My wife and I have just had the perfect summer of cruising aboard our H380 in the Pacific Northwest. I do not remember in the past 35+ years of such good cruising. The weather was good, the boat was excellent, the friends we met surperb! Probably the biggest downer was that a favorite bakery has quit business. Pity. We did 55 days with several stops home to reload and to handle family business. Our longest time out was for 25 days, mostly with a sister ship whoes owners had not done much cruising. We covered the San Juan Islands, the Gulf Islands, and Desolation Sound, the latter part was in the month of September. Not many boats travel north at this time of the year, so the anchorages was almost empty. We sat out two gales at docks by keeping tabs on the weather on VHF and we crossed the Strait of Georgia both ways in calm weather. Even the notorious Whiskey/Gulf area that is a topedo range was inactive. Our boat worked exceptionally well for the two of us and two cats. We have a furnance so that took the chill off in the mornings. Our dodger took away the chill when the wind blew. When we got home, we still had steaks in the freezer which basically meant that the resturants were excellent. Our ports of call were Friday Harbor, Sidney, Ganges, Nanimo and Lund, the latter four are in BC. In fact, Nanamo has a Dinghy Pub on Protection Island that is a great place. We celebrated my retirement there. For those in the older category, this may be of interest to you--I put a Forespar lifting device on the stern and it is so easy to transfer the outboard to the dinghy with this in control. I use a Honda 2 hp outboard which weights 29 lbs. I found this to be "iffy" when doing it myself attaching it to the Avon. Using the lifting arm solved this problem. Fuel use using a Max prop was slightly less then a gallon per hour. We did almost five hundred miles mostly under power or power sailing. Very little winds this time of year. What would I like for the boat? I will be looking for a way to heat water when at anchor. I have enough power to stay at anchor for 4 or 5 days for the freezer/refrig but we run out of hot water and don't want to run the engine. There must be a way to have hot water. I used one tank of LP for most of the summer (1 10 lb tank). Was able to fill up at one of our stops. Biggest problem? laundry. We had a ton of it when we got home. In September, many of the places that have washer/dryers are almost all broken for the season. Try again next year was the answer from marine places. Someday I'll write about the boat and what we have done to her. But for now, it has been the perfect summer of cruising on the perfect boat. I don't think I've ever said that before. Happy fall cruising to you all. Les
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Tom
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Ron
Hot Water
Welcome home! Glad you had a really great time. I use the system the Pardey's use for hot water. A garden sprayer hooked to the shower head. You boil a half gallon of water, add cold water to suit and pump up the pressure. This works so good I am planning to remove the HW heater completely and use the space for an oversize battery box. Ron
Welcome home! Glad you had a really great time. I use the system the Pardey's use for hot water. A garden sprayer hooked to the shower head. You boil a half gallon of water, add cold water to suit and pump up the pressure. This works so good I am planning to remove the HW heater completely and use the space for an oversize battery box. Ron
In hot water.
Les: Have you looked at any of the Propane fired hot water on demand systems. These are very common in solar powered homes. There were several that were marketed in the marine world, but I have not seen them advertised recently. We had one on our Santa Cruz 52 that I sailed home on from Hawaii this summer, but do not know the brand. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Les: Have you looked at any of the Propane fired hot water on demand systems. These are very common in solar powered homes. There were several that were marketed in the marine world, but I have not seen them advertised recently. We had one on our Santa Cruz 52 that I sailed home on from Hawaii this summer, but do not know the brand. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
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Ed Schenck
Great story, thanks Les.
We are all so envious. Want to be free to join you but don't want to be old. But I am and will soon be out there too. Not sure of your reluctance to heat water with the engine. My 14 gal. tank gets hot in a hurry. How many amps do you use if you heat with the 115V? Ron's idea also has merit but you are still using fuel to get hot water. Thanks again for sharing your travels.
We are all so envious. Want to be free to join you but don't want to be old. But I am and will soon be out there too. Not sure of your reluctance to heat water with the engine. My 14 gal. tank gets hot in a hurry. How many amps do you use if you heat with the 115V? Ron's idea also has merit but you are still using fuel to get hot water. Thanks again for sharing your travels.
