Hard Dodger, Hunter 460

Aug 19, 2020
1
Hunter 460 Tampa
Hello All,
Thanks to everyone for the articles and commentary in these forums which have been extremely useful in sorting out various things over time. And just fun to read. I'm hoping to contribute a little as something comes up worth posting....

I'm considering hard dodger options and I came across this photo attached here of what appears to be a 2001 H460 with hard dodger and bimini. I believe it was a photo on sailboatlistings. com but has since disappeared (sold or whatever) from that site. I do recall a few months ago seeing the photo on maybe Pintrest with a notation that the work had been done by Delta Marine in Seattle. But, though I've hounded Delta for more information they seem to think they didn't do the project. Just wondering if anyone here has seen this boat before or is owner/member. The photo looks like a professional brokerage/yacht builder brochure or website type. Not the kind I have of my boat haha.
Anyways, if anyone has any idea about anything at all about this, I'd appreciate a clue since I am at this point clueless.

Cheers,
Todd
Laguna Pearl, Hunter 460
Tampa

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Mikem

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Dec 20, 2009
823
Hunter 466 Bremerton
I keep my 2003 466 in Bremerton wa and at one time two other friends had a 2001 and 2002 460 respectively. The point is that since 2001 I never saw or heard of a 460 like that in the Seattle area. I also have a naval architect buddy that works at Delta. They typically do much bigger and more custom stuff.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
I don't see a hailing port or any other number, so maybe this pic a factory photo of a boat before the new owner gets it? I hope you get the location.
 
May 28, 2015
33
hunter 460 Stuart
Hello Todd, Mikem and Ron.
Well, we feel a bit honored to be the subject of a boat hunt. We are the owners of Spirit, the 2001 Hunter 460 featuring the custom hard top/dodger/integrated davit structure. After buying her new, we installed the hard top. The design is ours we developed through about 5 mock up’ with functionality tests performed by day sails. We then contracted a fabricator who got the dog house done and was supposed to start the hard top...but his house burned down. So we lost him and found another fabricator (aluminum welder) who framed from the arch back through the davits. I skinned the aft section over (and under with head liner and shelves). We then found a fabricator for the tempered glass windows. All that done, we installed the lights and electronics which includes a NavPod with multi function radar/plotter attached to the bottom of the hard top hanging down above the console. The davits are custom to the 10’6” AB RIB with 20 hp Honda bolted on. We made custom canvas connector between fiberglass dog house and hard top as the arch must be able to flex. Added windowed roll up spray/wind shields from dog house to cockpit coaming...and that’s about it. We sailed her round the Virgin Islands about 5 years plus trips through the Bahamas, Turks, Puerto Rico a lot (that photo was taken by a professional photographer friend of mine from a Hatteras in Puerto Rico). The couple on the bow: She’s a professional model in Puerto Rico who brought along her boyfriend. We’ve had a lot of fun sailing Spirt over the years having had many guests aboard. But about the hard top. The davits actually penetrate the aft deck and are based in blocks epoxied to the hull. The upper pariferal tube had a second tube slid inside before we bent it. Result was we were in one front predicted to stall north of Mayaguana and presented us 39 gusting 45 knot winds with the dingy/motor in davits...no problem. Rolling curtains down, we were warm and dry.

Conclusion: This installation was a complex and costly project even with me doing much of the work. The majority being the welders assistant. More so than I imagined. But the value is immense in comfort. Excluding dinghy and electronics the cost was somewhere near or above 30k back in 2006 or thereabouts.

So, that’s probably more than you asked. And there are other ways I’d do this. The 460 is a good candidate as the engine is so far forward regard weight. The hull is the original 45 center cockpit. So if you look at one of those and compare to the aft cockpit 460...note how much fiberglass weight is removed by eliminating the fairly elevated center cockpit. I weighed the dog house before installed and it was closely 400 pounds. I don’t know if that’s equal to the coaming and all of the CC. But also imagine the design parameter to consider at least 6 adults up in the CC.

Anyhow, I just happened across your search as I was poking around the Forums searching info on refrigeration conversions from 110v to 12 v. I was really surprised to find a search going on with a photo of me at Spirit’s helm from years ago in Puerto Rico. Small world.

Happy to field your questions if I’m able.

Tim