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Circumnavigate in a Hunter
- Thread starter ScottySailor
- Start date
my wife and I have had our 430 rails in the water to the piont the rudder comes out of the water....we have seen very large seas and 35-50 knots of wind for over 20 hours where they close the airport down.....and have hit bottom....I have always felt safe in my hunter and would attempt your dream with a hunter.....
there are lots that circle the globe and never see any bad weather...
bring cash and go
Scottysailor,
Glad to hear your doing ok, the C word is always scary.
Wish I could take the plung to live the pirate life but not quite there just yet to take that plung. green with envy
great question and topic.
I've been a sailing instructor for 30 plus years and sailed both center cockpit and aft cockpit. Both boats type have pros and cons. I prefer aft cockpit for what I use my boat for. My wife and I prefer the cabin space over the sleeping quarters because for now I'm a weekend cruiser. We don't do longer trips like we used to do when we were younger due to work and family obligations.
If I were to be living aboard full time i most likely would prefer more comfortable
sleeping quarters that were not claustrophobic. I tend to spend most of my time above deck enjoying the local anchorages and harbors recharging my batteries after a long stressful week.
your Hunter choices are sound. Those boats are good bang for the buck.
As others have posted, center cockpit generally gives you a larger aft berth.
Main cabin generally speaking slightly less room.
Center cockpit heavy seas might be more advantageous then aft cockpit.
Center cockpit Slightly more difficult to dock then aft only due to you are not able to handle stern lines because of your center location.
I would suggest that if you are not in a rush to purchase a boat right away.
Try to charter a center cockpit and an aft cockpit for a week so that you can truly get the feel of both boats. This way you can get a good feel of both boat types. You can see how they handle and will fit your life style. After you charter each then you can and make a sound decision. This is a huge life style change you are about to embark on.
I wish you luck on this voyage,
May you always have Fair winds and cailm seas ahead.
Hope this helps ,
Green with envy Capt Robbie.
Glad to hear your doing ok, the C word is always scary.
Wish I could take the plung to live the pirate life but not quite there just yet to take that plung. green with envy
great question and topic.
I've been a sailing instructor for 30 plus years and sailed both center cockpit and aft cockpit. Both boats type have pros and cons. I prefer aft cockpit for what I use my boat for. My wife and I prefer the cabin space over the sleeping quarters because for now I'm a weekend cruiser. We don't do longer trips like we used to do when we were younger due to work and family obligations.
If I were to be living aboard full time i most likely would prefer more comfortable
sleeping quarters that were not claustrophobic. I tend to spend most of my time above deck enjoying the local anchorages and harbors recharging my batteries after a long stressful week.
your Hunter choices are sound. Those boats are good bang for the buck.
As others have posted, center cockpit generally gives you a larger aft berth.
Main cabin generally speaking slightly less room.
Center cockpit heavy seas might be more advantageous then aft cockpit.
Center cockpit Slightly more difficult to dock then aft only due to you are not able to handle stern lines because of your center location.
I would suggest that if you are not in a rush to purchase a boat right away.
Try to charter a center cockpit and an aft cockpit for a week so that you can truly get the feel of both boats. This way you can get a good feel of both boat types. You can see how they handle and will fit your life style. After you charter each then you can and make a sound decision. This is a huge life style change you are about to embark on.
I wish you luck on this voyage,
May you always have Fair winds and cailm seas ahead.
Hope this helps ,
Green with envy Capt Robbie.
Thank you so much years of sage advice and encouragement in those sentences.Scottysailor,
Glad to hear your doing ok, the C word is always scary.
Wish I could take the plung to live the pirate life but not quite there just yet to take that plung. green with envy
great question and topic.
I've been a sailing instructor for 30 plus years and sailed both center cockpit and aft cockpit. Both boats type have pros and cons. I prefer aft cockpit for what I use my boat for. My wife and I prefer the cabin space over the sleeping quarters because for now I'm a weekend cruiser. We don't do longer trips like we used to do when we were younger due to work and family obligations.
If I were to be living aboard full time i most likely would prefer more comfortable
sleeping quarters that were not claustrophobic. I tend to spend most of my time above deck enjoying the local anchorages and harbors recharging my batteries after a long stressful week.
your Hunter choices are sound. Those boats are good bang for the buck.
As others have posted, center cockpit generally gives you a larger aft berth.
Main cabin generally speaking slightly less room.
Center cockpit heavy seas might be more advantageous then aft cockpit.
Center cockpit Slightly more difficult to dock then aft only due to you are not able to handle stern lines because of your center location.
I would suggest that if you are not in a rush to purchase a boat right away.
Try to charter a center cockpit and an aft cockpit for a week so that you can truly get the feel of both boats. This way you can get a good feel of both boat types. You can see how they handle and will fit your life style. After you charter each then you can and make a sound decision. This is a huge life style change you are about to embark on.
