You would think that it would be a real asset to have someone from Hunter that knows our boat inside and out to monitor and offer suggestions and answers on this forum. It's obvious to me that those of us who own one are by far Hunter's most effective sales people. They tend to rely on their dealers way too much as many of them have never even sailed the boat and even if they have, they haven't the experience, time, or knowledge to help out those of us who may live hours away from their places of business. Nearly everyone that buys any new boat will have at one time or another, questions that if answered correctly, will immediately increase their enjoyment of the boat. The way it's going, I doubt that Hunter will ever see more than a couple of small fleets scattered all over the country. I'm sure that they have learned a ton from the fleet that they put down at the Bitter End right after they started building them. Why not share that with the rest of us? If not on this forum, at least an "educational" news letter once in awhile. I'll bet that half of the 216 owners don't even know about this site.
Manufacturer's Assistance
- Thread starter Mr.Ernie
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We had that early on..
in the early days one of Hunter's salesmen (I think) was a regular poster here, an all around good guy and probably part of the initial success of HOW. Not sure if there was an official connection, but he was a major asset. After he left Hunter, there was no replacement, at least that I know of (see below.) I suspect there are legal issues involved that Phil may or may not address here in your post. A company has to be extremely careful what advice they give and how they give it. For Hunter or any other manuf to offer free advice here could open them up to all grades of liability or allegations thereof. And, much of their information is copyright/trademark/IP owned. To give it freely on an open website raises another legal aspect. This is an owner's forum, not a manuf forum. If people here said "try x", but some Hunter person said "do y", everyone would probably do the latter even though the x approach might actually be better/cheaper/etc. To their credit, Phil et. al., have carefully avoided manuf or similar posters that would chill the general discourse, as crazy as it gets sometimes. That said, I am pretty confident that Hunter does, in fact, monitor this forum. And, for all you know, any one or more of the posters here might be associated with Hunter, a dealer, or even a competitor manuf/dealer. To officially sanction a particular poster as a manuf rep or something would seem out of place, IMHO. As for newletters, they seem to pop up every so often - Knotline, I think. Maybe I'm not on the right list, but I haven't see on in a long time.
in the early days one of Hunter's salesmen (I think) was a regular poster here, an all around good guy and probably part of the initial success of HOW. Not sure if there was an official connection, but he was a major asset. After he left Hunter, there was no replacement, at least that I know of (see below.) I suspect there are legal issues involved that Phil may or may not address here in your post. A company has to be extremely careful what advice they give and how they give it. For Hunter or any other manuf to offer free advice here could open them up to all grades of liability or allegations thereof. And, much of their information is copyright/trademark/IP owned. To give it freely on an open website raises another legal aspect. This is an owner's forum, not a manuf forum. If people here said "try x", but some Hunter person said "do y", everyone would probably do the latter even though the x approach might actually be better/cheaper/etc. To their credit, Phil et. al., have carefully avoided manuf or similar posters that would chill the general discourse, as crazy as it gets sometimes. That said, I am pretty confident that Hunter does, in fact, monitor this forum. And, for all you know, any one or more of the posters here might be associated with Hunter, a dealer, or even a competitor manuf/dealer. To officially sanction a particular poster as a manuf rep or something would seem out of place, IMHO. As for newletters, they seem to pop up every so often - Knotline, I think. Maybe I'm not on the right list, but I haven't see on in a long time.
Manufacturer's Assistance --- Good suggestions!
Mr. Ernie, Very good comments on the need for Hunter's involvement. With regard to dealer involvement, the dealer I bought my H216 from is no longer in business, and as far as I can tell, the nearest dealer to this area is at least 200 miles away. It makes dealer involvement a very long distance relationship. I've depended on Lind Bayreuther and those of you on this forum for guidance. And, now that Lind is no longer involved, I'm afraid that getting useful advice from Hunter may be a problem. I really wish Hunter would address in some formal way with their H216 owners the solutions to the generic design problems that many of the boats have, and in some cases still have since the H216 was first introduced to the market. In particular, I would like Hunter to address the centerboard hydraulic cylinder/cable design mismatch. I still have not come up with a practical way to raise the centerboard on the water if the cable breaks. It seems the very expensive hydrauic cylinders aren't very reliable either based on the posts I've seen here. Periodic update to the H216 Owners Manual would be one way to share this information and it shouldn't be that difficult for Hunter to do. While I like to read the Knotlines publication, I find very little useful information related to these subjects.
Mr. Ernie, Very good comments on the need for Hunter's involvement. With regard to dealer involvement, the dealer I bought my H216 from is no longer in business, and as far as I can tell, the nearest dealer to this area is at least 200 miles away. It makes dealer involvement a very long distance relationship. I've depended on Lind Bayreuther and those of you on this forum for guidance. And, now that Lind is no longer involved, I'm afraid that getting useful advice from Hunter may be a problem. I really wish Hunter would address in some formal way with their H216 owners the solutions to the generic design problems that many of the boats have, and in some cases still have since the H216 was first introduced to the market. In particular, I would like Hunter to address the centerboard hydraulic cylinder/cable design mismatch. I still have not come up with a practical way to raise the centerboard on the water if the cable breaks. It seems the very expensive hydrauic cylinders aren't very reliable either based on the posts I've seen here. Periodic update to the H216 Owners Manual would be one way to share this information and it shouldn't be that difficult for Hunter to do. While I like to read the Knotlines publication, I find very little useful information related to these subjects.
Hunter involvement
Yes, Jim Boart was a regional sales manager for Hunter in late 90's and he was a regular contributor here, but on his own time and nor officially representing Hunter Marine. Jim is a great guy, the most knowledgable sailor I've ever been around, and just controversial create a great thread.
Jim eventually left Hunter to take over a Beneteau dealership in Marina del Rey. These days, Hunter customer service monitors the site very carefully. But as with so many things in our litigious (sp?) society, it is my impression that they cannot directly participate to due to potential legal liability. (Please note that no one has ever told me this directly, it's speculation.) It's understandable. Imagine if ever sentence you typed here had the weight of a manufacturer's owner manual or service bulletin. So, I doubt that policy will change any time soon. But they'll do all they can, within their time constraints, to help you out if you give them a call. I recommend that over email.
Yes, Jim Boart was a regional sales manager for Hunter in late 90's and he was a regular contributor here, but on his own time and nor officially representing Hunter Marine. Jim is a great guy, the most knowledgable sailor I've ever been around, and just controversial create a great thread.
Jim eventually left Hunter to take over a Beneteau dealership in Marina del Rey. These days, Hunter customer service monitors the site very carefully. But as with so many things in our litigious (sp?) society, it is my impression that they cannot directly participate to due to potential legal liability. (Please note that no one has ever told me this directly, it's speculation.) It's understandable. Imagine if ever sentence you typed here had the weight of a manufacturer's owner manual or service bulletin. So, I doubt that policy will change any time soon. But they'll do all they can, within their time constraints, to help you out if you give them a call. I recommend that over email.- Status