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Les Blackwell
Thanks for your comments
Thanks to Ron and Steve for your comments on hot water. I've read about the Pardeys--they have great ideas, however, I have a shower all set up and the where-with-all to have a regular shower. There must be a way. I've been reluctant to run the engine as I understood the running of it not in load will do some harm to it. Not true? Also, the one time I did do it it took about an hour to get hot water (six gallon tank). Do you think I'm doing something wrong? Of course there is always the problem of running an engine in a quiet anchorage too, although, in our recent trip, we were the only boat in the area. I've heard about the propane heaters and that they were discontinued because of safty reasons. I've also heard that there is a new brand on the market that is safer. Maybe that was the one on the SC 52 (Isn't that a grand boat?) Thanks again for all the coments. Very helpful. Les
Thanks to Ron and Steve for your comments on hot water. I've read about the Pardeys--they have great ideas, however, I have a shower all set up and the where-with-all to have a regular shower. There must be a way. I've been reluctant to run the engine as I understood the running of it not in load will do some harm to it. Not true? Also, the one time I did do it it took about an hour to get hot water (six gallon tank). Do you think I'm doing something wrong? Of course there is always the problem of running an engine in a quiet anchorage too, although, in our recent trip, we were the only boat in the area. I've heard about the propane heaters and that they were discontinued because of safty reasons. I've also heard that there is a new brand on the market that is safer. Maybe that was the one on the SC 52 (Isn't that a grand boat?) Thanks again for all the coments. Very helpful. Les
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Justin Wolfe/PYI
Les
I know of to where you speak in regards to hot water. One solution. Start cruising in Mexico!!!! 2nd solution. Downwind Marine in San Diego sells a Propane Flash Water Heater. I've thought of this option, but haven't looked into it closely. Contact them and see what they say. www.downwindmarine.com - I think.
I know of to where you speak in regards to hot water. One solution. Start cruising in Mexico!!!! 2nd solution. Downwind Marine in San Diego sells a Propane Flash Water Heater. I've thought of this option, but haven't looked into it closely. Contact them and see what they say. www.downwindmarine.com - I think.
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Richard Owen
Great Cruising In Desolation Sound
Les: We just returned from Desolation Sound and points north as well. It is such a great month for cruising that area - anchorages like Prideaux and Squirrel Cove which can hold 75-100 boats in the summer usually have less than a dozen - by 10:00 AM last Wednesday we were the only boat in Squirrel Cove. The weather was much better than anticipated except the lack of wind was disappointing. We encountered a whale in Waddington channel - only 20 ft. from the boat. We were up there for 22 days. Stops were: Ballet bay; Lund; Prideaux Haven; Von Donop Inlet; Gorge Harbour; Roscoe Bay; Dent Island; Squirrel Cove; Heriot bay; Octopus Islands (Waiat Bay); Smuggler Cove; Jedediah; Plumper cove. Our boat has an Espar hot water heating system which gives us a 12 gal. tank of hot water every morning when we turn on the heat to warm the boat up - it is a great system. We have enough for dishes, etc, and a few showers each day. Had a few days of great sailing in 15-25 knts. of wind under cloudless skies, and sat out one gale in prideaux, but generally pretty quiet winds. Maybe next time, we'll meet up. ROwen H460 Mikayla
Les: We just returned from Desolation Sound and points north as well. It is such a great month for cruising that area - anchorages like Prideaux and Squirrel Cove which can hold 75-100 boats in the summer usually have less than a dozen - by 10:00 AM last Wednesday we were the only boat in Squirrel Cove. The weather was much better than anticipated except the lack of wind was disappointing. We encountered a whale in Waddington channel - only 20 ft. from the boat. We were up there for 22 days. Stops were: Ballet bay; Lund; Prideaux Haven; Von Donop Inlet; Gorge Harbour; Roscoe Bay; Dent Island; Squirrel Cove; Heriot bay; Octopus Islands (Waiat Bay); Smuggler Cove; Jedediah; Plumper cove. Our boat has an Espar hot water heating system which gives us a 12 gal. tank of hot water every morning when we turn on the heat to warm the boat up - it is a great system. We have enough for dishes, etc, and a few showers each day. Had a few days of great sailing in 15-25 knts. of wind under cloudless skies, and sat out one gale in prideaux, but generally pretty quiet winds. Maybe next time, we'll meet up. ROwen H460 Mikayla
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Paul Bednarzyk
cruising on a 380
Les, I'm glad that you had such a good time on your summer cruise. Michele and spent 2 1/2 weeks cruising the Abacos this summer on our 380 and I agree with you that it is a very comfortable cruiser. I would be very interested in swapping ideas with you on modifications you made to your boat. The one thing that I plan on doing before our next trip is to add a raw water outlet to the galley. Also the headboard area in the aft berth is wasted space and is easy to open up for storage space. Paul Bednarzyk S/V Knot Again
