Hunter boats

[doug748]

Has anyone any views on the British Hunter, bilge keelers of 26/27 ft.

Construction, features, sailing, problems maintaining - anything really.
Thanks.

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[ProDave]

I sail a Hunter Horizon 23 and there is a HH27 at our harbour.

What specifically do you want to know? These boats have a reputation of being a bilge keeler that sails better than you would expect.

 

[E39mad]

Most are a David Thomas design (also designed Sigmas).

Lots of internal mouldings with many sold as self builds (bonded unit and keels attached) whilst some were factory completed.

 

[iamtjc]

I bought a 272 as my first boat 4 years ago and am very happy with my choice.

Construction & maintenance.
The boats are relatively simple. Not too hard or expensive to maintain. Nice to sail, easy to single hand. Construction seems perfectly adequate with good internal bracing.
Not much exterior woodwork which I'm quite glad of from a maintenance point of view.
Windows were originally fixed on with self tappers into the fibreglass. That leads to leaks over time. Replacing with through bolted nut and bolt or interscrews is a relatively easy fix.
The moulded headlining looks much better on a 30+ year old boat than the droopy headlining some boats suffer from.

On design, the later 245/265 have a chine that runs to the stern. That gives them a bigger stern cabin with more headroom than on the 27/272/273
They also have a transom mounted rudder which means they have more usable space than on my sugar scoop 272.

I could prattle on for ages. As said above, if you have particular questions do ask.

 

[doug748]

Thanks.
Do you have an inboard or any experience of the outboard well with sliding bracket?

 

[iamtjc]

I have an inboard 14hp Nanni diesel. Love it.
I have no direct experience of the outboard option on the smaller HH23 but have formed impressions from questions and comments on the Hunter Association forum (well worth joining - only £15 or so).

Plusses (of the outboard)

• Lower initial cost
• Easier to take off the boat to service
• No chance of the boat smelling of diesel.

Minuses

• Harder to manoeuvre since prop is offset from centreline and not in line with the rudder.
• Uses more fuel
• Petrol is flammable

 

[ProDave]

Thanks.
Do you have an inboard or any experience of the outboard well with sliding bracket?

I have an OB in the well. Some observations.

On the HH23 the well is offset to port. This means you get no steering until you get some way on as there is no prop wash over the rudder.

A common issue with this OB in a well and a sliding bracket is that was designed for 5hp 2 stroke short shaft engines. We have an 8HP 4 stroke long shaft. It is too big to raise and slide, so it remains down all the time. Some people have done some quite drastic alterations to the OB well to enlarge it to make the sliding mechanism work for a larger motor.

We did the Calley canal both ways recently and I was surprised how little fuel we used, 4 gallons for the whole trip.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I have an OB in the well. Some observations.

On the HH23 the well is offset to port. This means you get no steering until you get some way on as there is no prop wash over the rudder.

A common issue with this OB in a well and a sliding bracket is that was designed for 5hp 2 stroke short shaft engines. We have an 8HP 4 stroke long shaft. It is too big to raise and slide, so it remains down all the time. Some people have done some quite drastic alterations to the OB well to enlarge it to make the sliding mechanism work for a larger motor.

We did the Calley canal both ways recently and I was surprised how little fuel we used, 4 gallons for the whole trip.

At the start of our sailing career we approached Hunter with a view to ordering a new 245 with the outboard system rather than the inboard (due to cost and our expected usage pattern) however they did a very good job of dissuading us so we ended up with a second hand example of its larger sister.

I think they were also available to order with an outboard but with that in mind I doubt they sold many examples

Edit - thinking back to some of the late model 272/273 we looked at around that time, some of the bodges on home completed ones were quite appalling.

 

[John_Silver]

Owned the Hunter Ranger 245 Missee Lee, for 7 years, in the early noughties. My first cruising boat, after many dinghies.

Worked well as that first stepping stone. Enough space below for weekends and fortnight holidays. Took me (from the Orwell) for my first Channel crossings, from Ramsgate to Dunkerque and Nieuwpoort. As well as much local pottering. Taking advantage of her bilge keels.

Reasons for moving on (first to an Elan 31 and then a Rassy 310) were:

- Her waterline length made her a 3.5-4 knot boat. Which restricted cruising.
- Her shoal draft (1.2m from memory) meant limited righting moment, despite 40% ballast ratio.
- This meant she couldn’t carry enough canvas for a F5 sea state, in open water.
- Low Sail area to displacement (14) meant ‘sticky’ in F3. (So, really she wanted flat water / F4 to make progress).

