I am trying really hard to buy an H28 located on my home lake. TS Arlene blew through here Saturday, dumping several hours worth of heavy rains on the boat. I went with my surveyor yesterday to check the boat out, and we discovered many, many wet areas in the cabin - the point of the v-berth, the settee berths, the little compartment next to the hull in the nav station under the electrical panel. The nav station flip up compartment had water standing in it, as did the floor in the head. The surveyor looked for possible leaks, and we came up with the following: 1. All opening hatches need new gaskets. They are cracked and not seated properly. 2. The removable fixed hatch in the cabin roof needs to be re-bedded. 3. The other fixed hatches in the cabin show signs of leaking and need to be removed, sealed, and replaced. 4. The jib car track looks like it holds water on the uphill side of it. It should be removed and re-bedded, but you cannot get to the bottom side of the bolts. There is no access to them in the cabin; they are behind the fiberglass head liner. This is an issue, as it could likely be a source for leaks. 5. The inboard stanchion supports should be re-bedded, but you can’t get to the bottom of them, either. So how do you get to the bottom of the stanchions and the jib car track???? Any other suggestions for tracking down and resolving these leaks? It looks like it's difficult, because water getting on top of the fiberglass head liner could run anywhere before it comes out, masking the true source of the leak. Please give me ideas. Sherry
H28 Leaks
- Thread starter Sherry
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H28 info
Sherry, I owned a 1989 H28 for a few years. The only leaky areas were in the aft cabin, down the aft most bulkhead and down the compression post. Best of luck, Matt s/v CATALYST 1994 H40.5
Sherry, I owned a 1989 H28 for a few years. The only leaky areas were in the aft cabin, down the aft most bulkhead and down the compression post. Best of luck, Matt s/v CATALYST 1994 H40.5
Archives?
Unfor, I don't know the specific answers, but I'm guessing you are maybe a newcommer to HOW. Be sure to check the archives...they are full of invaluable information and chances are someone has answered this question here before. Good luck.
Unfor, I don't know the specific answers, but I'm guessing you are maybe a newcommer to HOW. Be sure to check the archives...they are full of invaluable information and chances are someone has answered this question here before. Good luck.
jib car rails and stanchions
I went thru the forum - great info. Thanks. Mostly what I found was about hatches leaking - good advice on addressing this issue. If water comes down the compression post, where will it come out into the cabin? How to remedy this? Any suggestions on where/how to see the bottom of the jib car tracks and stanchions? Is there anyway to see them? They seem to be completely hidden behind the fiberglass head liner.
I went thru the forum - great info. Thanks. Mostly what I found was about hatches leaking - good advice on addressing this issue. If water comes down the compression post, where will it come out into the cabin? How to remedy this? Any suggestions on where/how to see the bottom of the jib car tracks and stanchions? Is there anyway to see them? They seem to be completely hidden behind the fiberglass head liner.
Leaks
Sherry, Slow down and take your time. If the boat has that many leaks, I'm willing to bet there's plenty of wet core in the cabin top and decks. Not a good thing. I looked at a boat with similar leak problems and was very eager to buy. I was too eager. I ended up having to walk away after investing in the survey. There were enough "signs" just from all the leaks that I should have paid more attention to, but I was so anxious. I'm glad I walked though. After slowing down and taking more time, I came across a couple of other boats that were in much nicer shape and better equipped. One rigged very nicely for racing, and the other setup nicely for cruising. I bought the cruiser and couldn't be happier, although it was a very tough decision. Hopefully your surveyor is a good one and finds the hidden water damage so there are no surprises for you down the road. You can still reconsider and just take some more time to look at other boats. Patience is crucial here! Good luck!
Sherry, Slow down and take your time. If the boat has that many leaks, I'm willing to bet there's plenty of wet core in the cabin top and decks. Not a good thing. I looked at a boat with similar leak problems and was very eager to buy. I was too eager. I ended up having to walk away after investing in the survey. There were enough "signs" just from all the leaks that I should have paid more attention to, but I was so anxious. I'm glad I walked though. After slowing down and taking more time, I came across a couple of other boats that were in much nicer shape and better equipped. One rigged very nicely for racing, and the other setup nicely for cruising. I bought the cruiser and couldn't be happier, although it was a very tough decision. Hopefully your surveyor is a good one and finds the hidden water damage so there are no surprises for you down the road. You can still reconsider and just take some more time to look at other boats. Patience is crucial here! Good luck!
Sigh . . . .
