[dpierce]

Ottville,

You''ve gotten a ton of advice already but let me add my personal experience with just buying a new Hunter anyway.

I owned an 81 Hunter 30 for several years (Cherubini design). Nice solid boat, and I do mean solid - it weighed over 9500 lbs with the fin keel. Not a particularly good sailing boat, and the interior left a lot to be desired. But, it held it''s value OK, and I learned a lot about what I wanted. Last month I bought a new H326 - after +much+ analysis of Hunter vs. Catalina. I found 2 important things. 1- the Catalinas in that size range are seriously out of date as regards interior arrangements. The Hunter folks are a lot more creative about how to use space. After having a boat with lousy interior space, I found it''s a big issue if you''re going to cruise for more than an afternoon. 2 - Hunters hold their value a lot better. I collected a lot of asking price data on H''s and C''s, then did some regression analysis to see what happened over time. The result? Catalinas cost at least 30% more when new, and 8 to 10 years later will cost the same. IOW, Catalina depreciation is a lot worse.

If I were going offshore (which doesn''t interest me in the least), I probably wouldn''t buy either. But, for sailing around inland waters, I really can''t see any significant difference in safety or performance. RE the no-backstay rig, the design is a relatively simple exercise in structural engineering, and everything I found said it works fine.

Hope this helps.

Dave...