As a potential Hunter owner I have been reading a lot of reviews of the newer Hunter models. It seems that the reviewers sing a constant tune of great design, poor workmanship, when talking about their Hunters. Some of the reported problems just seem incredible to me, especially for $150-200,000 boats. A luxury car manufacturer with those kinds of problems could not stay in business. Is Hunter making any progress at addressing those issues? Are the other manufacturers just as bad?
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QC problems not with Hunter
The things that needed attention on my new Hunter 380 were NOT direct Hunter problems. The VHF radio got water in it. Turns out the Apelco assembler "forgot" ???? to put a gasket in it. I got a new radio within 3 days. Problem solved. The stripper on the Lewmar wench shattered. Lewmar overnighted the stripper to me directly. Problem solved. The temperature transducer went berzerk and caused everything on the Sea-Talk bus to provide questionable data. Hunter got me a new transducer in 2 days. Problem solved. The fridge wouldn't get cold enough. The next day a technician came out and showed me how to clean my raw water strainer. Duh, user problem solved. For a collection of systems as complicated and diverse as the ones making up a modern sailboat I believe Hunter has done an excellent job of quality control. Possibly you never hear about the good experiences of owners like myself because it just doesn't seem noteworthy.
The things that needed attention on my new Hunter 380 were NOT direct Hunter problems. The VHF radio got water in it. Turns out the Apelco assembler "forgot" ???? to put a gasket in it. I got a new radio within 3 days. Problem solved. The stripper on the Lewmar wench shattered. Lewmar overnighted the stripper to me directly. Problem solved. The temperature transducer went berzerk and caused everything on the Sea-Talk bus to provide questionable data. Hunter got me a new transducer in 2 days. Problem solved. The fridge wouldn't get cold enough. The next day a technician came out and showed me how to clean my raw water strainer. Duh, user problem solved. For a collection of systems as complicated and diverse as the ones making up a modern sailboat I believe Hunter has done an excellent job of quality control. Possibly you never hear about the good experiences of owners like myself because it just doesn't seem noteworthy.
I think Hunter does pretty well ....
I take issue with your blanket statement regarding Hunter. It's unfair to compare Hunter's to Lexus, BMW or Mercedes. Hunter has never said they are comparable to any of these brands. What IS comparable to any of these brands are sailboats way beyond the financial means of us poor slobs plying this forum. They're all over in Monte Carlo. Nope, wrong and unfair comparision. Hunter is a Buick, Olds, etc. You get what you pay for. While the price might be equal to a Lexus, that doesn't imply that Hunter should be judged against a Lexus. Would you compare the workmanship of your home to Lexus or BMW standards? Just not a relavant comparision, in my view. Now, on to Hunter. I own a '98 340 which I purchased new and keep at Lake Stockton. I, too, live in Kansas City. I bought my boat from Jeff Spurgeon in Stockton, MO. Stockton is a great sailing lake, BTW. While I have been sometimes critical of Hunter's poor choice of OEM quality and vendors on their OEM parts, I think I truely got what I paid for. And that means I got VALUE. I have a Lexus RX300. Darn good car. I can tell you honestly, I got more VALUE (bang for the buck) from my Hunter than I did from my RX-300. Hunter and Catalina and Beneteau pack a whole lot of VALUE into their products. Come down to Stockton as my guest and I will show you several new boats of all three of these brands. They are all making good boats. After seeing these boats and talking to their owners, I wouldn't get too hung up on one over the other. Buy what YOU LIKE and what suits your personal needs. One last point. The guy in the slip next to me has a Beneteau 40CC. It is a georgeous, quality boat that anyone should be proud to own. I'll be happy to point out to you the quality differences between his boat and mine. For example, his cleats and most all hardware is much sturdier than mine. But, he paid almost 2 1/2 times what I paid for my boat. I think he got good VALUE and good quality. While I don't have the money to buy his boat, I am still very pleased with the VALUE and QUALITY of my HUNTER for THE PRICE THAT I PAID. You see, it's all relevant. And lastly, should you choose to buy Hunter, most Hunter owners will rave about the wonderful support and personal service that we recieve from the customer service department at the Hunter factory. Lexus, BMW and Mercedes could take some lessons from them. :-] Call me. I'm in the KC book and we can chat. I'll be only too happy to help you along the purchase path. I'm leaving town Thursday and back Monday evening. I'll look forward to chatting with you. Kind regards, Wynn Ferrel S/V Tranquility H340
