Recently became a 1980 H37C Owner

[coleman]

I learned to sail on my grandfather's H37C more than 20 years ago. He was the second owner and he bought the boat as 'used' when it was only a few months old. He's made only a few modifications to improve cruising, and with those he's taken the boat to the Bahamas a few times, from Annapolis. This past weekend I bought it from him.

I'm really excited about owning a larger boat. I've owned about thirteen boats in the past, the largest of which was a nicely modified MacGregor 26D I sold to make room. While I have watched him meticulously care for it over the years, I do think I am going to want to make some changes such as new through hulls, electrical system rebuild, and some minor (in comparison to those other tasks) running rigging upgrades.

So anyways; hello and I am sure I will have some questions and new projects to share in the near future.

 

[sandpiper10471]

Congratulations on the new boat! You will enjoy it every bit as much as your grandfather has I am sure.

 

[Ed Schenck]

I'll second the congratulations although it makes me feel even older than I am. You bought your grandfather's H37C and it is one year newer than mine! I have owned mine for over ten years and am still working on it. You had best get started.

 

[David Underwood]

Wow, you've got a boat with special history...

How proud your grandfather must be to have kelp his boat in the family. I can think of no greater honor to your grandfather than for his grandson to own the boat where you both have shared time sailing. Wish my son took as much interest in sailing and in my boat, which is a H33C, 1982. I love my hunter and I am sure you will love yours as you make it your own with your projects. Remember, its the trip along the way and not the destination that you will enjoy the most.

Fair winds..
David
S/V Freebird

 

[fifedog]

coleman - First off, Welcome aboard. As a new owner of a "vintage" Hunter, I'll be watching to see what problems you have crop up, as well as our members' solutions. Pretty cool that Granddad passed it to you...hope he cut you a break.

David - I've been fortunate thus far with my teenaged boy, as he loves our sailboat, and everything that goes with it. We'll see if that's true in the spring when it comes time for painting the bottom...

 

[jcherubini]

GREAT BOAT! Ed Schenk has been on this BB for ages and is one of the many excellent authorities on this model and Hunters in general. I haven't worked on or sailed on one (yet-- hint hint hint) but I am fond of it.

My suggestions--
- Make sure the holding tank is either replaced or good enough to not need it... yet. Consider relocating it when you do replace it.
- Don't dream of sleeping on the forward cockpit seats.
- Change to Forespar Marelon through-hulls when you pull the old ones-- they're lighter, free from corrosion and strong as heck. This is the standard setup with the best yachts round the world.
- Leave it as a cutter unless all you will do is hard-core racing. You will be glad of all the sail-trim options with an inner forestay. My favorite sail on a double-headsail rig is the inner jib. You might fit roller-furlers on both jibstays, which allows you to have a loose-footed and slightly-lapping inner jib... this makes for a nice 'slot' and covers heavy-weather sailing smartly. (Our C-44 was like this and I loved it.)
- Take your grandfather sailing often.

And... you do realize that since this boat stays in the family, you can't change the name. But that's the beautiful part of it.

Have and stay in touch on the bulletin boards.

 

[sandpiper10471]

So John C - you haven't worked on a 37C yet? Dangerous words!
I am sure many owners would love to have you work on their boats. As for sailing one, consider coming to the North Channel of L. Huron. Any time (almost) June to October.

 

[coleman]

Thanks for the welcome. I'll be making a website for it soon.

As it stands, it is almost perfectly unmodified. I'm a mechanical engineer. I can't have that. I'll twitch. But I am going to leave the name alone. "Pride of the Morning", for the morning "Pride" or the fog on the rivers through the mountains. The former name from the first owner was "Peanut Butter". I think they made a good change.

BTW; it's older than I am. Not to make anyone feel old, or anything like that.

The modifications will commence soon. Modernizing the onboard electrical system and plumbing is first.

 

[TJ-LJ Champion]

Funny, how is it that all the engineers must get their hands on these boats and rip them apart? Do any of you guys sit still for a moment?

Welcome Coleman, we are an elite group and many who own Cherubini's can spot us miles away. Good luck with that dang plumping, even though we've done everything imaginable it still remains a sore spot with us.

 

[coleman]

Funny, how is it that all the engineers must get their hands on these boats and rip them apart? Do any of you guys sit still for a moment?

It's been owned by engineers since 1982, I'll continue the tradition of not ripping it apart. But it's definitely a boat worthy of as many upgrades as it takes to keep it modern and on the water.

Work on it should start next week. Plumbing is first.

 

[Ed Schenck]

As you probably know many(all?) of our H37C projects are documented here on HOW. We hope that you will do the same. I saw your mention of a separate website and many Cherubini owner's have done that. But it is really nice to have all of the information here where most of us reside. Because we would rather be sailing or tinkering it is hard to keep track of all those other sites. Or at my age even to remember that they exist. ( http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/in...&Itemid=267&cat_id=38&page=model&mn=37-cutter )

 

[TJ-LJ Champion]

Believe me I know the upgrades necessary to the cutter, do check out our profile and go through our album of pictures. You'll find before and afters and yet the process still continues.....we've just (almost) finished the Q-berth and yesterday I began gel-coating the upper deck (spots) then it's on to that teak.

Ed, We might be right behind you with the stainless handrails, I love teak but what a pain in the neck it's become!

Anyway, Coleman please don't hesitate to contact any of us for info....we're happy to help!

Laurie

 

[dvideohd]

Since you *had* a Mac26D.....

You will have all these tools.... all the tools that crazed Mac owners use to MOD the beejeebers out of the boat with...

We all here would be sure interested in what you do... Pics are always good, too... My 37C is on the hard for quite some time to come - as we work on refurb... so we go out on the 26D... :>

--jerry

(BTW - we got sidetracked this summer in building a boat shed.... somehing to store the working supplies and tools... etc for the boat.. It was a good idea to collect all the materials and supplies in one place... )

 

[coleman]

I've rebuild several cars and now I am working on a diesel truck. I definitely have more tools than anyone should have reason to own. Working on that old truck has made it MUCH easier to deal with the Yanmar 3GM30F. Which gave me a bit of a fight this weekend I had some mechanical issues, and I'm posting some questions on the engine in a new thread...