I'm shopping for a boat, looking at a Hunter 34. I am surprised at the lack of storage space both in the cabin and cockpit. Where do you find space to store food and supplies for more than a couple of days?
Storage
- Thread starter eje
- Start date
I have only owned my 34 for about 1 1/2 years but I will admit storage is tight since it is only my wife and I on the boat most of the time the aft cabin has become a large storage locker although there is always room for one person to sleep in there. Two is to crowded anyways. There is also quite a bit of room under the front V berth but we tend to leave long time storge stuff there. We can fill the fridge fairly quickly but I will admit my beer supply takes up a lot of that room. The storage under the cabinet top beside the sink is a good size place and we keep our pots and pans and can goods there along with the wife's vodka. Under the sink itself is just cleaning supplies. Along the side storage we keep all the dishes and miscellaneous stuff and a lot of small stuff on top of the side cabinet but all that is not much higher than the small rail so it stays in place. The two rear lockers house the two house batteries 1 5 gallon tank of diesel and one 5 gallon tank of gas the spare lines and the fenders but makes it stuffed and then small lines and gloves and safety supplies in the top of the port side locker. The starboard side locker is all equipment access starting battery, charger, radio, refrigeration.
All boats are a compromise so the saying goes - people want bigger cockpits and huge interior space. That’s what sells to the majority of sailboat buyers. Bling sells!
If you really want a 35 ft cruising boat, they exist but you won’t find as many and Hunter is similar to all the other mass marketed boats in that respect. They aren’t built as cruising boats.
If you really want a 35 ft cruising boat, they exist but you won’t find as many and Hunter is similar to all the other mass marketed boats in that respect. They aren’t built as cruising boats.
How much storage do you need?
Our quarter berth is our largest storage locker. 2 sails, and other equipment live there. We just came back from a three day cruise on our '77 h27. We each had a boat bag of clothes, reading material, and other personal stuff. Then we had a cooler of frozen and refrigerated food, and a boat bag of dry food. The cooler contents go into the icebox with some ice, then the cooler goes at the forward end of the quarter berth to hold the rest of the food.
There is a toolbox on the floor at the forward end of the main cabin under where the table folds down. There are little "foot cuddies" at the end of both bench seats in the main cabin. We store a couple of blankets, a canvas shade, and some pillows for the cockpit there. Shelves outboard of the benches, and vee-berth hold the small things we need - flags, binoculars, sunscreen, playing cards, etc.
A shelf outboard of the toilet holds towels, pfd's, harnesses, and tethers. Smaller shelves in the head hold sail repair, spare funnels, Odorlos, soap etc. A heater and a fan join trash bags under the head sink. Dishes, glasses and silverware are under the stove. a rack behind the stove holds coffee, spices, oil, and other cooking supplies.
Two drawers under the kitchen sink, and right beside the companionway hold winch handles other tools we need under way and emergency stuff. A locker ahead of the quarter berth holds spare line, a grounding wire for the rig, the tiller-pilot, a battery charger, alcohol for the stove, and cleaning supplies.
The lazarette in the cockpit holds added diesel fuel, canvas to cover our forward hatch in the rain, more PFD's, shock cords, a hose, and more cleaning supplies. A built in locker at the aft end of the cockpit with an overboard drain holds butane bottles for our grill.
We have done long cruises of 6 and 8 weeks on the Great Lakes in our boat. We top up food for a week in the same places named above, and usually bring more clothes that get stored on the outboard shelves in the vee-berth.
Cruising for a week with two couples or with my Dad and two brothers did stretch storage a bit. We limited each person to a single bag of personal stuff, and those were often stored on the main cabin floor at night.
I guess my point is that workable cruising boats are a choice, and the choice is not as limited by boat size as some people would like to say it is. Some of us may need a 50 footer. I've cruised a week with two couples on a lot of 34 to 37 foot charter boats. They all seemed to have plenty of room to me. We have cruised as a couple of 34-35 footers and think they have way to much room for us.
I think a Hunter 34 would be a great first coastal cruising boat. If you really need more space, you can always trade up.
Our quarter berth is our largest storage locker. 2 sails, and other equipment live there. We just came back from a three day cruise on our '77 h27. We each had a boat bag of clothes, reading material, and other personal stuff. Then we had a cooler of frozen and refrigerated food, and a boat bag of dry food. The cooler contents go into the icebox with some ice, then the cooler goes at the forward end of the quarter berth to hold the rest of the food.
There is a toolbox on the floor at the forward end of the main cabin under where the table folds down. There are little "foot cuddies" at the end of both bench seats in the main cabin. We store a couple of blankets, a canvas shade, and some pillows for the cockpit there. Shelves outboard of the benches, and vee-berth hold the small things we need - flags, binoculars, sunscreen, playing cards, etc.
A shelf outboard of the toilet holds towels, pfd's, harnesses, and tethers. Smaller shelves in the head hold sail repair, spare funnels, Odorlos, soap etc. A heater and a fan join trash bags under the head sink. Dishes, glasses and silverware are under the stove. a rack behind the stove holds coffee, spices, oil, and other cooking supplies.
Two drawers under the kitchen sink, and right beside the companionway hold winch handles other tools we need under way and emergency stuff. A locker ahead of the quarter berth holds spare line, a grounding wire for the rig, the tiller-pilot, a battery charger, alcohol for the stove, and cleaning supplies.
The lazarette in the cockpit holds added diesel fuel, canvas to cover our forward hatch in the rain, more PFD's, shock cords, a hose, and more cleaning supplies. A built in locker at the aft end of the cockpit with an overboard drain holds butane bottles for our grill.
We have done long cruises of 6 and 8 weeks on the Great Lakes in our boat. We top up food for a week in the same places named above, and usually bring more clothes that get stored on the outboard shelves in the vee-berth.
Cruising for a week with two couples or with my Dad and two brothers did stretch storage a bit. We limited each person to a single bag of personal stuff, and those were often stored on the main cabin floor at night.
I guess my point is that workable cruising boats are a choice, and the choice is not as limited by boat size as some people would like to say it is. Some of us may need a 50 footer. I've cruised a week with two couples on a lot of 34 to 37 foot charter boats. They all seemed to have plenty of room to me. We have cruised as a couple of 34-35 footers and think they have way to much room for us.
I think a Hunter 34 would be a great first coastal cruising boat. If you really need more space, you can always trade up.
The 34 must be a lot different from the 31. We lived on/cruised our 31 for 6 months and had plenty of storage. Have you looked in all the lazerettes and under seat storage? We even carried 22 gallons of water in jugs as our only source of water.
The h34 is the boat with the worst laid out cabin that I have seen. To sleep in the V berth you have to climb steps and you cannot even sit up there to turn around and dismount, the stern berth is just as bad for the inside position, the only usable sleeping facilities is the convertible dinette with the inconvenience of having to set it up morning and evening. The galley is small with a hard to reach inside cooler. To walk the salon is like an obstacle course, narrow. I got to say the shower facility is good but does not make up for the other inconveniences. Even the h27 has better usable space than the 34. Found its sailing movements comfortable but was a little tender, maybe the shoal keel model.