I take issue with your blanket statement regarding Hunter. It's unfair to compare Hunter's to Lexus, BMW or Mercedes. Hunter has never said they are comparable to any of these brands. What IS comparable to any of these brands are sailboats way beyond the financial means of us poor slobs plying this forum. They're all over in Monte Carlo. Nope, wrong and unfair comparision. Hunter is a Buick, Olds, etc. You get what you pay for. While the price might be equal to a Lexus, that doesn't imply that Hunter should be judged against a Lexus. Would you compare the workmanship of your home to Lexus or BMW standards? Just not a relavant comparision, in my view. Now, on to Hunter. I own a '98 340 which I purchased new and keep at Lake Stockton. I, too, live in Kansas City. I bought my boat from Jeff Spurgeon in Stockton, MO. Stockton is a great sailing lake, BTW. While I have been sometimes critical of Hunter's poor choice of OEM quality and vendors on their OEM parts, I think I truely got what I paid for. And that means I got VALUE. I have a Lexus RX300. Darn good car. I can tell you honestly, I got more VALUE (bang for the buck) from my Hunter than I did from my RX-300. Hunter and Catalina and Beneteau pack a whole lot of VALUE into their products. Come down to Stockton as my guest and I will show you several new boats of all three of these brands. They are all making good boats. After seeing these boats and talking to their owners, I wouldn't get too hung up on one over the other. Buy what YOU LIKE and what suits your personal needs. One last point. The guy in the slip next to me has a Beneteau 40CC. It is a georgeous, quality boat that anyone should be proud to own. I'll be happy to point out to you the quality differences between his boat and mine. For example, his cleats and most all hardware is much sturdier than mine. But, he paid almost 2 1/2 times what I paid for my boat. I think he got good VALUE and good quality. While I don't have the money to buy his boat, I am still very pleased with the VALUE and QUALITY of my HUNTER for THE PRICE THAT I PAID. You see, it's all relevant. And lastly, should you choose to buy Hunter, most Hunter owners will rave about the wonderful support and personal service that we recieve from the customer service department at the Hunter factory. Lexus, BMW and Mercedes could take some lessons from them. :-] Call me. I'm in the KC book and we can chat. I'll be only too happy to help you along the purchase path. I'm leaving town Thursday and back Monday evening. I'll look forward to chatting with you. Kind regards, Wynn Ferrel S/V Tranquility H340
When's the last time BMW or any other high end
auto manufacturer responded to a time consuming question, or problem, posed by a second owner without cost? Add to that the fact that the boat is 7 years old. The response from Hunter was within 6 HOURS! THAT'S QUALITY AND SERVICE! The real jewel in this story is that my boat is 1/2 the size of what you are considering. We looked at everything on the market for 8 months and realized Hunter was by far the best boat for the money. So good that we drove 2200 miles to get it. I know you will like the boat and you'll love the service. Hope this helps. Ray
auto manufacturer responded to a time consuming question, or problem, posed by a second owner without cost? Add to that the fact that the boat is 7 years old. The response from Hunter was within 6 HOURS! THAT'S QUALITY AND SERVICE! The real jewel in this story is that my boat is 1/2 the size of what you are considering. We looked at everything on the market for 8 months and realized Hunter was by far the best boat for the money. So good that we drove 2200 miles to get it. I know you will like the boat and you'll love the service. Hope this helps. Ray
Quality
I think the Hunter response to issues posted here varies greatly. Our boat is new, first owner, and we posted our concerns several days ago....so far Ray is doing better.
I think the Hunter response to issues posted here varies greatly. Our boat is new, first owner, and we posted our concerns several days ago....so far Ray is doing better.
Dan, your missing the point.
