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Originally Posted by sailingfool
I cannot comment from current experience on their new boats - I guess because based on 35 years of sailboat ownership I avoid them like the plague - other than to observe that they are still seem to be bought by the same type of buyer, someone who has more money than expertise. ... I hope I haven't been too frank.
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The small amount of sailing experience I have dates back to my first boat 42 years ago, a 16-foot clinker-built sailing dory that took me up and down the Straits of Georgia and up most of the BC central coast inlets. My tool kit consisted of such things as saw, plane, caulking irons and mallet, and my spares were a few planks and some oakum. I was younger then, and a tent ashore was my master cabin. Sailing a ship's whaler from Samoa to Tonga further taught me that onboard accommodation and creature comfort were an important aspect of this sailing thing.
My first "real" sailboat was a ten-year-old 1969 Bill Garden designed Mariner 40 ketch with its full-keel, overly thick glass hull and its endless hours of teak caprails, taffrails and trim. In her I solo-sailed much of the Pacific Northwest and she taught me that my next boat would have less brightwork, would be more sprightly in light airs and that I needn't pay moorage for 48 feet of overall length to get 30 feet of waterline length.
Some of my other lessons along the way were a 1976 Valiant 40 teaching me about osmosis, hull blisters and delamination and how much interior space is lost with a rounded stern and just how dark a sailboat interior can be. She also taught me that beating to windward should be easier. A 1977 Hallberg-Rassy 41 ketch instilled in me just how expensive it is to repair, replace and maintain non-standard and low production equipment and fittings.
I took a hiatus from sailing in the late 90s to restore a 1973 Kersholt 14 meter steel cruiser and explore the canals and rivers of France. With the canal boat sold this spring, I again turned my attention to sailing.
Sailingfool, I may lack expertise; however, I am not a sailing fool, I certainly do not have limitless funds, nor am I a novice at this. This is not my first sailboat, but it is my first new one and it seems to satisfy more of my current needs than anything else, new or used in the current market.
I have no problem with the fact that Hunter "pissed in the pickle jar" in the past, and all at Hunter agree that they had problems in the past. From what I see now with Hunter is that there is a new jar with a new batch, and it smells good. So good, in fact that I am eager to crunch into one.