Hunter Demasting

[Howie Kay]

Hi, Do you have a source for a replacement hatch cover for the front hatch of our 1977 27 foot hunter sailboat? Can the original hatch material be repaired with epoxy resin? I have a small crack in the area of the deck hinge.  On July 15, during a 25 knot wind on Barnegat bay, the shroud U bolts broke at deck level on a 25 foot 1977-1979 hunter sailboat. I do not know the exact year of manufacture. But it has a tiller, outboard motor, and the windows are similar to my 27 foot 1977 hunter. I do not know what the tension was on the standing rigging without sail load. However the turnbuckle hardware, which was constructed of light gauge material, was not bent and did not seem damaged. The owner's insurance company stated that the u bolts should be replaced every seven years as a regular maintenance procedure. I have never heard of this happening in the twenty three years I have owned my 1977 Hunter 27. We sail in Barnegat bay on the Jersey coast. The Bay usually has 10 to 20 knot winds during the summer. Our Hunter is insured by Boat US.I e-mailed the Boat US Seaworthy Division. They searched their insurance claims database for similar damage claims. They did not locate any demasting incidents related to deck hardware failure for the hunter sailboats. What has been your experience with the U bolt fastening system on the Hunter Sail boats? Thanks, Howie

 

[Jack Laird]

Orginial equipement since new.

nm

 

[John Allison]

Hardware Inspection

Even though this article was posted for the 27 footer, it concerns a 25 footer, therefor I am posting this to general interest. Not knowing past maintenance history, it would be difficult to place any blame here: however, my shroud attachment points appear to be of high quality stainless steel and, as such, should have a breaking strength in excess of 90,000 psi. Any over stressing of these parts should result in noticable deformation prior to failure. Proper preventative maintenance procedures (which includes visual inspection) of all shrouds/stays and their associated hardware should have found a problem prior to failure. It would also be my contention that wire rope failure or turnbuckle failure should have occured long before any hull attachment hardware failure. Without knowing exactly how the failure occured or conditions leading up to the failure(repeatedly over-tightened shrouds, excessively loose shrouds, previously damaged hardware, etc.), it would be almost impossible to finger a specific cause. Certainly, I would not suspect that the attachment hardware was at fault nor would I recommend any hardware replacement based on any other factor than noticable deformation, cracks, etc. As an added note, I can find no record of any similar occurence. After checking with my insurance company, I find no similar replacement requirement. However, it was noted that keeping records of yearly scheduled and unscheduled maintenance is advisable.

 

[John K Kudera]

In my Marina

The dis masted boat is in my marina, and in my opinion, this event was a result of an error by an unexperienced captain and crew.Yes the wind was 25+MPH, but these sailors were sailing with full main and jib, they sailed down wind, until they reached the northernmost point of the bay, at that time they felt the wind was a bit too much for them, and they tried to round up into the wind to reduce sail, at that point the captain, who was below, asked the crew to come about, he tried, but I think they back winded the jib, because they later said the sheets broke the stay from the deck. I did see the U bolts, they were not corroded, or stretched in any manner,and there was no prior damage, or prior cracks or stress after their recovery, all the remaining U bolts were unbolted with out breaking. The deck was not damaged, the mast can probably be repaired, and the main sail and roller furler also came thru with little damage.The sailors are still shaken a bit from the experience.John Kudera s/v 50/50ps. this was a $1500.00 boat!