It's not Hunter's job to answer your questions here. This is an owners site, run by Phil (a former owner ;-() and questions are answered by us, the owners of various Hunter yachts. If you have a warranty issue with your Hunter, start with your dealer. If they don't satisfy you, or you live to far away, call Hunter's 800 number and speak with Hunter's Customer Service people. They WILL take care of you to the best of their abilities, of that I have no doubt. Airing you gripes here, or expecting Hunter to answer you here, and then making it sound like they are not up to par when they don't, doesn't make them want to go the extra mile for you. Do it privately, thoughtfully, and you will get what you need resolved. Smooth Sailing Bob Knott H380
It's not Hunter's job to answer your questions here. This is an owners site, run by Phil (a former owner ;-() and questions are answered by us, the owners of various Hunter yachts. If you have a warranty issue with your Hunter, start with your dealer. If they don't satisfy you, or you live to far away, call Hunter's 800 number and speak with Hunter's Customer Service people. They WILL take care of you to the best of their abilities, of that I have no doubt. Airing you gripes here, or expecting Hunter to answer you here, and then making it sound like they are not up to par when they don't, doesn't make them want to go the extra mile for you. Do it privately, thoughtfully, and you will get what you need resolved. Smooth Sailing Bob Knott H380
Without a doubt, 110%
I purchased a 1997 h40.5 (last one out of the factory) and I experienced a large number of problems with this brand new boat. I never would have expected the quantity or range of failures. However, to date, I have had only 2 problems that are directly attributable to Hunter. One was a toetail leak that was promptly and completely stopped by my dealer (Sailing Specialties, Mystic, CT) and the other was poorly fitting gaskets on the refer and freezer. Hunter sent me WITHOUT CHARGE new gaskets 3 years after delivery. All of the other problems were directly related to the quality of equipment supplied by other vendors. And every one of these problems was addressed in a timely manner by my dealer and corrected. Hunter even went to bat for me to correct an engine smoking problem and the vendor installed a new engine in response. The only criticism that I have is that the quality of vendor-supplied items is lower than Hunter-built parts. My biggest gripe is that the warrantees provided by marine-equipment manufacturers is totally inadequate. Yes, Hunter provides a 5 year warrantee and that is reasonable. But most other vendors give a 1-year warrantee. In my northern location, this amounts to a 6-7 month protection. I believe that all equipment should be warranteed for 3 years, and for major items (like an engine) the warrantee should be 5 years. Does anyone really believed that a $10K engine should have a warrantee of 1 year? Hunter has provided me GREAT VALUE as well a great boat. I would buy again without any reservation - not because I don;t believe that I would have no problems, but because of the dealer and factory stand-by-you service.
I purchased a 1997 h40.5 (last one out of the factory) and I experienced a large number of problems with this brand new boat. I never would have expected the quantity or range of failures. However, to date, I have had only 2 problems that are directly attributable to Hunter. One was a toetail leak that was promptly and completely stopped by my dealer (Sailing Specialties, Mystic, CT) and the other was poorly fitting gaskets on the refer and freezer. Hunter sent me WITHOUT CHARGE new gaskets 3 years after delivery. All of the other problems were directly related to the quality of equipment supplied by other vendors. And every one of these problems was addressed in a timely manner by my dealer and corrected. Hunter even went to bat for me to correct an engine smoking problem and the vendor installed a new engine in response. The only criticism that I have is that the quality of vendor-supplied items is lower than Hunter-built parts. My biggest gripe is that the warrantees provided by marine-equipment manufacturers is totally inadequate. Yes, Hunter provides a 5 year warrantee and that is reasonable. But most other vendors give a 1-year warrantee. In my northern location, this amounts to a 6-7 month protection. I believe that all equipment should be warranteed for 3 years, and for major items (like an engine) the warrantee should be 5 years. Does anyone really believed that a $10K engine should have a warrantee of 1 year? Hunter has provided me GREAT VALUE as well a great boat. I would buy again without any reservation - not because I don;t believe that I would have no problems, but because of the dealer and factory stand-by-you service.
