Following are some of the major service items we have done on our 18 year old H466. She has about 25K miles on her, and 3700 hours on the Yanmar 4JH3TE. We have lived aboard full time for 7 years and part time for another 10 years, so plenty of opportunity to wear stuff out. Overall the structure of the boat and major systems has been good to us with a few exceptions, as noted below. We have also tried to keep the boat looking good, especially the gel coat as it has aged. Here it goes....
1. Yanmar 4JH3TE - Regular fluid changes and fuel filter changes have kept the Yanmar purring like new. We replaced injectors in New Zealand after a water in the fuel
debacle in Tonga. This reduced smoking greatly. We regularly check hoses for chafe and clamp integrity and repaint the engine when a little rust shows up. We lost one starter due to a sticky start switch, could not start the boat due to an
intermittent wiring harness connection in Mexico and thought we were overheating due to a bad connection on the back of the temperature gauge in the cockpit. Only recently have we replaced hoses that looked deformed while servicing the raw water heat exchanger and changing the thermostat. We lost the bearings on one water pump and were warned early thanks to the extra bilge alarm I put under the engine.
2. Engine Exhaust Replacement - After ~3200 hours on the Yanmar we notice the exhaust hose was starting to fatigue in several places, both hear the engine exhaust manifold and around the loop before the exhaust port. We decided to
replace the whole thing rather than fix the fatigued areas for future peace of mind
3. Lost our Rudder.
Long story, but Hunters of this vintage have fiberglass rudder stocks and our snapped like a carrot. We had a custom one made in NZ.
4. New Doyle Offshore Main and Genoa - The original UK Halsey's lost their shape after 18K miles and the SF Loft did a great job customizing the sails to our specifications. Also replaced the Asymmetrical Spinnaker with a Code Zero on a Selden removable furler. MUCH easier to control and wider points of sail.
5. The Rig - We still have the original standing rigging but have inspected it often. We would replace it if we were going to cross an ocean again. We also installed a 2nd low stretch halyard as an emergency stay in case we had a problem. We're on our 4rd set of running rigging and pull it every year or so to give it a bath and soften it. We also had a persistent leak at the mast base and finally diagnosed that the deck had settled, leaving a 1/4" gap between the deck and the plate. KKMI fabricated a shim and sealed it up with no problems since.
6. Instrumentation - Replaced old Raymarine RL Series Chartplotter, Radar and autopilot for ES Series Chartplotter, digital radar. autopilot and integrated AIS. Much lower power consumption. Old system was reliable except for occasional autopilot "crazy ivans" and the newer system has been MUCH more finicky. Autopilot loses its mind occasionally requiring an entire recalibration. The 4 year old eS Series chartplotter touch screen mostly doesnt work, requiring us to use the manual controls and sometimes the chartplotter floods the seatalk buss with garbage, shutting down the autopilot and causing spurious readings on other instruments. The eS120 goes back to Raymarine for repair this winter.
7. mechanical systems and deck hardware - Got tired of the original sump pumps working intermittently and flooding the bilge. Finally went for the Rule 98B and it works very well. Replaced the 2 windshields after a riggers apprentice stepped on one and cracked it. They were very crazed anyway. Just recently we replaced all the opening portlights due to extreme crazing. We were going to replace all the gaskets but doing one was a major pain so we stopped. If we keep the gaskets clean, we don't get any drips. Slowly replacing the hatch lenses too, as they are very crazed. Hatchmasters has replacement lenses and gaskets but it's a lot of work backing out frozen screws to get the new one in. Got a leak in starboard water tank #2 that was very hard to find. Turns out that when the tank gets too full, it expands, putting pressure on the water fill pipe. KKMI in SF Bay was able to find the right kind of cement to fix the poly tank. While the now out of production Horizon 1500 windlass has been very reliable, we pulled and rebuilt the motor as a precaution. Good thing we did as it was on its last legs. The macerators get a lot of use on this boat, and the aft one finally gave up, with leaks due to rusty bolts.
8. Fuel tank cleaning - Between crappy fuel in far away lands and water intrusion mishaps, we have cleaned our main tank probably 5 times in 18 years. And along the twin Racors, have been lucky with the exception above.
9. The Disintegrating Anchor Locker - Search the site and you will find several boats of this vintage that have had to rebuild the anchor locker due to water intrusion. Probably the most expensive repair we have done on the boat, but it's designed well so the water flows to the drains, has a built in shelf for dinghy fule jugs and carries 300 ft on the primary anchor and 150 on the secondary anchor.
10. Hull - Overall hull integrity has been ok but not without problems. The last survey included a hammer test every couple of inches on the length of the boat and no voids or de lamination was found. The most persistent problem we have had has been cosmetic gelcoat cracks around the toe rail. Whenever we haul out I usually have the yard fix the worst 5-10 cracks and that has kept the boat looking good. When we installed the new rudder we noticed that the plywood tabs under the forward bunk had disconnected from the hull. As anybody who has gone upwind in decent seas in this boat will tell you, it can slam hard falling off waves. Between storms and miles, the lightweight glass Hunter put on the forward tabbing was not up to the job. After a particularly rainy winter a couple of years ago, we also found that the hull/deck seam was leaking in places. I pulled the entire rub rail and resealed the joint. We also had to repair a hairline crack on the rudder tube right at the bottom of the upper bearing. After consulting with Joe and friends at HunterOwners, we designed a patching technique that would ensure integrity. I check this often now and no further issues.
11. Cockpit - after 15 years our original offshore dodger windows were staring to yellow and the sunbrella was on its last legs. Canvas Services in San Diego did a fantastic job replacing the sunbrella and windows while re-using some of the side panels to keep the price down. We also installed
flooring in the cockpit that made a huge difference under foot.
12. Heads - Our Jabsco [Not so] Quiet Flush conversions have been good. We plumbed with fresh water for odor control, along with regular use of Odorlos. The only maintenance items are the seals on the motors and the joker valve. I replace each once a year.
13. Non-skid gelcoat - We started to notice that the nonskid gelcoat, both the grey side decks and the white sections were getting brittle, cracking easily and holding stains. Our favorite maintenance guy in La Cruz, Antonio,
repainted the non-skid while I redid the stanchions with butyl tape.
14. Interior wood work. Between water drips, scuff marks, heat and sun, the interior teak laminate can take a beating. I revamp a small section every 6 months or so, doing any repairs and then lightly refinishing with Seafin Teak Oil.
15. Electrical System - The electrical system has been rock solid until just recently... Because the boat has not been unattended in hot or wet environments for long periods of time, the electrical connections behind the panel are not showing signs of corrosion. It helps that Hunter covered many of the connections with liquid electrical tape. Only recently have we had problems that after frustrating troubleshooting, turned out to be connections that would no longer carry a load. After 2 of these episodes, I methodically went through all connections and loosened and then tightened all connections I could find on all the various connector blocks around the boat. We have also had 2 breakers weaken such that they would blow with modest loads on them.
16. Plumbing - We replaced the water heater in 2015 after internal corrosion caused a leak. We have had 1-2 quick connect connectors start to leak, usually after they had been disturbed, but once replaced or cleaned and reseated, they were fine.
