Hunter, Catalina, and Beneteau''''s 28-30'''' or what?
 

I am planning to cruise the florida bahamas area for a couple years it will be the first sailboat that I own and I am not sure of the seaworthiness of Hunter, Catalina, or Beneteau for that type of sailing. I need to buy something that is appprox. 35k total boat budget. I was hopping to get the boat for about 30k and plan about 5k in repairs and fixer up''s. I have heard that these boats may not be of high quality as some boats for sailing that area. Can you tell me what your opinion is on 28-30'' boats of those manufacturers or possibly other manufacturers that make a 28-30'' boat that might be more for the type of sailing I want to do. Only two people on board and plan to island hop mostly... Thank you.

Hunter, Catalina, and Beneteau''''s 28-30'''' or what?
 

Look for a Pearson 28 or 30.

Hunter, Catalina, and Beneteau''''s 28-30'''' or what?
 

You might want to look at an allied seawind, a strong capable boat. The older pearson triton another solid boat.

Hunter, Catalina, and Beneteau''''s 28-30'''' or what?
 

I think hunter is claiming that thier 35 and up boats are offshore certified

Hunter, Catalina, and Beneteau''''s 28-30'''' or what?
 

My advice would be to first buy a good quality 23''-25'' and sail it for a year or two - you will learn a lot about what features are important and be better positioned for making and managing a bigger purchase.

In my opinion, Catalina is the Toyota of sailboats, and if that style fits for you, you won''t go wrong if you pay a premium price for a mint-condition boat. Keep away from "price" boats or fixer-uppers, as you haven''t yet the foggiest idea of how incredibly expensive repairs/replacements can be - understand that a "needs work" boat can easily be too expensive even if it were free...
Beneteau is a good quality boat, most models seem to lean towards performance at the cost of comfort - my 1986 First 305E had seven bunks but not one big enough for me (5''10"!) - nice performance but a lousy cruiser.
Many folks see Hunter as an entry level price boat with widely varying quality (between terrible and OK), you might look at:
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/boatreviews/hunter28.htm
to see how many mistakes can get packaged into only 28''. While this article slams this particular model, I think many of the issues that it raises are not unusual in other boats, and take experience for the buyer to recognize.

Good luck and happy sailing.

Hunter, Catalina, and Beneteau''''s 28-30'''' or what?
 

Hello,

Last year I was looking at many of the same types of boats that you have expressed an interest in considering.

Here are a few of my observations:

- Some of the Catalina''s had the worst layouts / installation of water and fuel tanks. As you look at different boats - ask yourself, how hard would it be to replace the tanks.

- I did not look at older Hunter''s - my experience looking at newer Hunter''s lead me to believe that there might be better quality boats from other vendors...for less money.

- Compared to Catalina''s - I really liked the Ericson''s that I looked at.

- The older Columbia''s I looked at gave me a sense of "solid" hull construction. Nothing too terribly scientific in that analysis - just the feeling of moving about on the boat - and tapping the hulls.

- I have been reading many reviews, ship logs, and books of voyage accounts - also many accounts of retrofits of typical coastal cruisers for doing off-shore work...in that vein, I have been lead to believe that the Cal-25, Cape Dory, Tartan, and Pearson Triton are worth considering.

For an interesting read, visit

http://www.yachtatom.com/