Missing the Point
Bob, With all due respect, I don't think I'm missing the point at all. I understand what the forum is for and was not looking for a response from anyone in here, only to let everyone know that the service issue is not a uniform thing. I have been a steady contributor since beginning my participation here. Also, it seems to me that this group can be a little sensitive over issues of quality. Do not misunderstand...I like our boat, and think we received reasonable quality for what we paid. I also think that sweeping any quality issues under the rug does a disservice to those consumers who want to help Hunter and dealers continue to improve service and quality. And perhaps mistakenly, I thought this forum was also to inform, perhaps I should just ask questions here, or just answer them. I'll avoid those opinion responses in the future...lord knows there aren't many of those in this forum. Regarding contacting the dealer...thats been done...two phone calls now and no response yet. And yes, I know that is a dealer issue and not a Hunter issue...or is it? After all Hunter does make dealer agreements (Whoops their goes that opinion thing). We will allow that to continue for a few more days and then the calls will start to Hunter.
Bob, With all due respect, I don't think I'm missing the point at all. I understand what the forum is for and was not looking for a response from anyone in here, only to let everyone know that the service issue is not a uniform thing. I have been a steady contributor since beginning my participation here. Also, it seems to me that this group can be a little sensitive over issues of quality. Do not misunderstand...I like our boat, and think we received reasonable quality for what we paid. I also think that sweeping any quality issues under the rug does a disservice to those consumers who want to help Hunter and dealers continue to improve service and quality. And perhaps mistakenly, I thought this forum was also to inform, perhaps I should just ask questions here, or just answer them. I'll avoid those opinion responses in the future...lord knows there aren't many of those in this forum. Regarding contacting the dealer...thats been done...two phone calls now and no response yet. And yes, I know that is a dealer issue and not a Hunter issue...or is it? After all Hunter does make dealer agreements (Whoops their goes that opinion thing). We will allow that to continue for a few more days and then the calls will start to Hunter.
Thanks
Thanks for the many comforting replies. However, I think that several of you are in denial because you feel the need to defend your purchase decision. Read thirty or more reviews of various Hunter boats at this website, and you will get a consistent picture of well-designed boats that have a lot of problems as delivered from the factory. Whether due to OEM equipment, as Mr. Ferrel's were, or to bad factory work (e.g. delaminating decks, unattached bulkheads), they are all Hunter's responsibility. GM owners used to say that we just shouldn't expect good factory assembly in a mid-level car, until Toyota and Honda came along to say, yes we should. I don't doubt that Hunters are a good value for the money, but I also think that they would be an even better value if Hunter would get its act together better at the factory. You guys should be pushing for that.
Thanks for the many comforting replies. However, I think that several of you are in denial because you feel the need to defend your purchase decision. Read thirty or more reviews of various Hunter boats at this website, and you will get a consistent picture of well-designed boats that have a lot of problems as delivered from the factory. Whether due to OEM equipment, as Mr. Ferrel's were, or to bad factory work (e.g. delaminating decks, unattached bulkheads), they are all Hunter's responsibility. GM owners used to say that we just shouldn't expect good factory assembly in a mid-level car, until Toyota and Honda came along to say, yes we should. I don't doubt that Hunters are a good value for the money, but I also think that they would be an even better value if Hunter would get its act together better at the factory. You guys should be pushing for that.
My best Hunter experience...
....came when I called them to tell them that my seven year old 33 (which I bought second-hand) had blisters, and it took their rep less than thirty seconds to say that, " since the boat is out of warranty, all we can do is supply ALL the materials at our cost!" I said thank you very much and can't imagine a better reply on any product. By the way, it is good to remember that our "production" boats are still a hand-made speciality item with a very limited production run in which to totally find and eliminate defects. If you bought a car of which only a few hundred had been made, I don't think you would be surprised to find it riddled with little nagging problems. I think the marine industry, as a whole, is pretty good at trying to work things out.
....came when I called them to tell them that my seven year old 33 (which I bought second-hand) had blisters, and it took their rep less than thirty seconds to say that, " since the boat is out of warranty, all we can do is supply ALL the materials at our cost!" I said thank you very much and can't imagine a better reply on any product. By the way, it is good to remember that our "production" boats are still a hand-made speciality item with a very limited production run in which to totally find and eliminate defects. If you bought a car of which only a few hundred had been made, I don't think you would be surprised to find it riddled with little nagging problems. I think the marine industry, as a whole, is pretty good at trying to work things out.
phone replies
Daniel, I notice that you're from Sausalito, which I assume means you're stuck with Cruising Specialists, which has a "service" department notorious for not answering their phone calls. My experience with them was that they were so busy commissioning new boats that they couldn't be bothered to deal with warranty problems after only two phone calls; you have to call and call and call until you manage to catch the service manager at his desk, because your chance of getting him to answer voicemail is negligable. You might want to call Hunter directly; they proved to be a lot more concerned about warranty issues than the dealer, and were sometimes willing to allow me to use outside contractors to deal with problems that Cruising Specialists was either too inept or too busy to handle. Don't be concerned if you are routed to voicemail at Hunter, THEY return their calls, usually within the hour.
