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