Recent Email to Hunter Marine, What do you think?

[TJ-LJ Champion]

Dear Hunter Marine, Over a year ago my fiancée and I purchased our first sailboat a Hunter 37C. We have loved the boat, stripping her insides completely out and re-doing most of the teak, flooring, upgrading the plumbing etc. My fiancée is 6'2" and continually smacks his head into the bulkheads and V-berth overhead. So, we've decided it was time to think about going slightly bigger with a full master stateroom in the aft. Hench a center Cockpit would be perfect! Yesterday we returned from the Annapolis boat show (our second year) and of course visited the 45 CC. We have always liked the layout of this vessel and knew someday that would be our final goal. Once a Hunter owner, always a Hunter owner. While we were in Annapolis a side trip to Bert Jabins is a must to see what's for sale in brokerage. We met up with a salesman and visited a H 420 (1999). I could not shut my fiancée up, he LOVED this boat, the design is superior to any of Hunters boats we seen thus far. I guess my question is: Don't you take into consideration your customer base, what they ask for and/or the most popular and least resold vessels in the fleet to know what will be a hit for your production in the future? I could not get over the storage on the 420, a nook and cranny for everything one brings to go cruising. Lockers, drawers, the washer/dryer location OUTSIDE the master suite. Why would you add those long settee's in the master of your 45's and NOT give the customer more storage? We don't enjoy the inconvenience of having to dig into the under storage of the settee's or even under the mattresses for our spinnakers, extra canvas or for that matter provisions taking that cruise to the Islands. Easy access is the name of the game. Of course I understand price considerations, more wood panels and specific carpentry adds cost. I understand the average sailor purchasing Hunter wants electronics, and all the other necessary powered capabilities to maintain off shore comfort. Does any of your designers or marketers visit the Hunterowners website frequently to hear about the various pitfalls and or improvements we must make to our boats? Are there females at Hunter designing the interiors? There should be! Leave the technical rigging and marine functions to the males, but the interiors should be female. Any couple that prepares to make a major purchase of a new vessel splits, the male decides what rigging and electronics is necessary and the female looks for every detail below deck, after all we're the ones scrubbing those heads and preparing the majority of food. I do apologize for my email in advance, the purpose is not to criticize but to inform. I adore the Hunter ideals, we were so close to purchasing a Beneteau but in the end went Hunter. I would never consider Catalina and I know how popular they are, I would enjoy seeing Hunter fulfill their potential in the market place. Living a marine life is truly a luxury, it's our second home, why shouldn't it be everything we want? In the long run we invest in these boats, hope their value will hold for resale and squeeze every ounce of life out of them. BTW...we love the pre owned certified program. Bravo, you might be catching on to something, what not keep going and improving to meet the needs for your consumer?  Very sincerely yours, Laurie  Barnegat NJ

 

[Terry Cox]

Hi Laurie, nice message to Hunter Marine...

I know from experience they do monitor this site, but I'm assuming choose not to participate in any active dialogue within. In my case they saw my post that had to do with purchasing a new inverter and e-mailed me directly to steer me in a better direction than where I was going. That is just one example of many they have provided me their expert advice off line. I appreciate their candor to, I'm assuming, avoid giving the appearance of trying to influence or represent any affiliation with this site.Terry

 

[Dan]

Similar experience at the boat show

. . . except we already have a 420. My wife and I looked at a lot of boats - even ones more expensive than ours - and she kept marveling at how much better the interior was on our boat. We couldn't imagine why a 45CC would be more preferable.Now we're just focusing on tweaking the boat we have to make it perfect!

 

[Robert]

Atta Girl

Laurie, I admit I do have to stand with you on your email to Hunter Marine regarding who designs the interior. Good luck on any response. I have had only one response to any of my questions, and it took about 9 weeks. By then, I had already forgotten what the question was.My wife and daughter support your comment regarding women being involved in the interior design of Hunter sailboats. Every time we find a boat we are interested in, there is always something about storage that most often gets overlooked by many designers and builders.We have a Hunter 31, and they seemed to have their heads in the right place in designing this boat. Plenty of room for just about anything, at least for the two of us. But alas, you have to raise cushions to get to the storage.RobertSt. Louis, MORiver Sailing?;D

 

[Doug13108]

Don't know about

sailboat owners in general. But most cruisers are couples and it would probably be very smart to design interiors based on female needs/wants/expectations.OTOH, you can't please everyone. We met a couple who thought the center line queen sized bed on an old Hunter Legend 40 was silly because it made the aft cabin look like a bedroom. They WANTED something you crawl into.

