Hunter 140 purchase advice

[mshute]

Hello all, considering the purchase of a priced to sell Hunter 140 (1998 model) for my first sailboat. Given all the discussion of cracking issues in these boats, I am extremely hesitant, however the subject boat has only one hairline crack about 9 inches long. Given its age, I would guess that if it was in fact built with a substandard plastic resin, it would have developed more cracks by now. Thoughts, advice?? This boat has supposedly always been stored in a barn and I plan to store in my garage. Thanks!

 

[fastdoc98]

I might be wrong, and I'm sure others may offer their advice, but that's kinda the approach I took to my 170. I too was concerned about the cracking issues but I really liked the design of the boat. I found a 2003 with only a single 4 inch long surface crack on the floor which looks more like it happened from something being dropped on the floor rather than a stress fracture. My thinking was if the hull hasn't cracked apart in 9 years I'm probably going to be ok. I did drill and repair the crack with Devcon though shortly after I bought it.

 

[johnhamburger]

I recently bought a 170 as well (2000). I found only 1 crack that I would consider a stress crack. there were others that were from abuse, but overall, it's a great first boat.

 

[mdemayo123]

I currently have a JY-14 (earlier version of the Hunter 140) and can attest that a majority of the cracking that I have noticed occurs at the mast step. My boat spent a lot of time in the Northeast, so it was subject to significant temperature changes throughout the year. I don't remember when it cracked exactly, but it has been that way for quite sometime. I would recommend inspecting the mast step area thoroughly. None of the cracks on my boat create any kind of functional impairment whatsoever.

However, I did have cracks on the gunwales of my boat due to rough landings at the dock which i was able to easily repair using the ACP repair methods on this website. i dont think I would let a 9 inch hairline crack keep me from buying the boat if you really like it. Like I said, mine has been cracked for a number of years now and despite them I havent had any problems with it. If you want you can always dremel out the crack, fill it with resin and epoxy, and sand it smooth once its dried.