Dave, Your words were probably EXACTLY what I NEEDED to hear - certainly not what I WANTED to hear
I am now composing my email to formally withdraw my offer to buy the boat. Snivel snivel. I, like you, am walking away after having invested in the survey. BUT, since I was with the surveyor every step of the way, and since he is also an old and dear friend, the Boat School I got yesterday was well worth the $$$ I spent on the survey. I don't regret a penny of it. I am sooo much better equipped to shop now. He really took time to explain every inch of that boat to me - from bow to stern, from top to bottom. It was an awesome, but disappointing, day. So as my friend says about failed match.com opportunities . . . neeeeext! Just gotta find that next. Unfortunately on my home lake, there are no acceptable Nexts available in my price range. I really, really like the H28 and the H30. So I guess I have broaden my search radius, which also gets expensive - trips to see boats plus shipping to get it here. Any other words of advice or wisdom for me?? Thank you. You were in the right place at the right time.
Dave, Your words were probably EXACTLY what I NEEDED to hear - certainly not what I WANTED to hear
I am now composing my email to formally withdraw my offer to buy the boat. Snivel snivel. I, like you, am walking away after having invested in the survey. BUT, since I was with the surveyor every step of the way, and since he is also an old and dear friend, the Boat School I got yesterday was well worth the $$$ I spent on the survey. I don't regret a penny of it. I am sooo much better equipped to shop now. He really took time to explain every inch of that boat to me - from bow to stern, from top to bottom. It was an awesome, but disappointing, day. So as my friend says about failed match.com opportunities . . . neeeeext! Just gotta find that next. Unfortunately on my home lake, there are no acceptable Nexts available in my price range. I really, really like the H28 and the H30. So I guess I have broaden my search radius, which also gets expensive - trips to see boats plus shipping to get it here. Any other words of advice or wisdom for me?? Thank you. You were in the right place at the right time.Go Back to Post On the 28.5's?
About a week ago, if I remember correctly, you posted a question on several models, including the 28,28.5 and 30. Now any boats can have leaky hatches and leaky staunchions and possibly even leaky Genoa track fasteners, but it seems unlikely that ONE boat would experience all those leaks without showing interior wetness, soft core areas and maybe obvious mildew tracks. I'd venture to say you might take a little more time and don't fall in love with the cosmetics, and as many of us suggested a week ago, the 28.5 is typically the better sailing boat. The hatches and port light seals are easily evaluated and easily replaced; the staunchion bases aren't easily accessible fom inside the boat; but the Genoa track bolts are easily accessed from the interior. The Yanmar and the rudder should get a close inspection. Read the owner surveys and pay particular attention to what they seemed to replace on a particular model, but most of all enjoy the process of really finding out all about what you're buying, even if you take the surveyor with a couple more times. Fair Winds.
About a week ago, if I remember correctly, you posted a question on several models, including the 28,28.5 and 30. Now any boats can have leaky hatches and leaky staunchions and possibly even leaky Genoa track fasteners, but it seems unlikely that ONE boat would experience all those leaks without showing interior wetness, soft core areas and maybe obvious mildew tracks. I'd venture to say you might take a little more time and don't fall in love with the cosmetics, and as many of us suggested a week ago, the 28.5 is typically the better sailing boat. The hatches and port light seals are easily evaluated and easily replaced; the staunchion bases aren't easily accessible fom inside the boat; but the Genoa track bolts are easily accessed from the interior. The Yanmar and the rudder should get a close inspection. Read the owner surveys and pay particular attention to what they seemed to replace on a particular model, but most of all enjoy the process of really finding out all about what you're buying, even if you take the surveyor with a couple more times. Fair Winds.
