Hunter Cherubini hull

[Mike Daus]

of our 82 H36 is definitely cored and not solid FRP. In November 2007, our slip neighbor's house boat caught fire, burnt to the water line and caused lots of heat damage to the starboard side of our H36. A lot has transpired since then, but the good news is that it is not as severe as originally thought and being repaired this offseason.

I had asked this forum and Hunter Marine about the composition of the H36 hull. Some reported it is solid laminate, Hunter Marine said it is cored from toerail to the water line.

The attached photos show a cored hull. These photos are at the widest part of the hull (pretty much opposite the nav station where the most damage was done). The outer layers of fiberglass delaminated and are being removed. The coring and inner layers of fiberglass are undamaged (whew!).

Anyway, the boat will be indoors for the rest of the winter and I'll have the opportunity to get a lot of maintenance done to the bottom while the fiberglass gets replaced.

My thanks to the website management as well as all contributors to this website and particularly this forum. The forum is not only a valuable source of information about our beloved Hunter sailboats but also a location to run to for comraderie and moral support when our sailing avocation takes it on the chin.

Happy New Year!

Mike
s/v Charisma 82H36

 

[Ed Schenck]

That is amazing news Mike. That Hunter would build a boat so similar to my H37C but use a different layup is very surprising. I can't tell from the pictures but I will take your word for it. You are sitting there looking at it. Good luck with the repair. Make her solid again.

 

[Mike Daus]

Amazes me as well. I had noticed that, on sunny days from inside the boat, the hull looked translucent in a couple places (that were not covered by liner, etc.). This as well as info from other posters led me to believe the entire hull above the water line was solid fiberglass. Even after getting the email from Hunter Marine telling me the hull was cored, I thought the hull was fiberglass and Hunter must be mistaken (being an older boat). In retrospect, however, I think the places I saw sunlight through the hull were where there were thruhulls, which are solid fiberglass where the holes for the thruhulls are.

Just curious, Ed, have you drilled through the side of your H37 hull for any reason and confirmed that your hull is solid fiberglass? Has Hunter told you it is not cored? It seems strange to me too that such similar hulls of the same era would not use the same type of layup. What I see as coring material in the pictures (the brown stuff) does not appear to be wood (like end-grain balsa) but a manufactured material (like a thin layer MDF). It is perforated at about 3/8" intervals apparently to allow infusion of resin. As more of the damaged fiberglass is removed, maybe I'll have a better handle on it.

Mike

 

[Steve Dion]

I have never heard that the Hunter hulls are anything but cored from the waterline up. The boats were always know to be solid glass from the waterline down to the keel.

Our '94 HV'36 had a deep gouge in the hull about 3' above the waterline and there is definitely coring in our model.

 

[Jim Legere]

H-37 Cutters definitely solid glass

Like Ed S, I am amazed that Hunter was building cored hulls for the 36' contiguous with the "built like a tank" 37' cutter. Some years ago, I moved the manual bilge pump outlet from the near water-line discharge point to about 6" below the toerail a foot forward of the transom on the starboard side (I was worried about back siphoning...). I pretty much burned out the teeth on the holesaw going through almost 3/4 of an inch of solid glass. I wonder if there is much of a weight saving - H36 versus H37C?

Happy New Year to all!

 

[Ed Schenck]

No Mike, I have not drilled above the water line. Right at the waterline, through the bootstripe, but no higher. Jim's experience is what I would expect though, solid glass. There was a thread years ago where someone repaired a Cherubini and it was solid.

Jim has a good question. How does your displacement compare with our 18000# H37Cs? And are you sure those perforations are not just the kind of cloth used in the layup? I also see light through the topsides in places. But I attribute that to the thinness of the hull closer to the toerail.

 

[Dennis Kitchen]

Hey Guys,
I'm rebuilding an '83 Hunter 25 that was Katrina damaged. It also is cored above the water line. ( except now where I just repaired it to remove delamination) Its a very thin foam... maybe 1/8 inch or less. I expect on some boats core areas may be ommited for stess reasons.

 

[Mike Daus]

Ed - The H36 Cherubini model displacement is 13,500 lbm, substantially less than the H37C. I think the H36 was more an extension of the H34 Cherubini than a smaller H37C.

Dennis - The tan (brown) material beneath the delaminated fiberglass layers shown in the pictures above seems to be the foam material you describe, relatively thin. I picked a hole in it to reach the inner fiberglass layers and, near the toerail anyway, it is about 1/8 in. thick, maybe a little more.

Thanks guys for your responses to this thread.

Mike