat survive. Also you must have the right equipment on board, although there again seems to be a preception that you must have all the latest gadgets. As JC said most boats will weather a storm better than the crew. There is many stories of people abandoning their boat at sea then going back out the next day or so to find the boat is just fine. But the question is, will the boat and rigging structurally survive?
 
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NautiMoments

More to consider

Another thing to consider is that we have the long keel giving us a 6' draft, meaning we have 4100 lbs or 37% of the weight down low. This should effect the capsize ratio significantly. Has anyone had the H340 in open ocean swells? In smaller chop it may hobby horse more that the larger boat, but in larger swell the shorter boat may have an advantage and flow through the crests and troughs better. This is a short wide boat with it's weight distribution down low thus it should be quite stable; although because of only being 11030lbs you would probably bob around like a cork on steroids. A rigger who works on racing vessels and commissions Hunters tells me that the standing rigging would be absolutely no problem. My concern would be how well is it attached to the hull. I have had some say that the Hunters in general have too thin a hull and "oil can"; of course these are Beneteau people (Hunter wanabees). Has anyone experienced this? These same people say that a Beneteau 331 would be ok for open ocean, but this boat is basically the same length with the same dispacement and only 31% of it's weight down low and similar freeboard. Since the interiors are similar, thus similar weight, then the thickness of hull must also be similar. This would leave hull design and reinforcing in key areas as the issue. Would this imply that even the larger 42+ Hunters are also not ocean going or are the smaller boats build differently? We find the boat very comfortable for 2 with more storage than some of the 38'ers. This is only meant for discussion and does not mean that I intend on taking this boat on open ocean, but would the H340 go along the west coast down to Mexico as long as you harbor hop and watch the weather?
 
Sep 24, 1999
1,511
Hunter H46LE Sausalito
check it out

In my home waters it's not at all unusual to do a Wednesday night beer can race in 25 knots of breeze. An ebb tide sets up a steep six foot chop, and in those conditions I can always count on a top three finish out of about 25 boats, this despite the fact that I've got 300 feet of chain in the bow, several hundred gallons of water and fuel in the tanks, a dinghi on the davits and all the accoutraments of living aboard down below. The H46 doesn't even notice the chop, and the little boats are having a hard time keeping their bows into the wind at the moment when I'm pointing my highest. They'll come home drenched, and my crew won't even have bothered to don their foulies. I raced an Olson 30--an ultralight--for years and years and would sometimes come home so bruised and beat up from an ocean race that it was hard to walk the next day. When I turned 40 I had to move to a different boat because it started taking so long to recover from the weekends. Moved to a 37 footer, then a 41 footer, than a 46 footer. Was the Olson 30 a "bluewater boat?" Well, people have raced them successfully in the Transpac, the Single-handed Transpac, the Pacific Cup, et cetera. But would I feel safer crossing the pond in an H46? You bet! And the two reasons for that are displacement and waterline. If someone told you that a 38-40' boat is best to eliminate pounding, that means they haven't spent much time in anything bigger.
 
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NautiMoments

Capable but not comfortable

John, sounds like great racing. Do you race in the bay or out in the open ocean? We race on a H35.5 and do about the same in the white class. Last week we even beat some of the spinnaker guys; winds were very soft. What are your sea conditions with your 25knots of breeze; 4-5' short steep seas or more open swells? I think what you are saying is that it is much more comfortable in a larger boat. We may safely make the trip down the coast in the smaller boat but may not like the ride.
 
Sep 24, 1999
1,511
Hunter H46LE Sausalito
hmmmmmm.

Raced out of Monterey for 14 years--smaller boats--until we discovered coastal cruising. Then moved to the SF bay area following jobs. We don't really race here, just beer can races inside the bay and maybe a good ocean race once a year on somebody else's boat. I'd have given it up for good by now, but I'm faculty advisor for the university sailing team--a club sport--and the kids like to take the big boat out once in a while to see whether they can roll tack with 9,600lbs of ballast. I turn the wheel over to them and advise them not to get me wet. "Capable but not comfortable" is spot on. Look at the three boats in my avatar, a picture taken in Half Moon Bay. Rafted to my port side is a Catalina 34, rafted to starboard is a Catalina 42. All three boats are capable of bashing into angry seas, but the crew in the middle boat is going to feel the punishment a lot less than the crew in the 34. A wet, miserable, near-hypothermic crew is not a safe crew, which is precisely why so many cruisers are moving to bigger boats these days.
 
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NautiMoments

How do you find the 46' compared to the 41'?

John, were they both Hunters? Have you taken the 41 and 46 footer out into open ocean very much? How sea-kindly did you find the 41'er? Did you find there was much differenct between the 41' and the 46' in the motion at sea?
 
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