Learned a lot from that boat though. About what I wanted / needed. She was a great size to learn berthing manoeuvres etc too. All without huge financial commitment.

Build quality wise (she was factory finished, bought new): It all worked. In a simple and basic kind of way. (EG the fuel tank was a plastic jerry can, with a takeoff fitted).

 

[doug748]

Thanks for all the comments, just Wandsworthing at the moment but may look at boats of this type in the long run.

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[Jules W]

Thanks.
Do you have an inboard or any experience of the outboard well with sliding bracket?

We had a 23 with a sliding well outboard. Great boat. The only peculiarity was that if you did a burst of full throttle ahead it would turn sharply to starboard because the well was offset to port. Once you knew it was very handy for tight handling. It was a great pocket cruiser... even had separate heads! It had a small self tacking jib and a scooper ( kind of a reaching cruising chute). Still very find memories 20 years and 5 yachts later. To windward it was very good... probably as good as any fin keeler I have sailed since

 

[dewinowens]

My father had a bilge keel Horizon 26 from new back in 1985 (I think), hull no 017. We sailed for a good number of years from Beaumaris. The boat came with the outboard well and a Yamaha 8hp 2-stroke. The outboard worked OK in calm water but had very little poke and no prop-wash for manoeuvering in the wind. It also didn’t really work for motorsailing as it was either drowning or lifting out of the water depending on the tack. We had to rig additional ventilation as the engine liked to suffocate itself on fumes from the exhaust bleed at the top of the leg. Oh, and the maximum electrical output was 80W (6.7 amps). We ended up retrofitting a Yanmar 1GM10 which was a bit of a revelation! Lots more power, more electricity, and a fraction of the fuel comsumption.
The boat sailed well, with just the odd slam from the keels to windward and seemed pretty well-built. As said above, the self-tappers holding in the windows needed to be upgraded, and we did have a problem with the mast tabernacle working loose and causing a leak ( it was also attached with self tappers (and two eye bolts).

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I have no owner experience of UK Hunter boats, but they all seem to sail very well and look good on the water. Definitely not slouches under sail.

 

[Sailing steve]

Hunters are very popular boats They're well built and both sail and review well.

For that reason, along with a established owners association demand is strong and second hand values are pretty robust. Find a good example and you won't go too far wrong.

 

[doug748]

How are the bilge keel attachments, does anyone keep theirs on a drying mooring? Any reports of problems?

 

[Sandy]

We did the Calley canal both ways recently and I was surprised how little fuel we used, 4 gallons for the whole trip.

Where did you purchase your fuel in gallons and can you let us know the cost?

 

[ProDave]

How are the bilge keel attachments, does anyone keep theirs on a drying mooring? Any reports of problems?

Something like 4 or 5 big keel bolts to hold each of the keels in place. Bolting into what looks like a very reinforced area of hull with big webs forming a matrix.

We don't dry on our berth except extreme neaps, but she spends each winter sitting on her keels on the hard with no problem. I have never heard of keel problems on Hunter's.

 

[Birdseye]

Has anyone any views on the British Hunter, bilge keelers of 26/27 ft.

Construction, features, sailing, problems maintaining - anything really.
Thanks.

.

Started my cruiser sailing on a Hunter 26 bilge keeler - fond memories. Its quite dinghy like with no directional stability hands off the tiller. Sailing performance is good compared to other bilge keelers around at the time - I used to enjoy racing mine in a mixed fleet. Construction was light but sound - the deck was some sort of grp sandwich so no balsa to rot. Mine started off with the OB in a well and I would avoid such a boat because of the risk of refilling petrol at sea and the lack of ability to motorsail on the port tack. I instaled a Yanmar 10 and shaft - easy to DIY since the engine bearers were in there as standard and Hunter supplied a blanking plate with the OB set up so filling the hole was easy to do. In summary I cant think of a better boat at that size and for the money.

 

[doug748]

Great.
Two other things spring to mind:

I see there is a tabernacle on most 26 models, does this work well lowering the mast DIY?

On an outboard version, can it be raised easily, is there a mechanism like some earlier Hunters? Is there an HP limit to the storage of an outboard / the operation of raising it?

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[ProDave]

We regularly raise and lower the masts of 23 and 27ft Hunters. It generally needs about 4 people. could do it with less if you made an A frame jig and used a winch.

The smaller hunters with the OB lifting mechanisms were designed for 5hp 2 stroke short shaft engines. Under powered and as mentioned prone to leaving the water if you motorsail on the wrong tack. We use a 4 stroke 8HP long shaft so it is too heavy too big and too long to raise, so it stays down all the time. but the prop has never come out of the water.