Hi Brian - in response to your inquiry around whether you should buy a Hunter 33.
Generally speaking I like my Hunter 33 alot. It has plenty of space and still cruises pretty quickly if you don't make her too heavy and keep the bottom clean. The sails are easy to handle and trim, although raising the mainsail and reefing it can require some muscle power if you don't have electric winches.
I have had some major problems with my Yanmar YM30 and I would not recommend this engine.
Another fairly serious problem is that my batteries keep going flat overnight, so I have to have 2 on board keeping one of them in the off position at all times. I actually keep a third spare battery on board since I have woken up on a couple of occasions and found both batteries dead and thus unable to start the motor. My belief is that is due to a short in the bilge pump which is wired to draw on either battery if it detects water. Or get a generator on your boat.
A few other quality problems that were minor and thus really only annoying. The stereo keeps breaking in heavy weather and the tank indicator on water and holding tank never worked properly since the guages on the tanks keep coming apart. The switch panel illumination died and I had to repair that - since the repair it has been fine.
I would also look at the Beneteau, very comparable in price and performance, but might be slightly better quality.
Hope that helps.
Generally speaking I like my Hunter 33 alot. It has plenty of space and still cruises pretty quickly if you don't make her too heavy and keep the bottom clean. The sails are easy to handle and trim, although raising the mainsail and reefing it can require some muscle power if you don't have electric winches.
I have had some major problems with my Yanmar YM30 and I would not recommend this engine.
Another fairly serious problem is that my batteries keep going flat overnight, so I have to have 2 on board keeping one of them in the off position at all times. I actually keep a third spare battery on board since I have woken up on a couple of occasions and found both batteries dead and thus unable to start the motor. My belief is that is due to a short in the bilge pump which is wired to draw on either battery if it detects water. Or get a generator on your boat.
A few other quality problems that were minor and thus really only annoying. The stereo keeps breaking in heavy weather and the tank indicator on water and holding tank never worked properly since the guages on the tanks keep coming apart. The switch panel illumination died and I had to repair that - since the repair it has been fine.
I would also look at the Beneteau, very comparable in price and performance, but might be slightly better quality.
Hope that helps.