1989 Hunter 30 Bottom

[steveebryant]

Hello Hunter Owner Friends. I am new to the group.
I have discovered the Hunter 30!!! And now I want no other boat; I have fallen in love with the Hunter 30 design.
I want the boat in spite of its bottom issues.
There has been some work done to the bottom. Some say and it does appear that the work on the bottom was due to a blistering problem. Rumor has it that there was a keel issue and the bottom work was to fair the keel out, etc.?. At any rate, there is a spot on the hull, below water level, on the port side, beneath the floor of the shower stall, where the hull flexes. The hull appears to be thin there or somehow weakened there.
I had it surveyed yesterday. No formal report yet. The surveyor can make no comment about the nature of the spot such as whether the fiber glass of the hull is delaminated or if there is something else going on with the "pan/liner/stringer system." He said that he can’t be any more specific about the nature of the condition without taking a core sample. We are unable to see if the Pan/Liner/stringer system is flexing along with the hull.
Apparently, in this particular spot, there is no immediate contact between the "pan" and the hull of the boat so there is room for the hull to flex.
The hull presses in with hand pressure over a space of approximately 64+ square inches of the bottom.
How concerned should I be about this spot?
What must I watch for?
What should I do?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insight,
Steve

 

[Guest]

H30

Hi Steve, if it were me I would locate a boat where the hull does not "oil can" like this one.

Terry Cox

 

[RQF4]

Steve, this is very interesting to me as I recently purchased an 89' Hunter 30 with the same problem! An area about that size under the head which appears to be delamination, I too am looking for options of repair. I wonder if there are any other cases of this same problem.

My surveyor told me that it is a structural problem, he also said that it did not necessarily mean the boat was going to sink, although he said that area was weaker and that while it would probably be fine sailing in the lake that I'm in he would not recommend taking it to the ocean (which I was planing on doing). At the marina where I hauled out the repairman there said he had repaired one hull with a similar problem previously by epoxying it back together and he said it worked alright as best he could tell, which he admitted was just a cheep improper repair. My hull also has pretty severe blistering as well so the option I was looking at was to strip the glass off from the waterline down and reglass it. Not myself unfourtinatly... I'm still looking for a yard to do this.

If anyone else has similar stories, advice, or possible options to try I'd love to hear them as well.

 

[Steve Dion]

Gentlemen: I would suggest that you contact Hunter to see if they had a fix for this. It may be one of those things where they did not fix every boat, but did have a repair when clients complained. Hunter is much more aware of these types of issues than most surveyors.

These boats are solid cored below the waterline, so it should not be a big deal to fix the problem with a GOOD fiberglass person.

 

[RQF4]

Thanks!

Thanks Steve, will do!

 

[RQF4]

And here is what they said...

The area you are referring to is hollow between the floor pan
and the hull, I have heard of this area flexing when a lot of pressure
is applied such as a jack stand etc. but I have never heard of this
delaminating. If repair is needed the best approach would be to cut the
fiberglass pan from the inside and add stiffeners to the hull and then
glass the pan back in place.