What are hunter sailboats hulls made of - solid fiberglass hull? Or is it cored? Specifically i'm looking at hunter 28.5 from 85-88. Any history of issues with these hulls - delamination? blisters etc. Thanks
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core
My Hunter 85 is solid fiberglass hull. The deck is cored with plywood I believe. The rudders delaminate if you let them get too hot. I have had 2 blisters to repair near the hull/keel joint. My boat is hauled every season......
My Hunter 85 is solid fiberglass hull. The deck is cored with plywood I believe. The rudders delaminate if you let them get too hot. I have had 2 blisters to repair near the hull/keel joint. My boat is hauled every season......
No core
Hunter to my knowledge has never used a core in the hull. The 28.5 has a known spot under the head that mkaes people nervous. The hull is not suported very well there and will flex if pushed on from the outside. Pat
Hunter to my knowledge has never used a core in the hull. The 28.5 has a known spot under the head that mkaes people nervous. The hull is not suported very well there and will flex if pushed on from the outside. Pat
Never had a blister.
We have never had a blister on our '85 H'31. Typically plywood coring above the water line and solid fiberglass below!
We have never had a blister on our '85 H'31. Typically plywood coring above the water line and solid fiberglass below!
website
You can get all kinds of info on the Huntertwentyeightfive disscussion group located on www.yahoo.com. go to groups on the home page, find the 28.5 group and join. Lots of members and good active discussions. Most all of us love our boats. Jeff
You can get all kinds of info on the Huntertwentyeightfive disscussion group located on www.yahoo.com. go to groups on the home page, find the 28.5 group and join. Lots of members and good active discussions. Most all of us love our boats. Jeff
H28.5
I agree with Jeff: log onto the H28.5 yahoo group site and check the archives there. I own a 1986 H28.5 and have no known blisters. Had some minor rudder delamination when I bought the boat a few years ago. The original Foss Foam rudders appear to be a weak point. Some owners have replaced them with Ida Sailor rudders. I repaired mine and it seems to be holding up well. I do question Hunter's wisdom in using iron for the keel, but I suppose it was just cheaper. Keel requires a bit more annual maintenance as a result, but that is no big deal. I think the H28.5 is a great boat and love sailing and owning mine. Having said that, boats approaching the 20 year age point are going to need some care and feeding. How well an individual boat holds up has a lot to do with the care and maintenance previous owners have taken. Get a really good surveyor to look over any candidates you find.
I agree with Jeff: log onto the H28.5 yahoo group site and check the archives there. I own a 1986 H28.5 and have no known blisters. Had some minor rudder delamination when I bought the boat a few years ago. The original Foss Foam rudders appear to be a weak point. Some owners have replaced them with Ida Sailor rudders. I repaired mine and it seems to be holding up well. I do question Hunter's wisdom in using iron for the keel, but I suppose it was just cheaper. Keel requires a bit more annual maintenance as a result, but that is no big deal. I think the H28.5 is a great boat and love sailing and owning mine. Having said that, boats approaching the 20 year age point are going to need some care and feeding. How well an individual boat holds up has a lot to do with the care and maintenance previous owners have taken. Get a really good surveyor to look over any candidates you find.
285, a great boat that needs TLC
Jason, Our 285 (1987) is our first boat and what a good choice it was for us! Fun to sail and easy to maintain with enough room for a long weekend, for a couple, and even a week. My wife and I just spent nine days on her. As for hulls problems, I've never had any and the surveyor I used, when I bought it four years ago, never found any. One common problem, like some of the other posting noted, is a "wet" rudder. I had one too but I pull the rudder, dried it out over a winter, and rebuilt it. Good as new for less than a quarter of the price of a new one. No need to get too finished on the gel coat (on the rudder) since it has to be painted anyway. One other problem I had was that the bottom paint kept "chipping" off the hull no matter what I used. Someone told me that this was probably because the bottom layer was never properly applied. Regardless, I sanded down the hull to the gel coat (not something I'd recommend for the faint of heart), applied five barrier coats and two coats of a good ablative paint. That did the trick. Never saw any signs of blistering. The point of all this is that with any boat but especially one as old as Hunter 285s, you'll need to give them some TLC. By the way our boat is for sale because we're moving up to a larger size. Kills me because I just got her the way I wanted her! Bob
Jason, Our 285 (1987) is our first boat and what a good choice it was for us! Fun to sail and easy to maintain with enough room for a long weekend, for a couple, and even a week. My wife and I just spent nine days on her. As for hulls problems, I've never had any and the surveyor I used, when I bought it four years ago, never found any. One common problem, like some of the other posting noted, is a "wet" rudder. I had one too but I pull the rudder, dried it out over a winter, and rebuilt it. Good as new for less than a quarter of the price of a new one. No need to get too finished on the gel coat (on the rudder) since it has to be painted anyway. One other problem I had was that the bottom paint kept "chipping" off the hull no matter what I used. Someone told me that this was probably because the bottom layer was never properly applied. Regardless, I sanded down the hull to the gel coat (not something I'd recommend for the faint of heart), applied five barrier coats and two coats of a good ablative paint. That did the trick. Never saw any signs of blistering. The point of all this is that with any boat but especially one as old as Hunter 285s, you'll need to give them some TLC. By the way our boat is for sale because we're moving up to a larger size. Kills me because I just got her the way I wanted her! Bob
Also
I also have a 85 model 28.5 for about 9 years. We had it out of the water in 2001 and found some blistering in the hull. Sand blasted, poped the blisters, filled in with White Marine Tex, then 3 coats of barrier coat and ablative paint applied. No more problems. Our rudder is fine but the stipes on the deck and hull have seen better days. Most of these boat are without the stipes anyway. A great boat inland lake sailing.
I also have a 85 model 28.5 for about 9 years. We had it out of the water in 2001 and found some blistering in the hull. Sand blasted, poped the blisters, filled in with White Marine Tex, then 3 coats of barrier coat and ablative paint applied. No more problems. Our rudder is fine but the stipes on the deck and hull have seen better days. Most of these boat are without the stipes anyway. A great boat inland lake sailing.
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