New Hunter Owner looking for tips

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Bruce Hill

Greetings... My wife and I are purchasing a beautiful, slightly used 1997 Passage 42. Very excited, will be our first Hunter. Looking for helpful tips: 1) Very impressed as to how she sails-any good trim/performance tips (Will be sailed on Lake Michigan)? 2) Any nagging maintenance problems I should look out for? 3) Good electronics, well equipped boat, but not much more than factory equipment. If someone gave you $500 to spend on the boat, what toy/accessory would you buy? (I already have beer!) 4) What's the best use you have found for the arch (ours is stainless)? 5) Where do you sleep underway? Thanks for the tips! Bruce
 
Jun 5, 1997
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Coleman scanoe Irwin (ID)
Which electronic toys for $ 500

Can't give you specific tips for the the Passage 42 (congratulations with a great boat!) but know exactly how I would spend my $500 in your place. First of all, you don't want to spend most of your $ 500 on installation costs, so you should probably go with handheld "toys". Also, you can take these with you and store them in a more electronics-friendly environment when you are not on board. I would spend $ 350 on a Datascope (handheld digital compass, timer and distance estimator). Over the past 9 years and 30,000 NM of coastal cruising and passage-making the Datascope has kept us out of more collisions than our radar and has helped us pinpointed our coastal location better than our GPS (sometimes charts are 1-2 NM off!). Also, their service is good. The remaining $ 150 I would either spend on a simple handheld GPS or VHF radio, depending on what you have already (you will need both for safe cruising).Make sure to buy only a mainstream brand or you may find yourself unable to have it repaired later (we are now even sorry we bought a Micrologic GPS instead of a Garmin or Magellan). Happy shopping! Flying Dutchman "Rivendel II" HL42 (now berthed in Townsville, Australia)
 
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Bill Sheehy

My 2 cents

We have liveaboard our (91) Passage 42 for almost 17 months. I have taken almost everything apart at least once. Here is the list of things that we have had the most problems with. Our boat is far from being a stock boat anymore so I will just talk about things that are stock to the boat. 1.Heads: Have had alot of problems with the electric heads. I have finally gotten the aft head to work right. A hand pump head works without any problems but the wife likes to be able to press a button to flush. 2.Holding Tank: This boat is on it's 3rd tank. I have it pumped out each week so I hope that helps. 3.Storage: For some reason Hunter didn't any cabnets on the port side of the boat like they did on the starboard side. I plan on installing some when I get the time. 4.Hanging lockers: It's really hard to hang any suits in a hanging locker. 5.CNG: I would like to see the guy who's idea to put it where they did change it some time. 6. Power cord: Hunter put the powercord under a step where you get on the boat. It seems they could of came up with somewhere else that you don't have to step over all the time. 7.Oil Filter: No engine acess from the starboard side. Makes it really hard to change the oil. 8.Electronic Toys: I have all kinds but I don't think to many are under $500. The Multi repeater for about $300 maybe the best money spent under $500. We would buy the boat again and if you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me.
 
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bill walton

your new 42

I also have a 97 P42. Conratulations. You don't say what's already on your boat but here's a few things we have done in the price range you've outlined. Small, 13", in rear stateroom mounted above vanity. Outboard engine hoist from Kato Marine. We bought a sewing machine from Sailrite and made : Sunbrella Covers for all the horizontal hatches. Arched, "Shadetree"-like, sunshade for foredeck, mast to just in front of hatch. Sunbrella and screen replacement for hatchboards and companionway hatch. windshield and sidecovers which convert cockpit to nice living space on cooler days and keep spray off on beats. Fender holder Magellan NAV6000 GPS w. CMAP cartridge. You can download to it from Chartview software and interface it to a Autohelm pilot. High quality 1st aid kit Balmar high output alternator and reg. Have a great life with a neat boat. Bill and Deisse Walton S/V Sugar Magnolia
 
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Brad Cavedo

My 2 cents

We have a 97 P42. Hull no. 208, I think. The arch is great for holding on to. We tie coiled docking lines to the outside lower rungs on it, 2 on each side. We have grey "saddle bags" that snap fit on the inside of the arch on each side that hold all our cockput stuff like binoculars, horn and junk. Got them at the Price club and they were a perfect color and fit. We have a bimini that comes off the top of the arch and runs forward to about the vang and then comes down as a wrap around windshield. The center of the windsheild rolls up nicely, and this helps to make it an all weather boat. This arrangement is better that a bimini and dodger combination. I have seen it done both ways that our way is better. We have already had the TV/VCR fail and replaced; the CD player fail and replaced; the autohelm autopilot fail and the autohelm depthsounder fail. Our holding tank deck plate hose was never connected properly to the deck plate so we had a lot of air leak which cause poor pumpouts until we discovered the cause and fixed it. That was a real mess last year, but its working fine now. Our generator water pump failed in under 100 hours and was replaced. We lost our entire electrical system because of corrosion on a key ground wire in the engine room. Water coming off the shaft corroded the primary ground. We have since installed a PYI dripless. We have had trouble with the "waterproof" VHF radio. We fixed that by putting a baggie over the microphone when we close up. That said, we ABSOLUTELY love this boat! We got cockpit cushions from the people who made the sundeck cushions and you should do that. Ameriseam is the company. If you have any questions or troubles with you boat please email me and I will try to help out. Bcavedo@srglaw.com
 
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George Kornreich

Who sleeps????

On our 430, with the alignment of the bed in the aft cabin, you either sleep with your head or feet up in the air (Surprisingly, when you're that tired, you don't seem to notice!! <g> Forward cabin doesn't (yet) have any place to attach a lee-cloth, so when heeling to starboard, we sleep in the berth, but have found that when heeling to port, sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag (room for one, two if cozy) is really pretty comfortable, and I haven't found a way to fall off the floor (yet). Has anyone found a good way to secure leecloths in these boats?
 
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Michael Cohn

GPS

I would personally buy a Garmin handheld GPS, and still have money left over. Getting lost is not fun. MC
 
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Michael Cohn

Also...

You can remove that arch, improve the look of the boat, and have the arch made into a sculpture for your home.. MC
 
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