I've been looking at slightly larger boats than my ancient O'Day 22, big enough my wife and I can spend a weekend in semi comfort. I looked at an '81 Hunter 25 over the weekend that seems likely to meet my needs, but then when I looked at owner reviews on this web site, I didn't like what I was seeing about tow rail leakage and poor chanin plates. (There was also some stuff about excessive weather helm, but I think these are often confused with poor rig tuning and sail trim.) Anyway, any more thoughts/comments from you H25 owners? Tom Monroe Carlyle lake
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h25
I've had an '81 h25 and I'll wager i'm at least the third owner. No chainplate issues at all. Had some toerail leaks which a former owner tried to fix with some sort of marine gorilla snot... cut it out and replaced it with fine grade architectural sealant...no more problems. The pole , in my experiance, likes to be damn near straight up. I love my boat. Good to go even in snot rockin seas. Regards, Jim
I've had an '81 h25 and I'll wager i'm at least the third owner. No chainplate issues at all. Had some toerail leaks which a former owner tried to fix with some sort of marine gorilla snot... cut it out and replaced it with fine grade architectural sealant...no more problems. The pole , in my experiance, likes to be damn near straight up. I love my boat. Good to go even in snot rockin seas. Regards, Jim
Buy the Hunter
My H25 is vintage 1975, sat on the hard, alone, neglected, uncovered for several years until I found it and rescued it last year. GREAT boat. I see one area on the toe rail where a previous owner had made the same fix mentioned in an earlier reply to your post, it seemed to have worked. Torrential rains in VA for the past 3 months, I see no evidence of any leaking from the deck/hull joint. No chainplate probs, but that is farily easy to reinforce anyway. Weather helm on this boat is going to be due to, in my opinion, operator error on the sail deployment for the conditions, rather than any design flaw. Of the choices you have out there, I recommend the Hunter. Want leaks, buy a Catalina.
My H25 is vintage 1975, sat on the hard, alone, neglected, uncovered for several years until I found it and rescued it last year. GREAT boat. I see one area on the toe rail where a previous owner had made the same fix mentioned in an earlier reply to your post, it seemed to have worked. Torrential rains in VA for the past 3 months, I see no evidence of any leaking from the deck/hull joint. No chainplate probs, but that is farily easy to reinforce anyway. Weather helm on this boat is going to be due to, in my opinion, operator error on the sail deployment for the conditions, rather than any design flaw. Of the choices you have out there, I recommend the Hunter. Want leaks, buy a Catalina.
Agree with Jim & Bryan
I have a 1979 Cherubini H25 which I purchased in 1996. Love it, comfortable boat, easy to handle, dry, etc.etc.etc.. Small toerail problem initially, easily corrected. No chain plate problems to date and she has been out in some pretty good blows. Made some changes to make it more user friendly from a single-hander's point of view such as roller furling, running main halyards back to cockpit, tiller tamer, lazy jacs. No noticable weather helm either with all sail flying, reefed main and head sail, or head sail alone. Most reviews I have seen have been pro 25 not anti 25. I think it is a great boat and I sail the Great Lakes which can really try your abilities.
I have a 1979 Cherubini H25 which I purchased in 1996. Love it, comfortable boat, easy to handle, dry, etc.etc.etc.. Small toerail problem initially, easily corrected. No chain plate problems to date and she has been out in some pretty good blows. Made some changes to make it more user friendly from a single-hander's point of view such as roller furling, running main halyards back to cockpit, tiller tamer, lazy jacs. No noticable weather helm either with all sail flying, reefed main and head sail, or head sail alone. Most reviews I have seen have been pro 25 not anti 25. I think it is a great boat and I sail the Great Lakes which can really try your abilities.
My 82 H25
Buy the Hunter 25, you won't be sorry. The boat is built like a tank, totally solid & safe in high winds. She has been knocked down numerous times with no ill effects unless you consider the responses that I get from my wife. I have a minor leak in the starboard toe-rail approximately 5' back from the mast. I have read some of the responses & would like to know if complete toe-rail removal was necessary to rectify the problem.
Buy the Hunter 25, you won't be sorry. The boat is built like a tank, totally solid & safe in high winds. She has been knocked down numerous times with no ill effects unless you consider the responses that I get from my wife. I have a minor leak in the starboard toe-rail approximately 5' back from the mast. I have read some of the responses & would like to know if complete toe-rail removal was necessary to rectify the problem.
JC II bought one
John Cherubini II, the son of the designer of our Hunters, and designer of some of the interiors has bought an h25, and is fixing it up for off-shore racing. Is there a better an endorsement? The effects of 20+ years of water on any boats structure will leave some maintenance issues. But the price plus fix-up costs ($9,000+$3,500 for sails+ $3,000 on the hull for our '77 h27) yield a beautiful and seaworthy boat at a bargain price. If the maintenance is not for you, find a bank, and buy a new boat. Otherwise, go for it! David Lady Lillie
John Cherubini II, the son of the designer of our Hunters, and designer of some of the interiors has bought an h25, and is fixing it up for off-shore racing. Is there a better an endorsement? The effects of 20+ years of water on any boats structure will leave some maintenance issues. But the price plus fix-up costs ($9,000+$3,500 for sails+ $3,000 on the hull for our '77 h27) yield a beautiful and seaworthy boat at a bargain price. If the maintenance is not for you, find a bank, and buy a new boat. Otherwise, go for it! David Lady Lillie
thanks for the input!
