please help me decide on 170

[pmaskale]

I am interested in purchasing a 2002 Hunter 170 that I found for sale. I think I can get it for $1600 with sails motor and trailer. It does have some pretty serious looking cracks in the plastic deck, but supposedly none in the hull. I don't mind a little work to repair the cracks, but after searching on the internet the prognosis for these boats seems pretty grim.

My question:
Is it worth the money and time? I assume that it will take me a long weekend to repair the half dozen cracks. I am worried about the structural integrity of the hull, mast attachment point, and motor mount, as it would be dangerous if one of these things were to fail while I was out in the cold water this fall. I am worried that I will worry and work on the boat more than I will enjoy sailing it.

Does anyone have any positive experience with crack repair?

thanks for your input

 

[esterhazyinoz]

Seem to remember reading a lot about fixing the APC plastic hulls on the H146/170's in this forum. If you feel up to the challenge, the price seems good for a boat, motor and licensed(?) trailer. If you do decide to go ahead, make sure you have a parts list to make sure that all the bits are there at the time of sale. Contact one of the listed H170 owners. I'm sure they could dig one up for you.

 

[mdemayo123]

I bought a used H140 with numerous cracks on it. In my experience I have been able to repair numerous cracks (some were pretty severe) in a day or two following the methods listed on this site. The long and short of the repair process is this - Use a dremmel to ream out the crack, apply plastic welder or some other hard-drying epoxy, high tensile strength adhesive, sand down till smooth, and reapply paint. Obviously, other steps may be required depending on the specific situation. These repairs have lasted me three years so far, but I do have small cracks stemming from the mast step now that i am not worried about quite yet. Most appear to be shallow surface cracks or simply paint cracking. But, the stuff you see on repairing ACP in this forum works pretty well. It is labor intensive but the repairs last. That being said, I would inspect the boat thoroughly before buying, you don't want to wind up with half of a boat.

 

[pmaskale]

Thanks for the advise. I was planning on taking stock of all parts, but since I am not familiar with this model boat a proper inventory list is a great idea.

I have attached a couple of pics that show some of the worst cracks, and the attempts someone made at fixing them. The last inside picture shows that there seem to be cracks around the mast step, and in the bow as well.

 

[kito]

Imo, I would stay clear of that boat. Good deal?.......I don't think so. You will fix all those gapping cracks only for more to appear later. Find yourself a boat to enjoy and not worry about the thing cracking up like that. Probably why the thing is for sale. Good deals come along all the time. Don't buy that P.O.S.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

I'd stick with fiberglass. They are much more easily fixed. You also see a lot of these boats with flotation devices on the top of the mast which suggested they are tender and tip over and that keeps them from turing turtle. But, best to go to the Hunter site and discuss this with Hunter owners who know for sure.

 

[mdemayo123]

Thanks for showing the pictures. I think I would stay clear of this as well. It looks like a repair has already been attempted and botched. Those cracks look like they were caused by tremendous stress rather than fatigue and/or weather, like most ACP cracking. While it could be repaired, they are pretty extensive and might be more trouble than its worth. I honestly think you'd be able to find better value elsewhere.

 

[pmaskale]

Thanks for the input. I always thought the hunter day sailers looked awesome with the open stern, and got caught up in the allure of a cheap boat. I guess I will just save my money and wait for one of the new fiberglass boats to come up on CL.

I want to sail it more than work on it.

Thanks for all the replies. You guys probably saved me quite a headache.

 

[kito]

I understand. I liked the 170 design too and also looked at the JY15...both plastic boats. After doing some homework I decided to stay far away from plastic boats. I understand there was a certain timeframe where their plastic boats held up well. I believe the earlier boats the compound was made by Dow and had miserable results. I think the one you looked at may be one of them. I have read some people only getting 3 or 4 years out of them, selling all the parts and destroying the hull since it was unsafe. I may be wrong but I believe Hunter learned a lesson and no longer deals with the ACP boats.

 

[esterhazyinoz]

... I may be wrong but I believe Hunter learned a lesson and no longer deals with the ACP boats.

True, the ACP hull Hunter 146 was replaced exactly by the fibreglass hull H15. The ACP hull H170 was replaced by a total redesign with a fibreglass hull, the H18 (A very sweet looking boat).

I have had my H15 for 3 years now and am still happy with the choice I made.

Although there are a lot of horror stories of ACP hulls going wrong, there were many more that had no problems and many, many of these craft were sold over the years. I have never really understood what were the factors that lead to these hulls cracking. Did moisture get in under the ACP skin and expand when frozen? I believe that most cracked hulls came from the colder climates. Hadn't heard many complaints from owners from the warmer States. That is only my perception from reading the posts in this forum. Don't know if any actual survey was ever conducted.

You sound like you know what you want from boat ownership (sailing, not messing about in them) so I think your decision to wait for the right craft to come along is a good one.

 

[tommym]

I have repaired my Hunter 170 as cracks only appear midships just above the rub rail. Removes the rub rail and used layers of fiberglass and West Systems that can be used with ACP. I made it much stronger with less radius.

I have been sailing it for 3 years since the repair and it really is solid so far. I do keep the boat in the garage in the winter here in Michigan so that probably helps. I did miss out on the exchange program and now a new owner. I have to stick with the boat I love as you can see above, impossible to sell.

 

[BlueRunner]

...I have to stick with the boat I love as you can see above, impossible to sell...

I almost put my 170 ('08) up on a consignment sale about 6 weeks ago. The dealer thought he could sell it for around 5K-6k

I backed out at the last minute as I wanted to get one more season with it. Now I'm leaning toward selling it again as we're downsizing and moving away from the lake I used the boat on. If I do sell it, I'll try to let everyone here know what the boat went for. I paid around 7.5K for the boat 3 years ago.

 

[mark2]

We bought a used 170 three years ago, about $2000 including trailer (yes, I think it was a steal). It has some small cracks in the lower inside corners of the forward cockpit and along the floor of the main cockpit area. These areas feel "soft" underfoot, like there is no support under the plastic shell. Compared to the photos posted above, these are very minor and I think they are cosmetic only. I have to agree with others, the boat shown above is a bad idea.

But don't give up on the 170, it is a fantastic boat and our family has been very happy with ours. We often pull into a sheltered cove and swim right off the stern (even the dog loves it . If you find one without those kind of huge cracks it can be a great boat. I have not been worried enough to even fix our minor ones, after 3 years they seem to be stable.

Someone mentioned concern about seeing floatation devices at the top of the 170 mast (an optional add-on that prevents - or at least slows turtling). From my experience this is not any indication that the 170 is unstable. In 3 years in all kinds of wind, we have never put it over. I think the float is just a good sensible precaution for casual sailing. Looks cool too (I told someone that asked at the dock that it was a radar .