The Harvast Moon race from Galveston,Texas to Port Aransas, Texas was held on October 12, 2000. This is an off shore race of 150 nautical miles. There were 240 sail boats of all types and sizes. The Hunters did very well winning many of their classes. OZ, my Hunter 460 was first in class, (2nd, 3rd, and 4th place were also hunters)and 12th in fleet. The winds were medium to light and primarily beem to broad reaching. Hunter sponsored a first Hunter over the finish trophy. The 460 won that as well. This report is to let others know that the Hunters are great cruising boats, but they also hold their own for speed and handling. Returning from the race in the inter-coastal waterway near Freeport, Texas, we ran hard aground. Without going through the story, suffice it to say that at approx. 3 knots of boat speed in reverse with the rudder hard to one side we hit taking the full impact on the rudder fully turned. The rudder sheared off and floated away. Turns out that this is the design as to do as little damage as possible with dramatic adverse loading. Had the rudder not sheared, significant structural damage would have occured. The rudder system design is such that there was no concern for the integrity of the hull. A call to Hunter customer service and as always, "They went the Distance". Eddie Breeden and his staff located and shipped the a new rudder within hours of my request. They spoke with the repair tech and the facility to assure everything necessary was either shipped or available for an easy and expeditious repair. In short order with Hunter's help, "OZ" was again sailing. Thank's Hunter.
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Sounds expensive!
Your experience with Hunter is exactly the reason I decided on a Hunter versus a Catalina.
Your experience with Hunter is exactly the reason I decided on a Hunter versus a Catalina.
Absurd!!
I'm sorry guys, but that's ridiculous! O breakaway rudder? Is the hull so poorly designed and constructed that a little hit will distroy it? Don't you see the problem here? If the ruddre floats away, how are yoiu supposed to get home? And Bad-mouthing Catalina? To what purpose. How many of you have had Warren Luhrs pick up the phone on a common information request? Frank Butler is known to do so on a regular basis. For the record, I've hit my rudder a number of times. Where I keep my boat it's impossible not to. I have to traverse a passage about 8 feet wide littered with "bumps on the bottom". The first time I bent the shaft was at seasons end and I straightened it with the boat on the cradle. This year we just tipped it a touch on the way out for a cruise. Ruin a great day of sailing? I don't think so!! I backed the boat up against the sharp drop-off a channel, smacking the rudder straight, and motored away. The hull is more than up to this minor stress. If it can't take this it shouldn't be out on the water.
I'm sorry guys, but that's ridiculous! O breakaway rudder? Is the hull so poorly designed and constructed that a little hit will distroy it? Don't you see the problem here? If the ruddre floats away, how are yoiu supposed to get home? And Bad-mouthing Catalina? To what purpose. How many of you have had Warren Luhrs pick up the phone on a common information request? Frank Butler is known to do so on a regular basis. For the record, I've hit my rudder a number of times. Where I keep my boat it's impossible not to. I have to traverse a passage about 8 feet wide littered with "bumps on the bottom". The first time I bent the shaft was at seasons end and I straightened it with the boat on the cradle. This year we just tipped it a touch on the way out for a cruise. Ruin a great day of sailing? I don't think so!! I backed the boat up against the sharp drop-off a channel, smacking the rudder straight, and motored away. The hull is more than up to this minor stress. If it can't take this it shouldn't be out on the water.
Watch out for icebergs Sam ,you seem to run into
things a lot!...........I wasn't bad mouthing Catalinas at all they're perfectly nice boats but the fact that this is my first boat, Hunter is very customer oriented and that my local Hunter dealer is 800 feet away helped sway me. The fact that I didn't like the Catalina as much had nothing to do with my decision however.
things a lot!...........I wasn't bad mouthing Catalinas at all they're perfectly nice boats but the fact that this is my first boat, Hunter is very customer oriented and that my local Hunter dealer is 800 feet away helped sway me. The fact that I didn't like the Catalina as much had nothing to do with my decision however.
H460 Rudder shaft is the weak link?
It's good to hear that you got OZ repaired and sailing again. I was surprised to hear about the "full breakaway" rudder design. That would not be my first choice as it makes the boat uncontrollable when it fails. I assume you had to be towed. I would prefer a "1/2 breakaway" design where the lower half of the rudder breaks off when the forces become so great that they would damage the ruddershaft or the structure of the hull. The remaining upper part of the rudder leaves you with some degree of control. Most of the ICW around Freeport is mud bottom. If you run aground there, it is usually called a "soft" grounding by the salvage boat operators. A rudder that breaks away at 3 knots into the mud (even in reverse) seems on the light side for a cruising sailboat. Maybe there were other details, like submerged pilings, sunken objects, etc. that could account for the breakaway. If other 46 foot sailboats were put to the same "test", I wonder how they would fare. Maybe we could get Practical Sailor to do a series of rudder tests.
Incidentally, OZ wasn't the only boat to run aground in the ICW on the return from the Harvest Moon Regatta. Monday evening, we stopped to pull a Cal 34 out of the mud when he ran aground about 4 or 5 miles west of the Galveston Railroad drawbridge. He missed a bend in the channel. His rudder was jammed in the mud, but there was no damage done and he proceeded on his own power after we unstuck him. Here's hoping that you always have enough water under your keel to float your boat.
It's good to hear that you got OZ repaired and sailing again. I was surprised to hear about the "full breakaway" rudder design. That would not be my first choice as it makes the boat uncontrollable when it fails. I assume you had to be towed. I would prefer a "1/2 breakaway" design where the lower half of the rudder breaks off when the forces become so great that they would damage the ruddershaft or the structure of the hull. The remaining upper part of the rudder leaves you with some degree of control. Most of the ICW around Freeport is mud bottom. If you run aground there, it is usually called a "soft" grounding by the salvage boat operators. A rudder that breaks away at 3 knots into the mud (even in reverse) seems on the light side for a cruising sailboat. Maybe there were other details, like submerged pilings, sunken objects, etc. that could account for the breakaway. If other 46 foot sailboats were put to the same "test", I wonder how they would fare. Maybe we could get Practical Sailor to do a series of rudder tests.
Incidentally, OZ wasn't the only boat to run aground in the ICW on the return from the Harvest Moon Regatta. Monday evening, we stopped to pull a Cal 34 out of the mud when he ran aground about 4 or 5 miles west of the Galveston Railroad drawbridge. He missed a bend in the channel. His rudder was jammed in the mud, but there was no damage done and he proceeded on his own power after we unstuck him. Here's hoping that you always have enough water under your keel to float your boat.- Status