Les, I'm glad that you had such a good time on your summer cruise. Michele and spent 2 1/2 weeks cruising the Abacos this summer on our 380 and I agree with you that it is a very comfortable cruiser. I would be very interested in swapping ideas with you on modifications you made to your boat. The one thing that I plan on doing before our next trip is to add a raw water outlet to the galley. Also the headboard area in the aft berth is wasted space and is easy to open up for storage space. Paul Bednarzyk S/V Knot Again
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Dick Vance
Paul
Paul, Sounds like you and Michele had a great trip to the Abacos. One of my most favorite places in the world! Dick Vance H-25.5 "Honey Bear"
Paul, Sounds like you and Michele had a great trip to the Abacos. One of my most favorite places in the world! Dick Vance H-25.5 "Honey Bear"
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Les Blackwell
Some changes on our H380
Thanks to everyone who wrote. It has been a fun thread to read. In this world of hurt, it is enjoyable to hear that people are having fun with their boats. Paul, We have done a lot of changes on our H380 in the past year and a half. We first changed our rudder because the boat was pulling to the right much more then it ought to have done. We found the rudder was not be equal on both sides causing the problem. In the process of finding the problem with the rudder, we changed our prop to a Max prop from PYI. I doubt if I will ever have another boat that doesn't have such a prop. The engine is so quiet and smooth--I can't believe it. It is a three blade and it is my opinion that we go through chop better--sorta punch our way through when powering. Then we changed our electrical system. We took out the 4D battery which was under the forward port seat in the main cabin. The Dealer wanted me to add another 4D. But my starting battery was getting fried--turned out the Guest battery changer might have been wired wrong to the starting battery. So we took the Guest battery charger out and installed a StatPower 20 Amp under the navigation locker--there is that space not being used. Then in the center of the boat just forward of the galley, we installed 4 golf cart batteries. This gives us 440 amps. In the engine room, we added a smart regulator and disabled the alternator regulator. This little device measures if any battery needs charging and keeps the current flowing. I also installed a West Marine combiner so that the engine and house batteries will not talk to each other (I wonder why they call it a combiner?) The final part of the electrical system is the Hart Interface 20 display. It tells me exactly what is happening to my batteries at all times. This change gave us two large sections under the seat for food storage--much easier to get at. Given this system, we now can spend four days at anchor and I still have ample battery power. This summer I never ran the engine to charge batteries at anchor. Other things that we did was to add a Winlock (PYI again)motor for a autopilot and then used a Rathyon 5000 autopilot computer at the controls. It is a chain driven internal autopilot that is heavy duty. No problems with it so far, but I haven't hooked it up to my GPS yet. Probably the best thing that I've done to this boat and everyone who has a Hunter ought to consider this change, was to change the galley faucet to a Anderson single lever mixer and spray/stream output. Why do they put those hot/cold handles on the faucets? If you hands are soapy, they are hard to turn. HEY HUNTER ARE YOU LISTENING? So we went to Costco and bought this $59 low pressure handle and installed it. It also came with th soap dispenser. One of the best things we did. And it looks good, too. We are going to put a single lever mixer in the shower. We'll keep the present shower head but put one of these single handled mixer in place of the present faucet. We do have a furnace in the boat with three outlets, one in the aft stateroom, one in the main cabin and one forward. I don't know who likes it more, the cats or me.It is a Webasco 3500 and appears to be able for our use. If I were living in a colder climate, I might consider the 5000. It is installed on the starboard side so it heats the head board as well. What a way to wake up! This fall I am adding a Rathyon 70C radar and plotter. The question is do I add a repeater down below? Lynn is the navigator of this team and she likes data, the more the better. I will be adding the radar on a pole on the port side aft. On the starboard side I have my engine hoist so it should work out. I've also made changes in the refrig/freezer system. We took out the fan and installed a freezer unit in the freezer part and then a cold plate in the refriz part. It seems at the moment to be running less and keeping things better. This winter we'll work on the refrigerator and fine tune it. I think we are still leaking cold out of the top but it is working. Paul, thanks for letting me tell you what we'be been doing. The Hunter 380 could become a classic in its time--it is a well designed boat that will fit a lot of families. What changes have you made on your Hunter 380? Looking forward to hearing from you. Les
