What is to check when I will purchase a Hunter 33.5

[Sailaholic]

Dear Hunter 33.5 Owners,
I am a German sailor (come from Cologne) and please excuse my poor English.
After I have sold my Friendship 35 I am very interested for a Hunter 33.5. The Friendship was sold because I could not sail her singlehanded. But this could be done (I have tested it) with a Hunter 33.5 Modell 1993 with 3 GM Yanmar.
When I visited the Hunter I liked this boat from the first moment.
Because of I have found a lot of interesting informations about her in this forum, I would friendly like to ask you, which (weak) points I should check, before I sign the a contract.

Thank you very much in forward for your help/ your answers.

Best regards
Sailaholic

 

[Deadline]

Just one thing... Take the boat for a sail and see how it performs. Hunter is notorious for underpowering the jib and the main, for the laudable reason of not scaring the women and children. Assuming this is in-mast furling, you may find the main undersized for power. That's okay, provided you eventually replace the 110 jib (really 90) with a 120 genoa that will give you more power overall. Otherwise, a fine boat.

 

[Steve Dion]

If the furler is below deck, be sure to have the fore deck area checked for water intrusion. This was a very common problem on the boats that had them below deck. If they are properly sealed it was not an issue but very expensive to fix if has not been taken care of.

 

[Jeff]

I have a 1993 H33.5 and love the boat. Very easy to single hand at the dock and under sail. Three things I don't like about the boat. The V-berth is small for adults. Just a bit to short. The jib furler being below deck sometimes rubs against the fibergalss deck when it's under tension. I often need to winch the furling line when reefing. The cast iron keel will requires attention each time I pull out. Wish it was made of lead.

 

[Sailaholic]

Thank you very much for your answers.
Dietrich

 

[Ken Palmer]

I purchased a 1991 Hunter 33.5 about 5 years ago. The surveyor found that the deck around the line to the roller furler lines was delaminated. The keel is also prone to rust because it is made from iron. Hunter went to a larger Yanmar engine in later versions. Mine is a 2 cylinder and the newer version is 3.

My broker had the delamination repaired and bought a new jib and main sail to finish the deal. By the way, it is not in-mast furling. The main is fine as is. I also prefer to use the small 110 jib that was original with the boat. The fractional rig does not need a large genoa.

 

[Sailaholic]

Hunter 33.5 (1993) problems with mast compression post?

Thank you very much for your reply.
I will check the hull for delaminations.

I have read that some older Hunters have had problems with the mast compression post and also that the construction were modified from Hunter.

Are any problems concerning compression post for the mast known (building year 1993)?
How can I regocnize this?

 

[Steve Dion]

I believe that the compression post on the Legend models were metal (not wood). Consequently this is no longer an issue.