I just finished reading about the local sailor who planned to take his 46' Hunter (don't know what year or model) to the BVI. Because the debate on Hunter build quality flares up every now and then ("Why is a Hunter not considered a bluewater boat?") I thought that I should share this with anyone concerned.
Thanks to Larry Robertie for sharing this with the Mass Bay Sailor group. I hope that he dosen't mind my sharing with a wider audience.
"These guys left PCYC on Saturday, October 13th. We were all able to track the voyage on
line, as the owner had arranged with iBoat Track to carry a
GPS tracker. The voyage track can still be seen at:
http://charthorizon.com/m/cz/map?ves...v_scope=recent
I was in the office one day when I noticed that "hard right" two days out of Bermuda. It looked odd and was, of course, the start of their troubles.
Turns out that the fiberglass (that's right - fiberglass) rudder shaft on the 46' Hunter snapped in heavy seas. The first hand reports started at 15 seas, some were saying 20. The guys did try to
rig a temp rudder, but that just didn't work out so the captain decided it was time to leave. "
Here is a link to the news story:
http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pag...Y&pageId=3.1.1
It is incomprehensible to me that any company would make the safety compromise to use Fiberglass as the material to construct the rudder shaft.