Thanks to everyone who wrote. It has been a fun thread to read. In this world of hurt, it is enjoyable to hear that people are having fun with their boats. Paul, We have done a lot of changes on our H380 in the past year and a half. We first changed our rudder because the boat was pulling to the right much more then it ought to have done. We found the rudder was not be equal on both sides causing the problem. In the process of finding the problem with the rudder, we changed our prop to a Max prop from PYI. I doubt if I will ever have another boat that doesn't have such a prop. The engine is so quiet and smooth--I can't believe it. It is a three blade and it is my opinion that we go through chop better--sorta punch our way through when powering. Then we changed our electrical system. We took out the 4D battery which was under the forward port seat in the main cabin. The Dealer wanted me to add another 4D. But my starting battery was getting fried--turned out the Guest battery changer might have been wired wrong to the starting battery. So we took the Guest battery charger out and installed a StatPower 20 Amp under the navigation locker--there is that space not being used. Then in the center of the boat just forward of the galley, we installed 4 golf cart batteries. This gives us 440 amps. In the engine room, we added a smart regulator and disabled the alternator regulator. This little device measures if any battery needs charging and keeps the current flowing. I also installed a West Marine combiner so that the engine and house batteries will not talk to each other (I wonder why they call it a combiner?) The final part of the electrical system is the Hart Interface 20 display. It tells me exactly what is happening to my batteries at all times. This change gave us two large sections under the seat for food storage--much easier to get at. Given this system, we now can spend four days at anchor and I still have ample battery power. This summer I never ran the engine to charge batteries at anchor. Other things that we did was to add a Winlock (PYI again)motor for a autopilot and then used a Rathyon 5000 autopilot computer at the controls. It is a chain driven internal autopilot that is heavy duty. No problems with it so far, but I haven't hooked it up to my GPS yet. Probably the best thing that I've done to this boat and everyone who has a Hunter ought to consider this change, was to change the galley faucet to a Anderson single lever mixer and spray/stream output. Why do they put those hot/cold handles on the faucets? If you hands are soapy, they are hard to turn. HEY HUNTER ARE YOU LISTENING? So we went to Costco and bought this $59 low pressure handle and installed it. It also came with th soap dispenser. One of the best things we did. And it looks good, too. We are going to put a single lever mixer in the shower. We'll keep the present shower head but put one of these single handled mixer in place of the present faucet. We do have a furnace in the boat with three outlets, one in the aft stateroom, one in the main cabin and one forward. I don't know who likes it more, the cats or me.It is a Webasco 3500 and appears to be able for our use. If I were living in a colder climate, I might consider the 5000. It is installed on the starboard side so it heats the head board as well. What a way to wake up! This fall I am adding a Rathyon 70C radar and plotter. The question is do I add a repeater down below? Lynn is the navigator of this team and she likes data, the more the better. I will be adding the radar on a pole on the port side aft. On the starboard side I have my engine hoist so it should work out. I've also made changes in the refrig/freezer system. We took out the fan and installed a freezer unit in the freezer part and then a cold plate in the refriz part. It seems at the moment to be running less and keeping things better. This winter we'll work on the refrigerator and fine tune it. I think we are still leaking cold out of the top but it is working. Paul, thanks for letting me tell you what we'be been doing. The Hunter 380 could become a classic in its time--it is a well designed boat that will fit a lot of families. What changes have you made on your Hunter 380? Looking forward to hearing from you. Les
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Doug Merrill
More Changes on 376
Les, Thanks for the good ideas for upgrading the 380. The best improvement we made on our 376 was to add a full enclosure for the cockpit. This really improves our sailing experience here on Lake Ontario in the spring and fall. I did post a picture of the boat on the photo forum if you would like to see it. We also added a Force 10 propane heater. I mounted it on the forward bulkhead on the port side. Works great. Doug Merrill s/v Dream Catcher
Les, Thanks for the good ideas for upgrading the 380. The best improvement we made on our 376 was to add a full enclosure for the cockpit. This really improves our sailing experience here on Lake Ontario in the spring and fall. I did post a picture of the boat on the photo forum if you would like to see it. We also added a Force 10 propane heater. I mounted it on the forward bulkhead on the port side. Works great. Doug Merrill s/v Dream Catcher
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