General new-boat owner questions

[Frank A.]

I'm the new owner of a 1992 Hunter 28. Love the boat (first one) and have some "general new owner" questions. I'vewritten questions before and received numerous and helpful replies (especially you Nigel, you seem to be "da'man".!!). here's a few more:1. Head. Boat is equipped with what I  believe the standard installed head.  What's the capacity of the holding  tank.??? Specifically what is the pump-out procedure. Any valves to open/close while being pumped out? I also assume the ONLY thing that drains into the holding tank is the the head.???2. Where do my vanity and galley sinks  drain.????3. Where does my bilge drain.??? Bilge very seldom has anything but 1/2" of water in it.4. Rig. Boat is a fractional rig.  Specifically what are reasons for and advantages/disadvantages of fractional versus masthead rigs.??Thanks in advance for any responses, tips, etc.

 

[Canadice Stein]

A few answers...

My husband and I just got back today from an eight day cruise on our 1993. H28 that we purchased just over a year ago...Here goes:1 The holding tank capacity is a mere 12 gallons. We had it pumped twice on our trip and will probably have it pumped out tomorrow. We don't do anything special for pump out except that the dockhands at our marina request you pump water into the tank when they have emptied it and then they pump that out... I guess it helps to clean the tank out better. The holding tank is always vented through the small vent hose that you should see running from the top of the tank to the aft small vent on the starboard side of the hull right below the pumpout and fuelling ports. This should prevent any implosion of the holding tank. The head is the only thing that empties into this tank.2. The vanity sink drains out a small through hull that you should be able to see when you look into the cabinet under the vanity sink. This is on the starboard side about six inches above the water line. The galley sink drains through a larger through hull with a seacock that is located directly under the galley sink cabinet. 3. Our bilge has a small bilge pump that pumps to a small through hull that is on the port side of the hull about mid ship a couple of feet above the water line. As we are the second owners of the boat I'm not sure all of this is standard equipment, but is does seem to match the handbook that Hunter included with the boat as original equipment.4. As for the rig... that's a huge question. I'm sure you'll get many varied answers. The important thing about the fractional rig on this boat is to reef, and reef early. The mast height for this boat is fairly tall for a boat of this length. (As tall as many 30-34 foot boats) This puts lots of sail (with that large roached main) up off the water where there is usually a bit of difference in the wind speed. We find that she gets tender around 12 kts depending on how gusty the wind is. Over twelve with all of the sail up, you will heel quite a bit and experience more weather helm. We just installed a clinometer and have been having a great time learning how far we are heeled and how it affects our boat speed.I certainly could go on, but I'll spare you the details unless you want more...Our names and boat are listed in the owners list along with our e-mail address. Hope this helps... have fun, she's a great boat.Canadice SteinH28 Great BlueLake Champlain, VT

 

[Chris]

congratulations

Frank I wrote a similar letter when I bought a 93 27 a few weeks ago, specifically concerning which spare parts I should buy for the sail back from broker to home port. This may be of interest to you. It was very helpfull for me. It was new owner under the 93 27 category, I need to find out the answers to your questions from my boat also.Chriscboland@chealthpartners.com

 

[Alan Goodman]

Hunter 28 - a great boat!

You've chosen a great boat. Pleiades is a 1989 h28 which we have owned for less than a year. We love how this boat sails, and the setup for cruising. Our setup is slightly different on some of the features. The holding tank vent, as well as the fuel tank vent, exits on the side of the starboard aft seat, into the cockpit. The bilge receives drainage from the ice box drain, engine and transmission areas and the shower in the head. Our water tank is integral--that is, it is fiberglassed directly to the boat, so you can't remove, inspect, etc. One modification a prior owner made was to replace the fuel tank vent hose with clear plastic; when filling the tank, you can determine when to stop filling when you see the pink foam rising in the clear vent hose. It is very helpful.We too find that when sailing to weather, reefing at ~ 10-12 knots becomes necessary to avoid excessive weather helm.Hope you enjoy your boat.Al Goodmans/v Pleiades