I sold the first 25 of that era built. The sale of the Hunter 240 had dropped off substantially and in 2004 for the model year 2005, the new 25 was introduced to include some items on it that the bigger boats had versus on the 240 which is what consumers wanted to see. Not many were sold as they remained for a long time on a dealer's lot before being sold. Therefore, the discontinuation of that model occured as it did with the 240 as it was not selling.
As for the 260, it was still selling when the plug was pulled to stop production. However, it was not a Hunter decision but a corporate level decision which many at Hunter could not understand. Why mess with a seller when it is selling and making money made no sense to me. However, Hunter then came out with the Hunter 27 waterballast which I introduced at Annapolis which was a much larger boat. Unfortunately for the boat, it came out when the economy tanked. In fact, many dealers like me started to see sales drop off in 2006 before the big hit in 2008. I ordere four of the new 27's for model year 2009 which arrived in the fall of 2008 and they sat and I paid out alot of interest on the boats.
As to the Hunter 25, I did not see a righting chart but stability wise, I would rate it a little above the 240. As for speed which I did not measure with a guage, a slight faster than the 240. Due to the keel configuration, the only problem I saw was docking if there was any strong wind from the side. I taught my customers to "crab" the boat like an airplane or turning more into the wind and at the last second, turn the boat forward and put the engine into reverse to stop which worked like a charm. I hope this helps you from an exerience standpoint.
crazy dave condon
