Hunter Build Quality?

[sailingfool]

SEMIJim,
If you klike on the Great Lakes, you are far better off just looking at local boats than messing with something distant that's been in salt water. Boats in fresh water age much more slowly than boats in salt, I'd say 75% less, i.e. a 5 year old salt boat, all elese being equal, looks as worn as a 20 year old fresh water boat. Regardless of what the differential is, it exists and you should only look at fresh water boats, since you have that choice.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by Valiente

The Pearson 30 is an excellent "starter" boat and a perfectly reasonable weekender/coastal/Great Lakes cruiser. She'll even acquit herself on the racecourse.

Funny thing about that: I've wanted to consider 28' - 30' Pearsons all along. It's my understanding they're well-built, have decent below-decks accommodations, and are relatively fast. But my wife said she didn't like them. Then greggus posted that link to a Pearson 10M. We looked at that and both of us fell head-over-heels in love with it. Unfortunately, even the most aggressively-priced of them are well outside our budget. But there has been one happy side-effect: Now my wife seems interested in considering Pearsons.

Originally Posted by Valiente

Eleven large is just about right if she passes survey.

Perhaps--depending on condition, maintenance (updates/refits), etc. There are other 28' - 30' Pearsons in the Great Lakes area, some closer to us than that and 2-4 years newer, for similar prices.

Originally Posted by Valiente

A couple could have a lot of fun on such a length of classic plastic.

There are a number of boats we're finding we like. We'd still like to find a Sabre 28 in Really Good Condition, in our neighbourhood, but we've seen some Pearsons and Tartans that look interesting. There's also an Albin 8.5 Cumulus, up north of us, we haven't called on yet... I've got seven boats I passed links to my wife for. Lessee... An Ericson, an Irwin (dunno how those two are, quality wise, tho), a Tartan (I understand those are in the same class as Pearson and Sabre, quality-wise?), a Morgan (interesting cabin layout) and an S2 8.5.

Looks like we're going to be taking some Great Lakes road trips

Jim

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

Regardless of what the differential is, it exists and you should only look at fresh water boats, since you have that choice.

Thanks for the pointer, sailingfool. Yeah, that's what we've decided to do. I've found that, by widening the search region to include the entire Great Lakes region, we're finding lots of likely prospects. May not have found The One, yet, but the odds are much better we will. With a little luck, we'll even find her so close she can be sailed home

[Sailormann]

This is not a bad source: boat for sale

Also, once you have found a listing that you like - on Yachtworld, or another site - but it is a bit out of your range, watch it and see how long it sits on the market. Boats will start to get cheaper towards the middle/end of July. The prices that are posted will not change, but the vendors will become more flexible as it starts looking like they' be paying for haulout and storage for another season.

And don't be afraid to call someone up and tell them you have a budget of a certain amount... even if they are asking double, they may be willing to come down if the boat has been on the market for a long time...

Keep checking listings and tracking how long the boats have been for sale.

[737sail]

"I am going to be the lone voice of dissent... For what it sounds like you will be using the boat for, the Hunters will be just fine. A lot of the Hunters from that era sail pretty well and are fast boats. They are a great value regardless of what anyone here would have you believe. Also, I would rather have a 20 year old well cared for Hunter than a neglected 20 year old higher initial quality boat any day (especially for the price I would pay). The survey should tell you what you need to know.

There are a ton of happy hunter owners out there - they are the largest manufacturer in the US and have a lot of repeat business (Catalina is probably close to same size as well)."



Yes, we are happy, and had a Hunter in the past and were happy....which is why we got another one...we bought a Hunter 380 recently, after looking at many other boats that we salivated over....yeah, yeah, yeah, I would LOVE a Sabre, or an IP, and have no problem admitting it....I get green when I see some, and many other boats, but had to live in the reality of my life...

Reality is: that I am not, at this point in my life, going to "strap myself" cash-wise (I like to sleep well at night), we are "part time sailors" with full time jobs, part time jobs "on demand" (fix up rental properties), children in elementary school, a home to maintain, we do lots of "land -traveling", too, we have to think of retirement, college, and a future large Sabre to save for, and we have over an hour drive to the Marina, which at times conflicts with soccer and other such things....we also won't go sailing if the weather is poor, and when we overnight it's in a protected cove/creek that is about a 20 minute powerboat ride away from our friends at another marina or, alternatively, near the dock of a friend or relative.

As said, I like to sleep well at night, in our reality. Our Hunter is really comfy (so it's nice to sleep on) and fairly easy to sail (38 ft) and, truly, I hope, the integrity of the Hunter will be just fine for mild days on Chesapeake Bay and the many day trips it offers.

Overnight passages? Probably not....at least not until we really learn the ropes and have the time and money and boat for such....(yes, I can say Sabre)

In short, and due to the acceptance of the Reality, we bought a Hunter for a coastal cruiser with creature comforts and anticipated "easy", short sailing, really learning the ropes, and an affordable price tag.

So, not being proud, I know what a Hunter is, embrace it for just that, don't expect more than what it is, and appreciate the heck out of the great "RV" amenities and fun and learning it has to offer. We have already had tons of fun and family time and I budgeted time and a money for "Hunter" issues....which, please don't shoot me, I am guessing other "better boats" may, on a very rare occasion, experience.

As a side, there are tons and tons of Hunters at the (large) Marina (as well as IPs, Pearsons, Sabres, Catalinas, Beneteaus, etc) and I see many, many of these Hunters leave the dock for 2, 3, 4 days at a time and, no lie, they have always made it back, looking no worse for the wear and with the owners smiling and chatting and planning their next "few days out" on the Bay.

I have to say, it appears that the Hunters "go out" more often than the "others" but that could just be because: 1) there are so many of them that they create an optical illusion that all the boats in the channel are Hunters....or it could be because 2) Hunter owners truly are an "ignorant is bliss" bunch and just don't know that they really shouldn't be out sailing their bathtub toy and so they do it often and regardless or 3) the owner's of the "others" have to work all the time to afford the "other" and so they have no time to sail (just kidding, no offense and no I'm not green......though I have to say, some of the boats at the Marina are GORGEOUS blue-water boats that I just want to TOUCH every time I walk by them....maybe one day....).

RE: the "which boat" question to get: The answer to your question should be easy, really, if you admit and accept the answers to 1) "what's your reality at this point in your life?" and 2) "How proud are you?"

If the answer to the latter question is "not very", and the Hunter REALLY (just admit it) meets the bill for the former question, then the Hunter should stay on the list of options.