Hunter Yachts ..... Yes or No??

OGITD

OGITD

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Just looking for some sagely advice ..... please!

My v-old pal 'Big Bung's' has just-ish sent me a link to a Hunter 30' ... unfortunately it / they do look like the classic Tupperware / Plastic / lozenge (as our Dylan of this Parish would say) ....... but! ..... initial investigation is saying that they're not to bad, sail reasonably well, handle heavy seas comfortably and from the photo's .... are well designed & bright down below ..... so the question begs ..... are there any know issues or serious reasons to avoid???

TIA

OGITD :)

+ / Edit .... I am 'almost' fed-up looking at Boats ...... :eek:
 
Below, they are generally well thought out - the American genealogy is to thank. The oddity is the triangulated rig, with no backstay. It works, but it does make it difficult to run deep without the spreaders punching holes in the mainsail. Reach-gybe-reach is the way to go downwind. On the one I sailed (bigger, and probably older) the lack of a backstay did make it impossible to get a tight forestay, so pointing suffered a bit.
 
I owned a bilge keeled Legend 306 for four years, which was a UK built boat and, whilst it wasn't the fastest boat to sail, it more than made up for this in the size of the accommodation, as it was like a tardis down below, with as much space as boats 2-3 foot longer.

We had no problems with ours, and it even handled very well in a F7/8 that we got caught out in, so I would strongly recommend it.
 
Tranona said:
They are very different kinds of boats, so important to know which it is. Hunter Legends were built in the UK, but not the same as British Hunters.
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Indeed.

The British variety came in "horizon", "ranger", "and channel" model line with the American variety all being "Hunter legends" I think. Which may help you determine which brand he is looking at.

Can't comment on the U.S. version but the uk Hunter 30 was (as already mentioned) a stretched Impala 28. It would no doubt sail very well and be up to Hunters usual excellent standard of construction. Whilst some of the earlier hunters (sonata etc) might have been a bit racy, the later versions (horizon, ranger) tended to be more cruiser like with higher ballast ratios.
 
It's this one:

Hunter%20Horizon%2030%20CCS_1_zpsgkidqa77.jpg


Hunter%20Horizon%2030%20CCS_2_zpsirpj68ah.jpg
 
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OK, then this definitely isn't the Hunter Legend brand that I had........looks like a nice boat by the way, though I'm not sure I'd recommend the skippers method of helming!!
 
OGITD said:
It's this one:

Hunter%20Horizon%2030%20CCS_1_zpsgkidqa77.jpg
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Ah, a British hunter, horizon 30. Very nice boats. This will have a healthy ballast ratio, with a narrow and easily driven hull. She will be nicely balanced and sail very well. Hunters had very well engineered hulls, with all bulkheads, bunk fronts and tops etc laminated to the hull., as was the hull / deck and transom joint. This produces a very stiff and strong boat. You could try the hunter owners association for more info http://www.hunterassociation.org.uk/ha_about_the_hunter_association.php

The self taking rig has its pros and cons but is pretty fast upwind and very easily handled, especially short handed. The off wind downsides to the rig can be compensated by fitting the larger Genoa
 
I have one of the Hunter legend ones and am really pleased with her.
When I was shopping round for boats in 2010 I looked at a British Hunter but was put off because I was told that the company went broke because they built a load of boats using a new gel coat which later proved to suffer from surface crazing I expect if this is a problem with your prospective boat it would be very obvious by now.
 
Having seen a lot of Amrican Hunters in the Caribbean I wouldn't buy one the lack of backstay and huge spreaders are unique, look horrible and I doubt the integrity of the rig. I woud buy the proven traditional rig wih a backstay, I believe the UK Hunter does have one but have never seen one.
 
Halo said:
I have one of the Hunter legend ones and am really pleased with her.
When I was shopping round for boats in 2010 I looked at a British Hunter but was put off because I was told that the company went broke because they built a load of boats using a new gel coat which later proved to suffer from surface crazing I expect if this is a problem with your prospective boat it would be very obvious by now.
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Hunter boats went out of business when the select yacht group (which had acquired hunter boats) itself folded. having dealt with Select Yacht Group and its MD, I could very easily speculate as to why this happened.........but I wont go there :)

There was an issue relating to a small number of hunter boats that were moulded with a particular batch of resin which proved to be defective. As far as I know hunter boats stood by the owners and corrected all the affected boats, but this was long before they ceased business as the select yacht group. I believe the records for the affected boats (and all Hunters) still exist with Lauren Marine who acquired the moulds for the range. I've certainly seen my records including the relative humidity, temperature readings etc that were recorded through her manufacture.
 
I had one of the boats with the defective resin (perhaps ironically it was exhibited at the Southampton Boatshow in 1994!) and when the problem subsequently came to light on survey when we sold the boat Hunter weren't particular interested but that may have been because we weren't the owners from new.

By now I would have expected this problem to have become evident on all the affected boats
 
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KellysEye said:
Having seen a lot of Amrican Hunters in the Caribbean I wouldn't buy one the lack of backstay and huge spreaders are unique, look horrible and I doubt the integrity of the rig. I woud buy the proven traditional rig wih a backstay, I believe the UK Hunter does have one but have never seen one.
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So you wouldnt sail/race a dinghy because it has an "unproven" rig without a backstay?

Sorry but the B&R rig is well proven and does not have a habit of falling down, I would even go so far as to say it can prevent owners turning their boats into banana boats by overtightening the backstay, but that would be as ignorant as your comment above. :p
 
KellysEye said:
Having seen a lot of Amrican Hunters in the Caribbean I wouldn't buy one the lack of backstay and huge spreaders are unique, look horrible and I doubt the integrity of the rig. I woud buy the proven traditional rig wih a backstay, I believe the UK Hunter does have one but have never seen one.
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Bit of an unfair comment. There are thousands of Hunter Legends all over the world and there is no known problem with mast stability. Lack of back stays also allows you to have the dickie seats in the pushpit which I miss since selling our Hunter Legend 27
 
Just back from a weekend at B&FYC .... & for those in the area who know him IWG was muttering his reservations about the Hunter Horizon 30 as being of a delicate build quality :eek:

Is this the case? :confused: :eek:
 
One piece of advice I was given many years ago was to choose a designer as much as a boat. I think the British Hunters had a well-known designer, and that should put them well on the way to being decent boats. I know only one owner, who has been happy with his but is selling it for something much larger.

My chief objection to the Legend series is the difficulty of fendering against them. Their topsides flare like a motorboat's and one of a similar size will have a projecting strake level with my gelcoat which my fenders will flip off. We had to move our home berth to get away from one.
 
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