ANNOUNCEMENT: One-to-one Support for your Hunter Sailboat

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
I'm honored to announce two really cool things for Hunter sailboat owners.

First (and related to the second announcement) is a new staff member at Hunter Owners: Joe Kerr. You may not know Joe's name because he was behind the scenes for most of his 20+ years at Hunter, but he is the guy who designed or drew most of the systems on your boats. Electrical, plumbing, AC, gensets, wire runs... if it had more than 2 parts connected by something more solid than air, chances are good Joe knows it inside and out. Joe will be involved in sourcing new replacement parts, developing upgrades, and customer service.

Having Joe aboard allows Hunter Owners to do something that hasn't been available in many years: one-to-one support for your boat.

Here's how it works: if you're facing a tricky repair, an upgrade project, restoration, or would just like to ask some questions about the design and construction methods of your Hunter model, you can make an appointment here. We review your question first to be sure we can help. If so, you'll speak by telephone to either Joe or our owner, Al Fooks, who worked at Hunter for 25 years building boats, supervising assembly lines, in customer service, warranty support, and international service support. You will not find two guys who know more about Hunters than Al and Joe!

Al knows there's a need for this support and he's priced the service to make sure help is accessible to all. I encourage you to take a look at the details and let us know if you have questions or suggestions.

Thanks!
 
Dec 25, 2000
5,702
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
Way to go Phil. Grand idea and support offer from those in the know.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Superb.

Wonderful for the Community.

Thanks so much for everything you folks do for all of us.
 
Nov 30, 2015
1,336
Hunter 1978 H30 Cherubini, Treman Marina, Ithaca, NY
Terrific news! Welcome Joe. How’s the support looking for a 40 year old boat? Any updated system drawings available for a 1978 H30C? The current PDF I have is, well...sketchy at best.
 
Apr 11, 2010
946
Hunter 38 Whitehall MI
You guys are the best.
Always grateful to have such valuable resources available.
 
Mar 20, 2004
1,729
Hunter 356 and 216 Portland, ME
Great news! Welcome Joe, SBO has been a fantastic resource for us, and now with Al and you on board it can only get better!
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
That’s cool and I’m sure it will save lots of owners tons of aggravation and headscratching!

It does however blur what was a pretty clear line... SBO ‘offers’ parts for sale, and advice, tips and sharing for free. The latter being administered here by users, some it bad or wrong for sure, but a lot of it outstanding from pros like Maine, Peggy, and Judy.

Now SBO has paid advice section staffed by pros. All good, but I hope it doesn’t encourage or incent the existing pros and others to move into a pay to play model here as well. Or have sections of the site become part of a premium subscription.
 
Last edited:

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
I hope it doesn’t encourage or incent the existing pros and others to move into a pay to play model here as well. Or have sections of the site become part of a premium subscription.
No worries about that. Al recognizes that forums are only viable when they have strong traffic. We both share the opinion that they straight-up suck with a paywall or too many intrusive ads (Yahoo anyone?). I can't imagine a situation in which the forums aren't free.
 

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
How’s the support looking for a 40 year old boat? Any updated system drawings available for a 1978 H30C? The current PDF I have is, well...sketchy at best.
It's going to depend on what you need. There are some built-in limitations with 70's boats: drawings were minimal to begin with, Hunter has trashed some records over the years, and virtually no one who designed or built the boats is still available. But Al and Joe have helped Cherubini owners through the years, some systems are common, and knowledge was handed down to them by others at Hunter. If you make a support appointment and they can't help with your questions, they'll let you know ahead of time and there's no charge.
 
  • Like
Likes: BlowMeAway
Feb 10, 2004
3,918
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
Well I just had a 30 minute phone call from Joe Kerr regarding a couple issues that are my current struggle. I am impressed! Joe's call was right on time, and he had looked over all the supporting info that I had sent him yesterday. I booked this call just 2 days ago, so rapid service appears to be possible.
Joe was able to answer all of my questions and make suggestions for my trouble-shooting and issue resolution. He told me that I was just the second person to take this new service. I think this will be a successful addition to SBO. Thumbs up!!

Edited: It occurred to me that one possible improvement to this service would be an option to use Skype instead of a telephone. Then potentially real-time images of a problem/issue could be transmitted. After all, a picture is worth lots of words.
Just an idea....
 
Last edited:
Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Should be a great resource for Hunter owners.
Hope that additional pros can be added over time, particularly someone from Beneteau.
 
  • Like
Likes: Jackdaw
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Should be a great resource for Hunter owner.
Hope that additional pros can be added over time, particularly someone from Beneteau.
Great job for Ward once he decides to retire.
 
  • Like
Likes: BigEasy
Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Great job for Ward once he decides to retire.
Definitely agree; he would be a great resource! He may have other ideas after being bombarded with our questions over the years!