We 28.5 Guys sure love our boats
Sherry, I sent you a personl email about the 28.5 last week and you have gotten some more lobbing for the 28.5. I am surprised that the 28 owner's are not jumping on this telling how great the boat is maybe that is a sign. Dave is right about the problems and taking your time. When looking at boat's we tend to get all caught up in the buying the boat and we get kind of giddy. My boat is the one he was referring to that is set up to race. We love our 28.5 and have a big and a great following of the boat. If your plans are to sail the boat with your family and get back into racing then take a real good look at the PHRF # of the boat's. The PHRF # alone tell's a story about the boat. And getting feed back from here and also from owner's of the boat is huge. Being able to get to problem area's on any of the boat is a problem. Some boats getting to one thing might be a nightmare on another. Having the boat shipped to you is more cost and you might just want to add it into the cost of the boat. I am on my 3rd Hunter we started with a 23 then a 25.5 and now the 28.5. I would not want a boat with the traveler up on the cabin top. We love where it is on the 28.5 and from a sailing point of view we are able to reach it fast when we start to roll when we get hit with a puff. Allot of people who come on the boat talk about how it is in the way and how they like it up on top right up until they wife start's screaming and the husband can not drop the traveler from where he is at the wheel. When ar dock we just move the traveler over. Not such a tough fix. But take a close look at how the boat will sail and where you will be vs who ever is driving and how it is getting to the control's. A friend of mine once told me when he was looking for a boat to live on to make up a list of what I needed on the boat for everyday life. Clothes,Iron,Soap, Dress clothes,shoes and so on. He then told me to take the list with me and when looking at boats to talke with my wife about where we would now put these thing's. Some boats we quickly could not find some place for something as simple as a ironing board. Same thing applies to which boat on how they are going to work for your style. If you do have racing in the future then make sure you check the PHRF number's. It would suck to by a boat only to find out it was a lead sled or sailed one length side ways for every length you went forward and you were not able to win races with it. Cliff H 28.5 Red Dog
Sherry, I sent you a personl email about the 28.5 last week and you have gotten some more lobbing for the 28.5. I am surprised that the 28 owner's are not jumping on this telling how great the boat is maybe that is a sign. Dave is right about the problems and taking your time. When looking at boat's we tend to get all caught up in the buying the boat and we get kind of giddy. My boat is the one he was referring to that is set up to race. We love our 28.5 and have a big and a great following of the boat. If your plans are to sail the boat with your family and get back into racing then take a real good look at the PHRF # of the boat's. The PHRF # alone tell's a story about the boat. And getting feed back from here and also from owner's of the boat is huge. Being able to get to problem area's on any of the boat is a problem. Some boats getting to one thing might be a nightmare on another. Having the boat shipped to you is more cost and you might just want to add it into the cost of the boat. I am on my 3rd Hunter we started with a 23 then a 25.5 and now the 28.5. I would not want a boat with the traveler up on the cabin top. We love where it is on the 28.5 and from a sailing point of view we are able to reach it fast when we start to roll when we get hit with a puff. Allot of people who come on the boat talk about how it is in the way and how they like it up on top right up until they wife start's screaming and the husband can not drop the traveler from where he is at the wheel. When ar dock we just move the traveler over. Not such a tough fix. But take a close look at how the boat will sail and where you will be vs who ever is driving and how it is getting to the control's. A friend of mine once told me when he was looking for a boat to live on to make up a list of what I needed on the boat for everyday life. Clothes,Iron,Soap, Dress clothes,shoes and so on. He then told me to take the list with me and when looking at boats to talke with my wife about where we would now put these thing's. Some boats we quickly could not find some place for something as simple as a ironing board. Same thing applies to which boat on how they are going to work for your style. If you do have racing in the future then make sure you check the PHRF number's. It would suck to by a boat only to find out it was a lead sled or sailed one length side ways for every length you went forward and you were not able to win races with it. Cliff H 28.5 Red Dog
Neeeeeext!
Cliff and All, Thank you for your words of advice. I know the right boat is out there for me - just gotta find it. I am, based on the advice from several of you, revisiting my impressions of the 28.5. There's one on a lake not too far from me. I looked at it once, but I may go back and look at it again with a more critical eye and a tape measure. We'll see . . . Cliff, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to ignore you, but I didn't get the personal email you sent. My email is swhitten@midsouth.rr.com. Thank you all once again!!!!! Sherry
Cliff and All, Thank you for your words of advice. I know the right boat is out there for me - just gotta find it. I am, based on the advice from several of you, revisiting my impressions of the 28.5. There's one on a lake not too far from me. I looked at it once, but I may go back and look at it again with a more critical eye and a tape measure. We'll see . . . Cliff, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to ignore you, but I didn't get the personal email you sent. My email is swhitten@midsouth.rr.com. Thank you all once again!!!!! Sherry
H28.5 leaks
