Hunter 33 Stress test

[Andyman]

Interesting video about Hunter doing a stress test on the new 33.
Stress Testing the NEW Hunter e33 - YouTube

[sailingfool]

Seems like a pretty mindless and meaningless test...

[chrisncate]

Must be testing out the new flex keel design. It has long rubber keel bolts and the keel is designed to pivot backwards.

[brak]

keel bolts made *of rubber*?

[kryzakw]

i think they were testing out a new rubber beach.. designed to bounce sailboats off of it in the event of a grounding such as this.

[eherlihy]

I want that job!...

Although I can't imagine what the test is meant to prove. Hitting a sandbar at 5 kts. causes the boat to stop. How very informative What happens when you hit a rock?

[baboon]

Hobie 33 Crash Test - YouTube

This is how you test a boat. I suspect if you did this with the hunter it would be a complete loss.

[BubbleheadMd]

A true Hunter stress test involves an alcoholic skipper, a hurricane, a cat, and a lee shore...

[JonEisberg]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

Seems like a pretty mindless and meaningless test...

I don't know, I give Hunter a lot of credit for doing this... Steve Pettingill claims it's the most fun part of his job, and from what I've heard, he treats the boats far more roughly than what's shown in that particular video...

Based upon seeing the 2nd guy emerge from the companionway, I would imagine he's watching the keel bolts and supporting floor grid very closely during these groundings, looking for possible weaknesses... Even a grounding on a sand bottom that stops the boat that quickly, it's gonna exert a substantial moment of leverage on the keel and surrounding hull structure...Sounds like a pretty sensible approach to boatbuilding, to me, and I haven't really heard of any other American production builder that routinely does this with all their new models...

Does anyone think that Wally would have the nerve drive one of their latest and greatest onto a beach at hull speed, for instance? Perhaps RAMBLER 100 might have benefited from such a "stress test", no?

Anyway, nice to see Hunter putting a more sensible anchor roller on that e33 ... (grin)

[eherlihy]

I'm still not impressed. I would like to know what the draft of the Hunter is.

My 24 year old O'day 35 with a 5' 9" draft has undergone a similar, uh, test, and fared just as well. (I was not at the wheel at the time).