I wish you luck on this voyage,
May you always have Fair winds and cailm seas ahead.
Hope this helps ,
Green with envy Capt Robbie.
Yeah I’m leaning more towards Centre cockpit the more I look but chartering is a great idea I will do that for sure.
Henk Meuzelaar has been the most relevant poster on blue water cruising in his Hunter Legend 43, Rivendel II. Unfortunately, his post of modifications to Rivendel on this site seems to be missing, but he describes them on another site here: Seastories, 25,000 NM LoggedOn Rivendel II - Seacrest
Searching “Meuzelaar” will get you to his forum posts, which include discussion by other member. Rivendel II was a Center cockpit boat If I remember correctly.
Fair winds and following seas for your planned adventure!
Searching “Meuzelaar” will get you to his forum posts, which include discussion by other member. Rivendel II was a Center cockpit boat If I remember correctly.
Fair winds and following seas for your planned adventure!
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Mike Harker bought our Hunter 340 in 2000 when we traded in for a Hunter 380. He sailed that boat all over the west coast and Baja before moving up to a larger Hunter and sailing around the world. He liked the name we chose for the 340 and named all his successive boats with the same name. Super interesting guy, Glad we got to know him.
www.sail-world.com
A Charmed Life- the Mike Harker story
Fancy cruising with a couple of Miss Universe contestants who can cook? What about a crew of international beauties that are quite happy to take their clothing off and let you take stunning photographs of them? Or perhaps you would prefer the solitude of a sailing a magnificent yacht solo around...
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I also had a 80's Hunter 31 and now 46. The Hunter 46/466/460 space below, long water line, tonnage, in-mast furling main, large spade rudder and large aft cockpit will provide very comfortable sailing even in heavy weather. In addition, the bow thruster will make marian maneuvering and docking a breeze.
i have a 450 Passage (Center Cockpit) and would never go back to a DS for many of the reasons you've mentioned - cabin comfort, and sailing visibility for a few. my longest passage has been around 500 miles so no great feat, but i never felt even remotely at risk.
would boats like 420 y 540 passagemaker more appealing to me, the storage closet are much begger than the 41 for example, but when anchored you will love the aft cockpit thats more connected to water level. also that are big boats for 2 people so you can modify and set one of the cabin only for storage. in my h41 the front head is only for storage for example.
sorry i mean 450 (that will be the only boat i would trade my h41. and is not too big to handle alone. also remember the bigger the faster, the bigger less moviment at anchor and under way.
How do you guys with the B&R rig find sailing downwind? A circumnavigation will (hopefully) be sailing DDW a lot of the time. Hunters cross oceans so it can't be that hard to set up a reliable sail plan. Maybe the Twizzle Rig with the main stowed would work.
Twizzle rig?
Hi All, I have a Hunter 356 2002yr with B&R In Mast Furling, and am looking at a new suit of sails. I am usually short handed so need easy handling. The jib foil only has one groove for a bolt rope, so the Twizzle would have to be using only one groove. The Twizzle rig looks ideal for down wind...
forums.sailboatowners.com
i am not a fan with B&R i would like to go with double jib, double wisker pole, sometimes i open all the boom and from there i fly my gennaker downwind, no main. With more than 15 knots you are doing almost 6 with jib on a pole alone.
Great question.. yeah the down wind runs are definitely not as productive as I bring the main in enough such that the sail isn't rubbing up against the spreader. However you can make up for that a bit with a spinnaker and the foresail. On a long run, some folks will bring the main in completely and just fly the two head sails.
BTW.. I love the B&R.. having no back stay constantly in your face while on the back deck is liberating. Which i suppose is why so many other boats are now coming with a B&R rig..
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More than 90 degree aparent and the main will rub on the spreaders but not so bad, i think no problem and you can allways put more protection on the rubbing area. I think you can do a lot of nav on a hunter but probably not the best boat for this. For example on my rig i only have 3 hyliard for spy, jib and main, no spare one. Not a easy task to change one of them under navigation. In other more expensive and older boat that i had, they all had at least on spare hyliard.
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We circumnavigated eastern Caribbean 4 times from 2015-2019 on our 2002 passage 456. But didn't cross any oceans. Weather Windows of a few days are there... Windows of a few weeks are another story.
We discovered the Best way to sail downwind after we added a staysail with a Furler. Two poles jib out to one side and staysail out on the other. Main stays furled up. Sailed 287 miles non stop from Puerto Rico to Turks and Caicos wind dead astern 20 knots, never touched the sheets! Comfortable ride. We put the poles on at anchor and then deploy by winching in the sheet and letting the furling line out gradually always keeping tension. Same process in reverse to bring them in. Safe nobody goes forward or out side the cockpit.