 

[Phil Herring]

This reminds me of a mod to the 450

About 10 years ago this same idea surfaced in regard to the desk in the aft cabin of the 450. An owner worked with Hunter to re-design the cabin furniture and replace the desk with lockers. Ultimately, it was offered as a no-cost option. But it wasn't very popular because the lockers were much taller and filled a big chunk of the cabin's volume, and also made it a lot darker.In theory, it made all the sense in the world. In reality, it negated part of what made the cabin so appealing. Which leads to me my opinion that designing boat interiors is much more complex than we think.

 

[newly anonymous]

the first question most folks ask...

...about my H46LE is, "How many does it sleep?" They seem confused when I answer, "Two," and even more bemused when I clarify that we can sleep four in a pinch. I suspect that Hunter is more interested in selling boats to the vast majority of folks who want to know how many guests they can cram into a boat for a weekend than to the folks who wonder how comfortably a couple can be accommodated for an extended cruise. The nice thing is that you can re-engineer your boat over time. For example, I just engaged a cabinet maker to build a new table for the saloon. The one that came with the boat is as cumbersome as it is ugly; it's designed to expand with a leaf or to collapse to become the base for a fourth double bed. Unfortunately, the one thing it doesn't do well is act like a table. The new one, which will be made of bamboo, will not convert to a bed, but will do a far better job accommodating breakfast.The aft cabin on the port side has been converted into a sail locker, a place not only for the spinnaker but for such things as kayak paddles, the beach umbrella, et cetera. At some point I imagine we'll take the mattress out for good and build in more storage lockers, a place to keep the spare parts and tools for cruising. At some point I'd like to install a really nice reading chair in that cabin, a place where I can settle down with a good novel for three or four hours without my legs falling asleep. It seems goofy to me to own a boat this size and still not have a good spot in which to read.It's all possible, once you get past the idea of owning a boat that sleeps nine people.

 

[Buck2796]

Laurie,

I enjoyed your comments and agree w/ you and everyone who has posted a response.As an owner of an '01 420, I obviously agree with you're impressions. Being a CC guy, IMHO the only cruising boat that Hunter is now building or has built that I is nicer than a 420 is a 456. They are bigger, roomier, faster, and really nice. But for the money, I still think its hard to beat a 420.  Hunter has, for more than 10 years, had extensive female imput re interior design and amenities. They (and all of the production boat builders) know quite well that it's the women who usually make the final choice when a couple is buying a boat. I have good friends who own an '04 456. He was going to buy another boat, but when she saw the 456, she said "This is it".. and that was that. They have been happy ever since.Until 2 years ago Hunter had been offering a 42(ish)ft CC cruising boat for more than 15 years. I don't know how many thay sold, but between Passage 42s and 420s, they must have sold hundreds. Now, the only CC Hunter offers is the 45. Nice boat, but (again) IMHO, I'd buy a used 456 (for less money than a new 45) and, I believe, would have a better boat. But apparently the marketplace suggests that more people prefer aft cockpit boats, because they may SAIL somewhat better. While that may be true, even the aft cockpit people would agree that cruisers motor or motorsail probable 75% of the time. Actual (motor off) sailing time vs total time aboard is small and the live-aboard-ability of a nice CC is hard to beat. There are wispers that Hunter will be offering a CC version of its 49 in a couple of years... if it's true, great ! ! But they should also offer a CC version of the new 41 as a lower cost CC. Anyway, good luck with the '99 420 ! !

 

[BobSail]

Wife's input

I asked my wife along on our initial boat tire-kicking trip (which was to be purely exploratory). She spied a Hunter while I was off finding a business card. When I returned, she was sitting on the boat and said; "This is it!" And that was that. We spent 10 TIMES more than we had anticipated budgeting. No regrets.

 

[John Nantz]

Possible Cushion Solution

With regard to the cushions and access under, if the cushions are continuous it is difficult to access under because of all the cushion that has to be lifted up. For example, if the salon cushion is a long one and there are two or three storage sections under, it can probably be split into sections so to access the storage one only need lift that one section and not the whole thing. Doing this after-the-fact is work and expense because of re-working and re-sewing the cover and also the possibility of trying to match fabric. If one is redoing the fabric covers though, it would make sense to do it at that time.With regard our boat purchase, an '88 H35, it was my wife that got me to look closer at it and when I didn't make any motions about getting it she was the one who more or less bugged me to buy it (layout and bright cabin were two of the big items). I agreed, thinking it would be a place holder until the 'better' one came along but we still have it. Not wanting to go 'two-foot-itis' it has been very hard to find another boat that is worth the incremental cost for the incremental benefit. We've got a lazarette that I can put my outboard, full-size mountain bike, sails, oars, etc. in which isn't available on many newer boats and those that have the space tend to be much larger and much more expensive.The good thing about having owned a project boat, or one that you've fixed up, is now you have a good idea of what to look for, and look out for, in a new or used boat. That alone is worth something in itself.