Hunter reliability and strongness

Don S/V ILLusion · May 7, 2012

This should answer your questions:

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/sequitur/

Crazy Dave Condon · May 7, 2012

Mike Harker lost a rudder on his boat some years back. Over his sat phone, the engineers from Hunter helped Mike to make a temp. rudder and had a new one shipped into an island prior to Mike limping in.

Dave Condon

Siamese · May 7, 2012

For the most part, Hunters are built to be appropriate for coastal cruising, and are intentionally made to be priced at the lower end of the market. That criteria tends to make them less appropriate for offshore use.

It's not just strength, it's also layout and tankage.

This isn't a "knock" on Hunters. What they do, they do well enough. Conversely, a dedicated offshore sailboat would be less appropriate for the coastal cruising that most of us do.

I wouldn't say that a Hunter should not or could not do what you want, but I would say that it wouldn't be the first boat I'd look at. Or the second.

It would be helpful if you provide a little more information about your budget and how large a boat you're considering.

Ken Honeycutt · May 7, 2012

I wouldn't hesitate to take one of the newer larger Hunters (over 42 ft.) on a round the world trip..I think Hunter is out to prove that their boats are offshore capable..but based on what I learned with my Hunter, I would definitely spend several months to a year sailing in all conditions you would expect to encounter because there will be things that will either break or not work the way you expected..otherwise you will find these faults at the worst possible time.

Rick486 · May 7, 2012

Been my experience that the crew on an offshore trip is always the weak link and the boats themselves, if in good repair, are far, far more capable than the typical crew.

Marc14857 · May 7, 2012

I agree with Siamese. I think Hunters are strong enough but do not lend themselves to blue water sailing without some modifications. For example, Hunters are very Roomy both in the cockpit and below decks. In a storm or rough seas you might want to have a tighter more confined space as there would be less room to bounce around in. My one blue water experience was New York to Bermuda on a 47 ft older swan. At the dock I was surprised as to how tight the cockpit and Berths were but this was an advantage in the waves and wind we experienced. If you are planning on doing any dead downwind sailing the B&R rig will preclude doing that efficiently. Watch those aft lockers, make sure they stay closed in a big following sea. Also consider what might happen if the large fixed ports ont he forward deck are exposed to large breaking waves. May want to have a way to cover these in the event they are compromised.

I am very very happy with my H44 and would take her coastal cruising anywhere. Not sure I would take her on a long blue water passage.

Bill Roosa · May 7, 2012

Things to consider (I stole this from a variety of books so don't think I'm smart)
Most circumnavagators spend 80-90% of there time at anchor and 10-20% making passage. So do you plan your passage (weather window) with a nice roomy boat that is not really a blue water boat or do you suffer with a less roomy boat at anchor and have nice passages?
Tankage determines everything. If you run out of fuel or water (not so much a problem for black water) you are hosed unless you can locally produce these fluids. Salt water can be filtered for a $2000 investment or you can collect rain water if you are going where it rains enough.
Consider your energy budget. If you intend to sail "all the way" then you will need some way of recharging the batts; solar, wind, hydro, engine alternator. All have their good and bad points and a mix is usually best. the wind generator does not work in that nice snug harbor out of the wind BTW and the solar is at a disadvantage when the mountains hide the sun till 1000 and after 1700....... hydro works great while sailing but is pretty useless while at anchor. Engine alternators require diesel fuel to work but the engine does produce hot water while doing it so ........and could run that reverse osmosis pump, and cool down the reefer holding plate........ there are lots of options with a 50ish HP motor and diesel fuel. Makes the boat go nicely in any direction you want too!

I'd recommend getting some circumnavigation books and reading the stories. It is time and money well spent.

Bill Roosa · May 7, 2012

Also
If you have the communications gear on board you can avoid a lot of the bad weather provided you can read a weather map. There are classes for this BTW.
Weather fax and computer to display
marine short wave to get weather beyond the range of VHF radio

The key to avoiding bad weather is SPEED. If you have a 25 ft boat and go hull speed the whole way you are going to be spending more time than if you have a 40 ft boat going hull speed over the same distance. So a longer/faster boat helps as you simply spend less time exposed to the elements.

isaksp00 · May 8, 2012

I like my H23 for lake sailing, but...

If I were going circumnav, I'd look at an Island Packet if I could afford it. I've done some offshore on a friend's IP 43 and a newer 48 and they are really built.

Hunter reliability and strongness

cmt145

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Don S/V ILLusion

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Crazy Dave Condon

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Siamese

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Ken Honeycutt

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Rick486

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Marc14857

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cmt145

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Bill Roosa

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Bill Roosa

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isaksp00

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cmt145

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