Dave makes a good point. The 26 and 260 were designed to sail well but also be VERY comfortable. Here is my take on the 26. The layout is excellent. It is a huge boat for only 26 feet. The aft berth is spacious and you can flip the cabin table around and make the v-berth HUGE. The enclosed head is nice also. I have cooked on my H26 and if it is not raining you can also set up a table in the cockpit. Table stows under the v-berth.
The cockpit is also HUGE and just two weekends ago, I slept at anchor in my cockpit. No problems.
The H26 has very simple rigging. It is designed for the lazy sailor. You can lift the keel with the weakest of efforts. Rope clutches control the halyards and reefing is also a one line operation. There are no genoa cars nor is there a traveler. It seems to me that the compromises made were to create a decent sailing vessel that is easy and comfortable.
Mission accomplished. The H26/260 is very comfortable and outsails most other boats in light air. Above 12kts and you start to wrestle with the controls. I put my first reef in between 12 and 15 kts. At 15 I am rolling in some of the genoa. At 20, I'm stowing my sails and turning on the O.B. In my previous boat, I was comfortable in 25 to 30 on a regular basis.... but that boat was not a great boat for cruising because it was cramped and the control lines were much more complicated.
On the positive side of sailing characteristics.... the genoa blocks are farther inboard than any boat I have ever owned (I've owned a lot) and as a result, the Hunter points higher than I expected she would. When I use the tweak I showed in the earlier thread to bring the boom to mid-ship, I can even get the windvane inside the tabs. SHE POINTS VERY WELL!
With all of that being said, if you want to improve the sailing characteristics of the H26/260 my opinion is that a mechanism to bring the boom to mid-ship for upwind sailing helps (i.e. traveler or some other mechanism) and for reaching and off wind sailing, a mechanism for bringing the genoa sheets to the gunwale would help. I have been playing with a "reverse barber hauler" idea that does improve the reaching abilities but I don't have all of the bugs worked out yet and my lines get all tangled up. More on that in another post.
The cockpit is also HUGE and just two weekends ago, I slept at anchor in my cockpit. No problems.
The H26 has very simple rigging. It is designed for the lazy sailor. You can lift the keel with the weakest of efforts. Rope clutches control the halyards and reefing is also a one line operation. There are no genoa cars nor is there a traveler. It seems to me that the compromises made were to create a decent sailing vessel that is easy and comfortable.
Mission accomplished. The H26/260 is very comfortable and outsails most other boats in light air. Above 12kts and you start to wrestle with the controls. I put my first reef in between 12 and 15 kts. At 15 I am rolling in some of the genoa. At 20, I'm stowing my sails and turning on the O.B. In my previous boat, I was comfortable in 25 to 30 on a regular basis.... but that boat was not a great boat for cruising because it was cramped and the control lines were much more complicated.
On the positive side of sailing characteristics.... the genoa blocks are farther inboard than any boat I have ever owned (I've owned a lot) and as a result, the Hunter points higher than I expected she would. When I use the tweak I showed in the earlier thread to bring the boom to mid-ship, I can even get the windvane inside the tabs. SHE POINTS VERY WELL!
With all of that being said, if you want to improve the sailing characteristics of the H26/260 my opinion is that a mechanism to bring the boom to mid-ship for upwind sailing helps (i.e. traveler or some other mechanism) and for reaching and off wind sailing, a mechanism for bringing the genoa sheets to the gunwale would help. I have been playing with a "reverse barber hauler" idea that does improve the reaching abilities but I don't have all of the bugs worked out yet and my lines get all tangled up. More on that in another post.