Daniel, I notice that you're from Sausalito, which I assume means you're stuck with Cruising Specialists, which has a "service" department notorious for not answering their phone calls. My experience with them was that they were so busy commissioning new boats that they couldn't be bothered to deal with warranty problems after only two phone calls; you have to call and call and call until you manage to catch the service manager at his desk, because your chance of getting him to answer voicemail is negligable. You might want to call Hunter directly; they proved to be a lot more concerned about warranty issues than the dealer, and were sometimes willing to allow me to use outside contractors to deal with problems that Cruising Specialists was either too inept or too busy to handle. Don't be concerned if you are routed to voicemail at Hunter, THEY return their calls, usually within the hour.
Thanks John
John, Thanks, we will avail oursleves of that advice as we need to. We did buy at Cruising Specialists, and service to delivery and the first few weeks after have been good. The lack of response is more recent. We just did our first overnight shakedown last night. Achored out in the cove at Treasure Island. We will need a little more work on the windlass chain/rode routing, but otherwise that part went really well. All of my alterations of the battery/charger, monitoring system worked perfectly. We threw everything on for the night (anchor light, lights inside as needed, chartplotter with anchor alarm set, radar on 5 minute timed sweeps with alarm set, refrigerator, and instruments so I could monitor depth...we had a -1.5 tide this morning. We only used about 65 amp hours overnight according to the Heart 20. That is about right for the 182 amp hour house bank we installed. We can do better by managing the current better, but I wanted to load it up for this test. The second day we had the boat John was the day that we talked about a Hunter get together at Angel Island (several months ago). Because of work on the boat, we were a few hours late that day and could not find any Hunter group there. We look forward to meeting you at some other time in the near future. Dan & Adrianne (S/V Feije)
John, Thanks, we will avail oursleves of that advice as we need to. We did buy at Cruising Specialists, and service to delivery and the first few weeks after have been good. The lack of response is more recent. We just did our first overnight shakedown last night. Achored out in the cove at Treasure Island. We will need a little more work on the windlass chain/rode routing, but otherwise that part went really well. All of my alterations of the battery/charger, monitoring system worked perfectly. We threw everything on for the night (anchor light, lights inside as needed, chartplotter with anchor alarm set, radar on 5 minute timed sweeps with alarm set, refrigerator, and instruments so I could monitor depth...we had a -1.5 tide this morning. We only used about 65 amp hours overnight according to the Heart 20. That is about right for the 182 amp hour house bank we installed. We can do better by managing the current better, but I wanted to load it up for this test. The second day we had the boat John was the day that we talked about a Hunter get together at Angel Island (several months ago). Because of work on the boat, we were a few hours late that day and could not find any Hunter group there. We look forward to meeting you at some other time in the near future. Dan & Adrianne (S/V Feije)
Hunter, Yes -- Dealer --Oh, Oh, Yes
I agree with the others that Hunter is great value/price. The important part is your dealer. He's the one who adds the upgrades and commissions the boat. Our dealer for our 410 was Deaton Yachts in Oriental. What a great group!!. I have the commissioning record in front of me as I write this and it is amazing all the fixes and fine tuning they performed as well as the work they've done on the boat since and the advice I get to this day. Without a doubt, I love my boat. And my dealer makes this affair a sort of a "menage a trois." (sp?) Jake
I agree with the others that Hunter is great value/price. The important part is your dealer. He's the one who adds the upgrades and commissions the boat. Our dealer for our 410 was Deaton Yachts in Oriental. What a great group!!. I have the commissioning record in front of me as I write this and it is amazing all the fixes and fine tuning they performed as well as the work they've done on the boat since and the advice I get to this day. Without a doubt, I love my boat. And my dealer makes this affair a sort of a "menage a trois." (sp?) Jake
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