Questions - Considering Buying a Hunter 240

[nola2172]

My wife and I have been looking for our first sailboat to buy, and after some research on what meets our requirements (trailerable for winter storage (we have a pole barn we can use) but also possessing enough cabin to sleep in comfortably), we found a Hunter 240 (2004) in our hometown (Muskegon, MI) that looks to be in good shape, meets our requirements, and is obviously very close by. We have had some friends who are more experienced sailors than us look at the boat with us, and they generally thought it looked good. We did have a few questions, though, that the broker really could not help with, but I thought some Hunter 240 owners on here may be able to help:

First, a couple of pretty specific questions:
1. The mast is currently down, and there is a bag tied around the end of it on the bow, I think to protect the roller furling. This bag has filled with water. How bad is that?
2. While on the trailer, the mast looks a bit "bent". Is it supposed to be? Also, it looks like the only spots where it is supported are the pole on the stern and at the tip of the bow. Is that correct?

Second, is there anything I should be looking for on the boat or asking about specifically before we put in our offer? We are planning to get a survey (I have already contacted possibly surveyors to check availability) and a sea trial, we have a listed inventory of what comes with the boat, and we have looked over it ourselves a few times.

Third, is there any particular stuff I should know about the boat that you have learned from using it? Most of the threads I find on the boat tend to be about the particulars of water ballasts, with which I am pretty familiar now.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

 

[JoeWhite]

Good questions. I would first go on a sea trial with your knowledgeable friends then pay for a survey. The bent mast is normal, It is supposed to be supported from the center of the mast as well with a few fenders. I would not be very concerned about the water in the bag as it is fresh water from the rain. When the mast is stepped it will be straight and you will be able to test the furler. I am not familiar with water ballast - but sea trial will give you a chance to see if this is what you are comfertable with. This is a good starter sail boat - but if your finances will allow I would go with a minimum of 30 feet and a fin keel. This means that you have to keep the boat in the water. Speaking from my own experiance - I had a 1984 Hunter 25.5 with a fixed keel and trailerable sail boat. But the additional time required to raise and drop the main then attach the sails and place in water became a problem. So I decided to keep it in the water. Specially at the end of the day when you are tired - you will still have to lower the mast and tie everything up and the crew will be impatient to go home. Good luck let us know what you decide.

 

[Ray Bowles]

I owned a 1995 Hunter H26 which is the same boat just a little bigger. When trailing the boat the mast should be supported front, center and rear. If using the mast as a ridge pole for winter tenting it should also be supported in 3 places. Be sure the mast isn't bent. Have the owner raise it as it only takes about 3/4 of an hour.
The water shouldn't be a problem.
The 240 and 260 are wonderful, large fun boats.
Ray

 

[Sailavie1]

I recently purchased a 2008 Hunter 25 and am really enjoying this boat. It has a fixed keel but aside from that has similar rigging as the 24. The B&R mast system works as good as they say and is very easy to sail. The water ballast my be a bit more tender than my fixed keel but pointing should be better than mine due to a deeper keel. There is no "perfect" boat, all have some good points and some bad points.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Nola2172;

The bag is simple a cover to keep stuff out of the furler and in some cases to keep the metal from banging against the fiberglass and bow rail making marks and so forth.

The mast is a B &R rig and the short end of things you will note a transverse diagonal lower shroud from the spreader tip to a point on the lower part of the mast and thus your prebend of the mast. If you do purchase the boat, send me a photo of the mast in the up position. Please contact me thru the website email giving me your personal email. I will respond and then you will need to remember mine.

I was very much involved with the water ballast boats from day one and introduced everyone to include the first 23.5 and I have a placque on my wall as the top selling dealer of the 240 and I guess I earned that having purchased nearly 25% of the production line or near that.

crazy dave condon

also go under boat information and look or click onto the 240 and there you will have a lot of photos and info. suggest that you use the small boat forum under Hunter boats for future information on the website.

 

[nola2172]

Thank you to everyone for your responses. I will definitely make sure we test out all of the rigging and the roller furling on the sea trial, both to make sure it all works and that all of it is present. If we end up purchasing the boat, I will make sure to add another post to that effect.

Crazy Dave - I will take some pictures of the mast and get them sent along to you.

I should also note that we plan on keeping the boat in the water during the sailing season here in Michigan and mostly using the trailer just to store it for the winter (in a large pole barn that is free for me to use).

 

[DJN51]

If it,s the 240 at Torresen Marine great boat.Friend looked at it just decided to go bigger.

 

[Caribbeanknight1]

It's funny. I was also wondering if its the one at Torreson's. it was on the market this winter when I was shopping for my 240. I was all set to do the nine hour drive to look at it when he mentioned all the water was frozen up there and there was no way to do a water test. Oops, I forgot you guys up north have those restrictions. It's nice to see he cut the price. I can't wait to hear your follow up report. I love my 240 and I'm sure you will to if everything works out. It really is a joy to sail.

 

[nola2172]

For those wondering - yes, it is the 240 at Torresen. We will be headed over today to put an offer in on it. After doing a lot of looking around online, I was glad that the boat that met our needs was in my hometown - very convenient. Also, I also realized that Torresen is one of the largest sailboat brokers in Michigan and that pretty much everyone on their staff owns a sailboat themselves, so they are very knowledgeable and definitely had their stuff together. We were also looking at another boat listed with another broker, and I rather quickly realized that with my limited knowledge, I knew more about the boat than he did. I don't think he even had a complete inventory (which might not be super important on a power boat), but for a sailboat he had listed for 4 months at that point, that seemed like pretty bad form.