Original design category rating (ISO or CE) for Hunter 37c pre 1983 ??

[domwarman]

I have a hunter 37c under offer in the UK. It's been given a Cat 'C' CE rating (see photo .1) on entry to the UK in 2007 because the owner at the time didn't pay for a full RCD assessment. I'm trying to build a case for reclassification as this is obviously a miss-classification as a Cat 'C' CE is defined as :

'Designed for voyages in coastal waters, large bays, estuaries, lakes and rivers where conditions up to, and including, wind force 6 and significant wave heights up to, and including, 2 m may be experienced.'

• My first question is; what was the original design category of the hunter H37c? *(Any and all info is great but I really need documentation of some sort to back this up)
• Secondly if anyone dose have supporting documentation (example see photo 2.), most likely to be found in the original users manual (ISO or CE) a decent quality scanned copy would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Dom

1.

2.

 

[David in Sandusky]

According to this link, CE ratings were implemented in 1998.

http://www.beneteau.com/us/page-actualite/what-ce-certification-means-boat-buyers

Since the boat was built over 20 years before the CE rating, it had no “original” rating. Although the h37c (with some modifications) is clearly capable of the sea conditions defined for an “A”rating, the details of the ratings include 1998 European building standards to which few if any builders were manufacturing in the late 70’s-early 80’s. The devil is in the details, and I hope there is someone on this site who understands the details of CE rating for this boat.

 

[Jim Legere]

Well Dom, I would have thought that Brexit will put paid to this sort of nanny state nonsense?

The short answer is that the Hunter 37 Cutter was not, to my knowledge, built to any "design category", although at the time Hunter likely followed the best practices of the American Boat and Yacht Council. The fact is that NO standards like CE existed in North America at the time of its design (and I'm not sure they existed in the EU back then either). In fact the only common standard for yachts that I had ever heard of back then was Lloyds and that, due to the cost, was generally reserved for high end yachts, not this sort of production boat. However, the boat was clearly marketed as a "capable bluewater cruiser" (see page 4 of the brochure attached). I can also assert, as keeper of a H37C database, that these boats are found in Argentina, Australia, the Bahamas, Belgium, Belgium, Canada, England, Mexico, Scotland, and Uruguay - all of which are a long, non-coastal sail from the Florida USA factory. Whether or not the boat you are looking at is ready to go to sea is something only you can determine; it is certainly not qualified by some plaque screwed to the hull. All I can tell you is that some of these Hunter 37 Cutters have crossed oceans.

Feel free to contact me via PM if you have any questions.