As with any boat, your intended use is of prime consideration. We have a 2003 426aft which we purchased in 2010 from an owner who used the boat very little, it therefore, being in exceptionally clean condition. My previous boats, a Cherubini Raider 33 and a Hunter Legend 35.5 were outstanding and good performers respectively by comparison to the 426. But something strange happened; We got older. My wife and I became more interested in comfort, safety, storage space, cruise kindliness, and an assortment of gear to make handling the boat easier. I was also very concerned about aesthetics. We found that the 426 filled these demands beautifully, at some acceptable performance cost; especially with the in mast main. We are most satisfied - change that to happy - with our 426 which more then fills our criteria. AND, it sails fairly well enough for our purposes. Being ocean rated it is built rather strong, by previous Hunter standards, and offers an array of optional gear serving to make the boat easy to spend extended periods of time on in comfort.
As far as what I dislike about the boat, not much at all. Perhaps the one feature I would have changed without question is the design of the double bow roller and the anchor locker. It is virtually impossible to carry 2 anchors on the rollers as there is simply not enough clearance all the way around. The anchor locker should be divided in half longitudinally for the separation of two anchor rodes. However, this is a fairly easy modification that an owner could make by him/herself if so desired. There may be an issue with the charging solenoid located under the nav. station floor especially if the alternator has been upgraded to a hi-output type, such as a Balmar. It should be replaced by an Automatic Charging Relay. You might want to contact Eddie Breeden at Hunter for information on Hunter’s recommendations regarding this issue since they made such a change when a boat was ordered with the alternator upgrade. Another option is to search this site for Mainesail’s discussion of this issue.
There are a number of other upgrades that I accomplished which I listed in my owner modifications. Go to HunterOwners.com - Owner Directory pull down menu - search owner directory - and then search my username, captainpat, for a detailed listing of all the changes I made to my 426. Of course the Raymarine instrument package that was state of the art in 2003 is now obsolete, but functional.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss any issues in depth. You can send me a private message with your email address or phone number so that I can contact you.
Buy the boat if it suits your plans. You’ll love it.
