Cal 35 vs Hunter 37

[tgarrett16]

I am looking for a mid 30's cruiser, capable of going bluewater someday for under 40k. I know that Cal's have a great reputation for being well built boats, my best friend and his wife liveaboard a Cal 34 MKII and it has been a great boat for the money. I really like the layout of the early 80's Cal 35 MKII. However, I also have been looking at the Hunter 37 cutter. From spending countless hours reading posts to this sight I have seen a good deal of negative comments about Hunters. That being said I have also seen quite a few posts stating that an exception to the aformentioned Hunter opinions is the Cherubini designed Hunter 37 cutter. This boat will be a liveaboard in Seattle for me and my wife for a couple of years and then hopefully within the next decade we plan to do some bluewater cruising to the s. pacific and maybe a circumnavigation. I don't want to have to buy a different boat down the road to go bluewater so I am looking for a solid comfortable boat that could be outfitted to go crusing.

I would really appreciate any constructive thoughts on these two boats, or if there is another boat that you think fits my needs, I would love to hear about that as well.

Thanks for the input!

Trevor

[sailingdog]

Neither of those boats is really a "bluewater boat" IMHO. Coastal crusing and bluewater voyaging are totally different things. Where are you planning on sailing to, from, cruising at?

[tgarrett16]

We will be sailing in the San Juan Islands for the time being but eventually we would like to sail to the s. pacific, not ruling out a circumnavigation at some point in the distant future.

[sailingdog]

I'd be a bit hesitant to circumnavigate or do a South Pacific cruise in either of them. The Waquiez Gladiator, the Hallberg Rassy Mistral, the Hallberg Rassy 35, the Allied Seawind Princess 36, the Cape Dory 36, the Alberg 37, are all probably better choices.

However, most bluewater capable boats are not going to be as comfortable as liveaboard boats, as the boats tend to be a bit narrower in beam, with less living space than a coastal cruiser of the same length. However, in a heavy sea, during a bluewater passage, the narrower confines will be far more welcome... as will the better placed and more common handholds.

Here is a boats.com search I did that may interest you. I've run the search with a price ceiling of $50000, since it is very unlikely that you will pay the asking price, if you shop wisely.

While, I would generally recommend leaving about 10-20% of the budget aside for refits, repairs, upgrades and modifications... as that is generally necessary, on almost any boat you will buy. However, since you are going to liveaboard for a few years, you can probably space those things out a bit.

[Valiente]

SD gives good advice. I would add that living in Seattle gives you reasonable access to go see boats from Northern California straight up into the Queen Charlottes...and there are a LOT of decent bluewater boats in that area. I saw listings for several in Blaine when I was shopping for a steel 40 footer.

Don't discount a metal boat, either, particularly for offshore. I find that most reasonably priced production boats, with a few exceptions like Caliber 40s, IPs, most Bob Perry designs and Pacific Seacrafts, aren't going to have the movement at sea to keep people happy and comfortable, particularly in a wild area like the North Pacific.

Go to Ted Brewer's site. He lives in the area and has designed a lot of boats for it. His essays on ocean-going yacht design are very easy to follow, just like his articles in Good Old Boat. I've e-mailed him twice and he's very approachable with questions.

Good luck.

[sailingdog]

I do like Pacific Seacraft's boats, but they tend to be fairly pricey...and not all that common on the market.. and generally sell pretty quickly when they do hit the sale listings.

[bestfriend]

SD - Do you read Latitude 38? There was a reader article in there not long ago about a girl that was sailing and surfing in South America. She was on a Cal 41, I think, maybe a little bigger. I wonder if she was doing any open ocean cruising. Anyone remember, does she have a blog? She was kinda cute too.

How about the Fantasia 35?
http://www.fantasia35.com/

Found her, here is the link:
http://www.wetsand.com/page-feature....495&catid=1495

[sailingdog]

Yes, Liz Clark, she's very cute... she does a fair bit of singlehanding on Swell, which is her boat's name.

[Bluesmoods]

The brands are not in the same city let alone same ball park. The Cal designed by the late Bill Lapworth was a premier boat in its day. Very well built, very fine sailing and good comfort. They point real well and will make good time between point A & point B.

Hunter is a high volume production boat. I have sailed on several hundreds of miles off shore. The boat did not sink and did real well going through an ocan inlet n a pretty major storm. A lot of the talk regarding "Blue Water" should be focused more on the qualifications and experience of the skipper and crew than the boat. Don't get me wrong, certain brands would fare out much better than others in the long run when the hull is subjected to an off- shore environment for the life span of the hull.


Calowners still are very active and passonite about their boats. Browse the various Cal webs, talk to owners. Remember, these boats are no longer made. By the way owners talk about them, you would think that they are.

When Cal (Jensen Marine) sold the brand to Banger Punta (Piper Aircraft), the construction moved to Fall River Mass in The O'Day facility as Banger Punta also owned O'Day. The boats were then designed by Raymond Hunt. The interiors were made lighter and more volumous. Realpretty and still real well built. The Hunt boats were still popular but didn't have that excitment that the Lapworth boats had. This might also have something to do with the famous Cal 40 which will still hold her own even in a more contemporary racing environment.

You will enjoy the Hunter I assure you. It won't sink and is a good sailing vessel. To own a Cal is to own the experience of ownership, not just the boat.

[Sailormann]

Buy the Cal - it will hold its value better.