We are thinking of trading up to a bigger boat for coastal cruising and island hopping. The Hunter 38 has intrigued me. Any general views from owners would be great. One thing I'm worried about in particular is that while folks think it sails well (which is most important) and is comfortable (also very important for cruising), I hear it sails a-lot on anchor. I could probably deal with that with the usual remedies. But we keep our boat at a mooring and I was wondering if owners have had similar problems on moorings--which would not be good for us. I was also wondering if it has a suitable icebox-- at least on my current boat (a Cat 320) for extended cruising trips we find it works better to not run refrigeration/freezers during long sails. Any help greatly appreciated!
Hunter 38 mooring question
- Thread starter mlynch66
- Start date
We have a 2008 38 that we bought new as a dealer demo in 2009. We moved up from a Catalina 34.
Very happy with the boat. We sail primarily Lake Michigan and the boat has proven to be a good solid platform that has done well in a range of conditions. It's not a tender boat.
You should check the model specific section of this site as there are a few owner reviews on the boat there.
https://hunter.sailboatowners.com/resources/index.php?task=model&mid=77
It does have a tendency to sail on anchor but from the posts on that topic I don't think it's unique to this model. Lots of posts on quite a few different boats that experience anchor sailing. I do have an anchor riding sail that helps greatly. Others have posted on other techniques they've used to slow the sailing down. Haven't used a morning with this boat so I can't offer you much on that.
It's a very comfortable boat accommodation wise. We lived on ours for an extended period the last couple of summers. In 2016 our house sold in 3 days and the new place wasn't ready for a while so we lived on the boat for 2 months and we did just fine.
Refrigeration - there are a couple of configurations here. I think standard is a front opening apartment like refrigerator that runs on 12 volt. I say apartment like just to give you a sense of the size, it is made for marine use. An option on this model was for a separate small freezer that is built into the cupboard area just aft of the stove. It's made by same manufacturer as refrigerator and also runs on 12 volt. We can run both refrigerator and freezer on 2 4D house batteries and have had no difficulty getting through 24 hours and still have capacity left. There is a separate engine starting battery. This configuration would not really be suitable as an "ice box" because both are front opening and the melting ice is going to leak out the doors. It's not like they typical top opening ice box.
We do have the optional 40 horse Yanmar and I can highly recommend that. The boat fully loaded is going to push 20,000 pounds and this engine will easily get hull speed even in a head wind. We had one experience leaving a channel headed out into the lake and it was really rolling up. Lots of surge and easily 3 to 4 foot waves inside the piers. And we were somewhat headed into the wind. The boat ahead of us was having trouble making headway into this and was beginning to look like they might be in trouble since making a U turn in that was dicey. We just powered up and slammed through it. Once we got out and were able to change direction for our course reefed sail began pulling and we had a fabulous ride. I can't imagine doing that with the smaller standard engine.
There is a lot more I can tell you but why don't you look at the owner review section, see what else you might want to know and then repost or drop me a private message.
Happy to try to help you.
Very happy with the boat. We sail primarily Lake Michigan and the boat has proven to be a good solid platform that has done well in a range of conditions. It's not a tender boat.
You should check the model specific section of this site as there are a few owner reviews on the boat there.
https://hunter.sailboatowners.com/resources/index.php?task=model&mid=77
It does have a tendency to sail on anchor but from the posts on that topic I don't think it's unique to this model. Lots of posts on quite a few different boats that experience anchor sailing. I do have an anchor riding sail that helps greatly. Others have posted on other techniques they've used to slow the sailing down. Haven't used a morning with this boat so I can't offer you much on that.
It's a very comfortable boat accommodation wise. We lived on ours for an extended period the last couple of summers. In 2016 our house sold in 3 days and the new place wasn't ready for a while so we lived on the boat for 2 months and we did just fine.
Refrigeration - there are a couple of configurations here. I think standard is a front opening apartment like refrigerator that runs on 12 volt. I say apartment like just to give you a sense of the size, it is made for marine use. An option on this model was for a separate small freezer that is built into the cupboard area just aft of the stove. It's made by same manufacturer as refrigerator and also runs on 12 volt. We can run both refrigerator and freezer on 2 4D house batteries and have had no difficulty getting through 24 hours and still have capacity left. There is a separate engine starting battery. This configuration would not really be suitable as an "ice box" because both are front opening and the melting ice is going to leak out the doors. It's not like they typical top opening ice box.
We do have the optional 40 horse Yanmar and I can highly recommend that. The boat fully loaded is going to push 20,000 pounds and this engine will easily get hull speed even in a head wind. We had one experience leaving a channel headed out into the lake and it was really rolling up. Lots of surge and easily 3 to 4 foot waves inside the piers. And we were somewhat headed into the wind. The boat ahead of us was having trouble making headway into this and was beginning to look like they might be in trouble since making a U turn in that was dicey. We just powered up and slammed through it. Once we got out and were able to change direction for our course reefed sail began pulling and we had a fabulous ride. I can't imagine doing that with the smaller standard engine.
There is a lot more I can tell you but why don't you look at the owner review section, see what else you might want to know and then repost or drop me a private message.
Happy to try to help you.
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Once again...are you sure it sails on anchor or just swings wide? Those are two different things and rarely do boats sail on anchor.
Sailing on anchor is done when something on the boat like the mast creates lift at a certain angle to the wind. The boat will go forward when at an angle like 40 degrees off the wind. This is not the same thing as the boat going forward dead into the wind. That is caused by the wind dying out and the weight of the rode/mooring pulling the boat forward.
Very few boats sail on anchor but all monohulls swing on anchor. They are not the same thing.
Sailing on anchor is done when something on the boat like the mast creates lift at a certain angle to the wind. The boat will go forward when at an angle like 40 degrees off the wind. This is not the same thing as the boat going forward dead into the wind. That is caused by the wind dying out and the weight of the rode/mooring pulling the boat forward.
Very few boats sail on anchor but all monohulls swing on anchor. They are not the same thing.
That's an extremely helpful distinction. I was curious about whether the Hunter 38 did either, as some owners have reported. My own boat, a Catalina 320, certainly swings on anchor, like most do, and that can increase with wind speed, although never to a point that has concerned me. But last summer while anchored in the Salt Pond at Block in a blow I noticed a big new Beneteau moving at an angle on the wind back and forth around its anchor. It was both that -- "sailing"--and excessive swinging I was worried might happen to the 38. And while all that may itself be alleviated by kellets, bridles, and/or riding sails, I wouldn't want to do that at our home mooring. On the other hand, the moorings in Noank (where I keep my boats) are sturdy and have two pendants. It may have been that some of the folks I've read who were concerned about excessive swinging and/or sailing at moorings may have been talking about one's with a single longer pendant (often found on transient moorings) which should behave more like an anchor rode, or so I think.
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