Companionway issue with a Hunter 216

[Jeff Hobbs]

I'm a new sailor and bought a nicely kept 2004 Hunter 216. I've been out several times since i launched it in July '19 and the one concern i have that i havent seen in any discussion forums is the companionway flexing or distorting so that the top slat wont slide completely down and seat atop the middle one. Sometimes leaving as much as 1/4" gap between the two roughly.
At first i attributed it to the shroud tension narrowing the opening, which at the time, was the only variable or change i had made to her; which i loosened to get the slat to seat down completely.
However i found later that shroud tension might not be the cause entirely.
Does anyone have any experience with this one? I'm certainly not looking forward to a complete tensioning and tuning from scratch each time i set out.

 

[Hunter216]

I'm a new sailor and bought a nicely kept 2004 Hunter 216. I've been out several times since i launched it in July '19 and the one concern i have that i havent seen in any discussion forums is the companionway flexing or distorting so that the top slat wont slide completely down and seat atop the middle one. Sometimes leaving as much as 1/4" gap between the two roughly.
At first i attributed it to the shroud tension narrowing the opening, which at the time, was the only variable or change i had made to her; which i loosened to get the slat to seat down completely.
However i found later that shroud tension might not be the cause entirely.
Does anyone have any experience with this one? I'm certainly not looking forward to a complete tensioning and tuning from scratch each time i set out.

Welcome to the forums, you will find lots of helpful participants and info here.

I acquired my 216 last fall and have noticed that I have the same issue that you describe. My boat has been on a mooring all summer with only one occurrence where I dropped the mast, stay tension has been consistent

I’ve never been concerned about the gap as the boat weather vanes with the wind on the mooring so no rain intrusion etc. I believe your theory of the tension from the stays causing some compression is valid as I did not notice any gap when I stored the boat.

If it’s the same gap with mast up on both our boats I would say it’s a common issue.

I’m not clear about what your concern with having the gap is?

 

[Jeff Hobbs]

Hunter216, thanks for your input. Aside from the opening allowing for the occasional storm out of the NE or NW to work its way into the cuddy (my boat is in a slip) along with an assortment of bugs looking to move in, both which require a clean up, my major concern is if any structural stresses are the cause of harm over the long run. I like the boat so far, but she really has to be treated with a considerable amount of care (preventative) and forethought. And, i might be being a bit cautious simply because i'm still new at it but, i'd hate to have an oversight cause anything major to happen.. almost as much as the additional start-up prep work.
"Necessity being the mother of invention" i'll be working on a remedy!

 

[Hunter216]

I get being at a slip can be both good and bad. I had a new to me boat with twin snorkels in the cabin top. I was at a slip overnight once and slept through a storm and woke to a bunch of water in the cabin. The snorkels had been facing into the wind and had directed copious amounts of rainwater inside!!!

An “intrusion” preventer suggestion would be to place some easy peel foam weather stripping along the edge of the gap. Should keep bugs and some water out. The design of the cabin top “notch” for the mast makes it almost impossible to keep all the water out so that’s something you will just have to develop around. The SBO store sells a canvas “cover” that helps this a lot. Let me know if you want further info on this.

The ACP hull layup of this era of Hunter boats is known to crack but this has been attributed to bad batches of the Luran skin layer and possibly weather - cold brittle issue. My 2004 boat has never developed a crack so maybe I’m lucky. If your 2004 hasn’t either then maybe it never will.

Being on a fairly exposed mooring all season my boat is “sailing” 24-7 and hasn’t developed any issues as far as the stays causing this slight hull deformation are concerned. I often sail in somewhat overpowered state and have the spinnaker package so the hull has been fully loaded many times without issue.

I hope this helps.