Keel bolt torque? Cherubini – yes/no?

[Mark & Carol]

We are new owners of a 1980 27’ Hunter. Can anybody tell us how many pounds of torque (hope I’m spelling this right) should be on the keel bolts?

We also have another question. In previous questions posed to this forum, several people have referred to our boat as a Cherubini. In doing some research, we discovered that “Cherubini” refers to Hunters designed by John Cherubini. However, our question is - are all 1980 27’ Hunters Cherubini’s or only specific ones? If only specific ones, how do we tell if ours is a Cherubini? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but we are curious to find out everything we can about our boat.

As always, thanks for your advice and guidance. This is the best and most helpful forum group we have EVER belonged to!!

 

[Kenny]

a Cherubini it is

John Cherubini designed for Hunter marine from 1974 or so to 1984.His boats are the 25, 27,30,36 and 37.At least those are the years that hunter built Cherubini designs.If your hunter falls within those years its a JC design.Its intersesting to note that Bob Siedelman's boats of this same vintage share some similarities with early hunters, the 25 in particular.

 

[Chuck Creel]

cherubini design

and a fine design it is. Never fear what your boat can take. it is very well designed and you are gonna love it.

Mine is a 1979 hunter 30 also cherubini design. She has been in 6 -7 ft seas and 40 knot winds, Came airborne many times and still water tight and sails great.


Happy sailing.

 

[David Underwood]

Kenny, you left one out....

The 33 should be in the line up you mentioned. I only mention this because is is the model we have owned and loved for 26 years now. I believe the Cherubini designs are some of the best in the moderate weight class. We love ours!

S/V Freebird

 

[Russell]

Keel Bolt Torque

To add a question to your question of keel bolt torque. Once the keel bolt torque is known, does one check the torque of the bolts while the boat is in the water or when it is on the hard? Or will there be no difference? I am also interested in checking my h27.

 

[John N]

Welcome

to the world of Cherubini H27 owners. I think you'll find that, feature for feature, she is a sturdy, extraordinarily well-designed and capable little coastal cruiser. She's built like a tank, she's well laid out below*, she's fast for her size, points well, and is a dream to sail. A fine sea bird.

As an index as to how happy I am with her, I go to Strictly Sail every year, and I don't think I'd trade her for any of the boats I see there in her size range. I always come home very happy with my own little boat

As for the keel bolt torque, I have no idea, but would be interested to know

 

[Randy]

Watch out -

Hunter Marine might help. I tried backing the nuts off on mine and almost snapped one. (at least it felt that way to me). Maybe someone over tightend them. I would put a socket on them to see if they are tight, but not get to carried away.

Randy

 

[Ed Schenck]

Torque values

Here is a link(Related) to an archive item. There is a wealth of information in the archives and in the Photo Forum.

 

[Bob Alden]

I also have a 1979 Hunter 30

Chuck,

I have been very pleased with our h30 as well. I believe that JC accomplished all that can be done in a relatively fast, well built and roomy thirty foot boat. When we took delivery three years ago, we sailed from Wilson, NY to Pultneyville, NY in one day. We were on a run the entire trip, starting in 6 - 9 foot seas for the first three hours and then 5 - 7 foot seas for the remainder. We frequently saw the GPS rolling into double digits. In any event, we covered 73 nautical miles in 11 hours and 15 minutes. Pretty much achieving the published 6.8 knot hull speed. And by the way, we were launched by a crane last year and tipped the scale at 11,000+ lbs. A very substantial thirty footer.

Kind regards,
Bob Alden
1979 h30 "Summer's Glory"

 

[Jeff]

Kenny,

don't forget to add the Cherubini 33' to your list. My '82
is a great boat.

Jeff

 

[bluetoad]

Snug is good enough

I looked at a lot of boats before I settled on the Hunter Cherubini 36.
The specs are about as good as you can get for an off shore boat and the lines had the features I was looking for. There might be better boats out there in the size class, but not for the price. My Hunter has very good manners and that is important to combat the ills that sometimes come with waterborne travel.
I looked at my Keel Bolts and noted that they were all tight, good enough.
The problem that I did have was what appeared to be leakage around the Lead Keel and the Fiberglass Keel Root of the hull, where the two come together.
I dug into it a little deeper with a Disk Sander and some 36 grit and found that the joint between these two was filled with a white compound, probably 3M 5200 or similar. It had become leaky over the years and was letting seawater into the joint so that when the boat was hauled this joint weeped. This water was getting into the space between the top of the Lead Keel and the bottom of the Fiberglass Keel Root. This is the space where the Keel Bolts live. The Boat didn't leak around the Keel Bolts, too well bedded for that, but the Stainless Steel Keel Bolts were exposed to seawater and possible corrosion. Corrosion Bad, Water tight Good.
I asked around and was told that the way to fix this is to grind down the joint exposing both the Lead Keel and Fiberglass Keel Root and then glassing up this joint with chopped random strand fiberglass body filler. Then faired out with Polyester 'jelly' and finally covered over with some fiberglass tape.
I did this, got pics if your interested I can send them to you, email me at ross.starbaby@gmail.com and ask for Keel Joint pics. Not a drop of weeping anymore and I feel happy that my Keel Bolts are staying dry, as they should be.
I look around the boat yards and see a lot of boats with this Keel Joint weeping problem and I wonder just how far the Keel Bolts have corroded through. Not a happy prospect. I've even read a time or two of boats loosing their Lead Keel this way, Bolts Corrode through and the Lead just drops, that'd ruin your day.