I guess you've already passed, but for what it's worth - any older boat will require vigilance with regards to leaks. When I bought my 1985 Hunter, there were only a few leaks noted in the report (all fixed). However, the surveyor recommended that for a 15 year old boat (at the time) all deck hardware with through-deck mounts should be removed and rebedded. And I did just that. And it was a lot of work. So keep that in mind - the older the boat, the more likely it is that you should rebed the deck hardware. As my surveyor pointed out, just because there is no visable sign of leakage, the old stuff could be letting moisture into the deck core and you would never know it until the rot made itself known. A few notes on the vintage 28.5 just for yucks and because I have time on my hands.... The stancions only have a small screw going into the deck. The receiving nut is imbedded in the glass and can't be accessed from below. There are some other deck hardware pieces that have this arrangement. The genoa/jib tracks can be access from behind the liner with the proper tools, but it is difficult and is best done as a two person job. I replaced my leaking hatches entirely, with no new leaks since then...... Cheers
I guess you've already passed, but for what it's worth - any older boat will require vigilance with regards to leaks. When I bought my 1985 Hunter, there were only a few leaks noted in the report (all fixed). However, the surveyor recommended that for a 15 year old boat (at the time) all deck hardware with through-deck mounts should be removed and rebedded. And I did just that. And it was a lot of work. So keep that in mind - the older the boat, the more likely it is that you should rebed the deck hardware. As my surveyor pointed out, just because there is no visable sign of leakage, the old stuff could be letting moisture into the deck core and you would never know it until the rot made itself known. A few notes on the vintage 28.5 just for yucks and because I have time on my hands.... The stancions only have a small screw going into the deck. The receiving nut is imbedded in the glass and can't be accessed from below. There are some other deck hardware pieces that have this arrangement. The genoa/jib tracks can be access from behind the liner with the proper tools, but it is difficult and is best done as a two person job. I replaced my leaking hatches entirely, with no new leaks since then...... Cheers
28.5/28
I did some looking at these 2 boats. The floor plan seems to be the same. The hull loks like it could have been the same mold. The 28 has the newer fresher look of the 90's boats and the 28.5 has the more racer cruiser look. All in all there is only 28 feet to work with. Sail area is different by 1 foot and the boat's displacement is different. The 28 comes in at 7400 lbs with the 28.5 comeing in at 7000 lbs for the deep keel boat. I was surprised to see the 28 though weighted more had 200 lbs less ballest then the 28.5. I would also think the aft cabin of the 28 would be less since it is losing some space to the swim platform. If the 28 was longer then it would have been a wash. But since the 28 is 5 inches shorter and also has the swim platform then I would think it had a smaller aft cabin. They would need to rob the space from somewhere. Cliff
I did some looking at these 2 boats. The floor plan seems to be the same. The hull loks like it could have been the same mold. The 28 has the newer fresher look of the 90's boats and the 28.5 has the more racer cruiser look. All in all there is only 28 feet to work with. Sail area is different by 1 foot and the boat's displacement is different. The 28 comes in at 7400 lbs with the 28.5 comeing in at 7000 lbs for the deep keel boat. I was surprised to see the 28 though weighted more had 200 lbs less ballest then the 28.5. I would also think the aft cabin of the 28 would be less since it is losing some space to the swim platform. If the 28 was longer then it would have been a wash. But since the 28 is 5 inches shorter and also has the swim platform then I would think it had a smaller aft cabin. They would need to rob the space from somewhere. Cliff
Sherry
I glad you received my post in a constructive way. I knew it probably wasn't something you wanted to hear. I was in the same "boat" as you when I was pushing to purchase the boat with problems. It's really something you have to decide for yourself, although some insight from others sure is valuable. Cliff actually played the same role for me when I walked away from that first boat. One of the many things I learned about purchasing a boat is that you probably won't really save much money by buying a lower-priced boat. There's typically a reason (needs work and parts) the price is lower and that means you'll have to put some money into it to get it up to speed. By the way, I ended up with a 1987 28.5. I too was intrigued with the H28. However, there were so many more reviews (most positive) of the 28.5, I decided to go in that direction. There's no substitute for lots of owners talking positive about a given model. Anyway, other than the "sugar scoop" transom, there's really very little difference between the two. As for expanding your search area and the effect it has on transport costs, try not to worry about that. In the scheme of things, it's not a great deal of money if you're within a 100 miles or so. If you're like me, you're buying this boat to keep. The pain from the extra costs due to transport will fade away very quickly once you can stand on the dock and admire your "new baby".) Good luck in your search.
I glad you received my post in a constructive way. I knew it probably wasn't something you wanted to hear. I was in the same "boat" as you when I was pushing to purchase the boat with problems. It's really something you have to decide for yourself, although some insight from others sure is valuable. Cliff actually played the same role for me when I walked away from that first boat. One of the many things I learned about purchasing a boat is that you probably won't really save much money by buying a lower-priced boat. There's typically a reason (needs work and parts) the price is lower and that means you'll have to put some money into it to get it up to speed. By the way, I ended up with a 1987 28.5. I too was intrigued with the H28. However, there were so many more reviews (most positive) of the 28.5, I decided to go in that direction. There's no substitute for lots of owners talking positive about a given model. Anyway, other than the "sugar scoop" transom, there's really very little difference between the two. As for expanding your search area and the effect it has on transport costs, try not to worry about that. In the scheme of things, it's not a great deal of money if you're within a 100 miles or so. If you're like me, you're buying this boat to keep. The pain from the extra costs due to transport will fade away very quickly once you can stand on the dock and admire your "new baby".
) Good luck in your search.- Status