Thanks for the great comments! I'm one of those guys who HAS to sail, but also has to make it work on a modest income, so while I would rather not do the fix up/maintenance stuff, I've learned to do it sooner than later and to do it at least moderately well. I think my wife and I will pursue this H25. There are some other issues I didn't mention ... a redo of the non-skid, changes in rigging, and other stuff. But I didn't want to go into all that if there were inherent problems, hence, my research into owner reviews and my questions posted here. I'm also trying to fix up an old snipe to sail with my grandson who likes more speed and excitement than a cabin boat provides, so looks like my summer is full of boat work. Thanks for afirming this boat for me. Oh yeah ... if anyone has the answer to the previous post regarding removing the whole toe rail, please post. I think another way of asking this is, do the leaks occur in the hull/deck joint covered by the toe rail, or where the toe rail is screwed in? Tom
Thanks for the great comments! I'm one of those guys who HAS to sail, but also has to make it work on a modest income, so while I would rather not do the fix up/maintenance stuff, I've learned to do it sooner than later and to do it at least moderately well. I think my wife and I will pursue this H25. There are some other issues I didn't mention ... a redo of the non-skid, changes in rigging, and other stuff. But I didn't want to go into all that if there were inherent problems, hence, my research into owner reviews and my questions posted here. I'm also trying to fix up an old snipe to sail with my grandson who likes more speed and excitement than a cabin boat provides, so looks like my summer is full of boat work. Thanks for afirming this boat for me. Oh yeah ... if anyone has the answer to the previous post regarding removing the whole toe rail, please post. I think another way of asking this is, do the leaks occur in the hull/deck joint covered by the toe rail, or where the toe rail is screwed in? Tom
H25 leaks
My '82 H25 ("Box Top") was bought new in '82. I also had a few initial leaks, but none of them were in the toe rail-hull joint! One was around an opening port; silicone sealer around the outside fixed that. Lately I've found leaks coming from the glass reinforced forward hatch. They're coming from screw holes used to mount the hatch and where the hatch raiser threads into the hatch coaming. In all cases the leaks ran down between the outer hull and the inner liner, to end up dripping down the toerail through-bolted screws. The bilge has been dusty dry for twenty years! Buy and enjoy.
My '82 H25 ("Box Top") was bought new in '82. I also had a few initial leaks, but none of them were in the toe rail-hull joint! One was around an opening port; silicone sealer around the outside fixed that. Lately I've found leaks coming from the glass reinforced forward hatch. They're coming from screw holes used to mount the hatch and where the hatch raiser threads into the hatch coaming. In all cases the leaks ran down between the outer hull and the inner liner, to end up dripping down the toerail through-bolted screws. The bilge has been dusty dry for twenty years! Buy and enjoy.
Blown-Out Sails Cause Weather Helm Too
There have been a lot of posters that have complained of "weather helm" when in fact, based on some of their statements, the problem was more than likely due to something else. You picked up on the rig tuning and sail trim but there are also people trying to sail with blown-out sails. The OEM sails are not the highest quality but will get one by for many years if not over stressed. The boltrope shrinkage will cause a fuller main so this needs to be corrected after a time. It's easy to sail with a full main in relatively high winds when the sails are new and then one day there is the discovery that there is "too much weather helm". The boat doesn't point as high any more, gusts tend to cause "knock downs", the boat seems to heel more than it used to, etc. These are all good signs of sails that are blown out but some misinterpret these signals as "weather helm" or a problem with boat design. Don't know about the older boat rigs but the newer models - say mid 80's on - tend to have tall rigs that are great for sailing in light winds. However, when the winds pick up one has to reef or the boat will heel. A Cruising World article on comparison of various boats in this size range down rated the Hunter because it was "tender" in stronger winds. Compared to the competition it had far and away the greatest mainsail area and tallest mast. The dummies apparently didn't think about reefing. If you plan to trailer check out the difficulty in raising the mast. On a Catalina 25 there is a big difference in raising the mast on a "standard rig" vs. the "tall rig". When I was checking these out the people who trailer recommended the "standard rig" for ease of raising the mast even though there is only a couple feet difference in the mast length. However, mast-raising methodology could negate tall rig mast raising problems. Never did get a 25 and wound up going to a H35. Still have the heavy half-ton pickup though.
There have been a lot of posters that have complained of "weather helm" when in fact, based on some of their statements, the problem was more than likely due to something else. You picked up on the rig tuning and sail trim but there are also people trying to sail with blown-out sails. The OEM sails are not the highest quality but will get one by for many years if not over stressed. The boltrope shrinkage will cause a fuller main so this needs to be corrected after a time. It's easy to sail with a full main in relatively high winds when the sails are new and then one day there is the discovery that there is "too much weather helm". The boat doesn't point as high any more, gusts tend to cause "knock downs", the boat seems to heel more than it used to, etc. These are all good signs of sails that are blown out but some misinterpret these signals as "weather helm" or a problem with boat design. Don't know about the older boat rigs but the newer models - say mid 80's on - tend to have tall rigs that are great for sailing in light winds. However, when the winds pick up one has to reef or the boat will heel. A Cruising World article on comparison of various boats in this size range down rated the Hunter because it was "tender" in stronger winds. Compared to the competition it had far and away the greatest mainsail area and tallest mast. The dummies apparently didn't think about reefing. If you plan to trailer check out the difficulty in raising the mast. On a Catalina 25 there is a big difference in raising the mast on a "standard rig" vs. the "tall rig". When I was checking these out the people who trailer recommended the "standard rig" for ease of raising the mast even though there is only a couple feet difference in the mast length. However, mast-raising methodology could negate tall rig mast raising problems. Never did get a 25 and wound up going to a H35. Still have the heavy half-ton pickup though.
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