Just bought a 2002 356 Hunter

[star302]

Hi,
We are new to sailing and have just purchased a hunter 2002 356. We are really excited to get sailing next spring. We will be taking the next few months to purchase items for the boat, as well as get to know the ins and outs. The boat does not have a bimini or dodger. We are questioning whether we need a dodger right now. We also are seriously considering putting in A/C-heat with the dehumidfier. The third purchase is a dinghy with engine. Not sure of the size that would best suit this boat. There are davits in place. Any suggestions, advice and input would be greatly appreciated..I am sure this is just the beginning of our "list". Thank you for your any help.

 

[Mr Mac]

Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the forum! Being new to sailing have you considered American Sailing Association (ASA) lessons? Being fairly new as well, my wife and I are taking the 101 and 103 courses next Spring so we can prep for our time when we're in the open waters.

A dodger is one of those things that will certainly come in handy when you are in inclement weather conditions but it has to be on when that time comes so, always keep that in mind when deciding.

Again, welcome and remember to post some pics of your new boat!

Mac

 

[rufus1138]

i feel like dodgers are more important than bimini's in a classical sense, but thats a hangover from the days when sailboats were built properly with tillers and the capt could get up under the dodger while steering from the windward side of the cockpit, now days the bimini is just a way to find some shade if you happen to be sailing the right direction and otherwise serves to make terrible sailors out of slightly marginal ones since they end up ignoring the sails and using the motor to compensate for a lack of awareness.

 

[seadaddler]

Dodger

Dodger is very good to have when the weather gets nasty and bimini is very good for shade for sure.
One spring up in NY I was in hurry to get boat from winter storage to home port and left the dodger home and the day started out great but than got nasty so bad I promised my wife I would never have it off the boat and my wife needs the dodger more so for protection from cooler weather when sailing.
Now living in florida the dodger and bimini important for sun protection do remove front windows most times for fresh air for cooling.
Dodger allows more sailing do to weather.
nick

 

[Ray Bowles]

The dodger just makes bad, cold and wet days slightly better and make going to weather much better.
When we cruised in the gulf, Keys and islands we also had davits on our IP38. After replacing the inflatable dingy that came with the boat we found that the life expectancy of rubber inflatables to 3 years or less. With covers they lasted much longer. Weight is the enemy of davits! Keep that in mind.
When it was time to replace the second inflatable we bought a 10 foot "Water Tender" from West Marine. It was a roto molded plastic boat. The $600 price was about $3500 less than the inflatable. I could buy 6 of them at a time and that would last much longer than 3 years. Actually the current owner of our 38 foot boat has been using the original WT now for 6 years. That makes 8 years and counting. We had a 4 hp outboard and with 1 person in the boat it would plain. It was 104 lbs and that was less than the inflatable. 3 other people in our group also bought WT's after we bought ours as they were also tired of inflatables and the costs.
Enjoy your new lifestyle.
Ray

 

[Bob 04 H260]

Congrats on the new boat, good choice ! we have an 03 H356.

You will get a lot of good advice on these forums. Do a forum search to start with and then ask away if that did not answer your questions. Many topics come up again and again so there will be many threads about them and lots of differing view points, all of them good to consider.

The choice in a dinghy depends a lot on how it will be used as well as the boat itself. The davits you have will have a weight rating so that will determine what you will shop for unless you want to change those.

We have an inflatable on davits. It is a Mercury 270, hypalon, airdeck, inflatable with a 6 hp motor. We live aboard for about 5 months at a time with a dog. We bought it from Defender.com at a big discount, Defender now have their own line of inflatables that I would look at as well.

Most sailors would put a bimini and dodger as high priority items. Some expand it to a full cockpit enclosure. They make sailing and living on the boat more pleasant and increase the real estate.

I have a photo album on my profile page here with pictures of our 356 and some of the additions and changes I have made. Have a look for one persons ideas on this boat.

good luck, Bob

 

[seadaddler]

Info

It would help more on where you plan to sail north or south and who makes your davits too.
I have 9'6'' aluminum floor dinghy with a 8hp motor and it is on the davits full time and my dodger has all removal side and front windows here in Florida with Bimini and connector for sun protection here in Fl.
I did not need AC when I was up in NY but here in Fl. a must.
Many a trip to the keys and in the Gulf needed the protection of full dodger and Bimini and connector was handy for rain too.
Nick

 

[Jim Seamans]

Congratulations

You are going to love this boat. We had a chance to purchase the H49 and my wife REFUSED since she loved the H356 so much.

Will be interested to hear where you are sailing/based..

Have a '03 H356. check this site for modifications/additions I've made to Java.....
http://www.ayesail.net/sailing/SailboatMods/H356Mods/index.html
some manuals online
http://www.ayesail.net/sailing/MainSailingPage.html

 

[sailmaster39]

h356

Welcome to this great, friendly and informative web site. I highly recommend a dodger and a Bimini, especially living in Conn.Its money well spent.........Your will have many more enjoyable days on water. It turns the cockpit into a totally enjoyable area. The inflatable size is a personal preference,However,I just bought a Mercury Hypalon 8 ft. and it is perfect size for our H356.
Good luck with the boat. I have nothing but good things to say about the H356.
Richard

 

[chuckwayne]

Welcome to the board and the 356 family! she's a great boat! We've owned Escape since 2002 and You'll find she's a fun boat to sail and a stable boat for you to learn on. Where do you plan to keep her? A lot of the potential things this board can help you with will be affected by your sailing area

 

[morrisn1]

We just bought a 2002 356 as well. It is in Kemah, TX and is going to be moved to a lake in NW Arkansas next week. Hopefully, not just in time to winterize. We are also excited about the bigger boat. Sold a Catalina 270 in Sept. I may have some questions also about winterizing especially the AC unit next month. Like you, we will be spending the next few months getting to know the boat-so many moving parts.

 

[chuckwayne]

Welcome, too!

 

[star302]

We live in southern CT, and will be sailing the long island sound and area islands close by (block island), also many great ports along long island ny and ct coastline. We are almost wishing the fall/winter away, so we can get on the boat for our first sail. With that said, we have a lot to learn and a few things to do on the boat that we want. Have really enjoyed the incredible kind help from this forum. We look forward to all of the help and advice of others...
Thank you to all for you input so far.

 

[seadaddler]

Dodger

I was living on Long Island,NY when I purchased my 07 H-36 same boat as your 356 and to me the Dodger and connector and Bimini are very important for your area and it will let you enjoy your boat more and longer
during the season.
When out on the water the weather will change from very nice to not very nice and sitting in that cockpit will not be so nice with out good foul weather
clothes,when in NY we hardly ever wore foul weather clothes even in rain.
Your short season will be made longer with Dodger for sure.
Check your batteries I have 4-6volt batteries for cruising out for weekends or more.
I have found a 9'6'' dinghy is a nice size and have 8hp but smaller 5 is OK and I have Ocean davits and we love them for sure.
Enjoy your boat and ask away here.
nick

 

[nola2172]

To comment on the post above about lessons - my wife and bought our boat this year and knew we should get some lessons. The place in town here offered either the "official" ASA courses or private lessons either on their boat or your boat. We signed up for private lessons on our boat, which not only were cheaper than the ASA courses (but covered essentially the same material since the instructor also taught the ASA classes), but they were on our boat, which is mighty handy because then you know how to handle the specific equipment on your boat rather than just something similar on another one. If this is an option in your area, I would highly recommend going with that approach unless you get an insurance benefit or something to that effect from being ASA certified (we don't here).