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Review of the Hunter 212 by Mark Malcolm

Year built 2001  
Location of boat Lake WA, Puget Sound  
The boat is sailed on Lakes  
How the boat is used Day sailing  
Normal wind strength 10-15 knots  
Average size of crew 2-4  
Liveaboard? No  
Owner bought the boat in 2002  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? I think so. I considered older, used boats, but was attracted to the implied low maintenance characteristics of the 212. My wife and family would not tolerate another fixer-upper hobby boat - so this fit the bill. I'm currently only doing day sailing and weekend excurions, but my trips are all over the Pacific NW. The ability to trailer a boat was a must - and this has been amazingly easy to trailer and set up. If I didn't need the trailering ease - I would have most likely gone with a new Capri 22 or Catalina 22.  
Gear that's been added I bought her fully loaded so there hasn't been much need as of yet. I did update some shackles, but was fairly impressed with the included Harken hardware and Doyle sails. I'm currently designing a way to reenforce and secure the hatch and will post pics when I finish. I'm also looking for a new tiller solution. I'm not very confident with the exisiting setup and am dead certain it will bend or break in heavy wind situations. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.  
Structural or complex improvements nope.  
The boat's best features - Plastic hull - Open Transom - Harken and Doyle components - Easy tralering and mast stepping - Jiffy Reefing is a breeze - Price  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. - I do NOT like the tiller! It seems woefully underengineered for the stresses this size boat deals with. - I would sleep better with a little more ballast or centerboard weight. - The hatch design is poor. - Their is plenty of room for more cockpit-under-seat storage aft of the existing storage. It's wasted space right now. - Sturdier motor mount would be nice for the the additional 4-stroke weight (since 2-strokes are being outlawed everywhere!)  
Sailing characterisitcs - She likes a starboard tack much better than port. - The extra weight of the UV protection on the jib (self furling) makes the jib fairly useless while running in 0 - 3 knots. - On a close haul, she tends to be speedier than most of the 21 - 25ft boats I've clocked (though I do not plan to race her...) - Need to motor while hoisting sails in any wind.  
Motoring characterisitcs - my 4 horse/ 4 - stroke Tohatsu is PLENTY powerful for this boat. I hit hull speed at about 1/3 throttle in the heaviest weather. - with the existing mount and draft, the long shaft isn't long enough for anything deeper than a 2 foot chop. If you live in an area with heavier seas, I would reccomend an "Extra" long shaft (which should add an additional 4 -6 inches.)  
Liveability no way. Probably fine for a one or two-man camp out, but too small for a family of four.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) fair to middling. Everything get's forwarded to JY Yachts - whom have been fine to deal with. It took a couple of months to get a complete owners manual (which may have been due to my dealer.)  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any Niel Steenbeck at Signature Yachts was great, extremely attentive and consciencious, but I don't think they knew too much about the boat. After finally (see above) recieving a complete manual I found a few rigging errors that now make much more sense than how she was set up by the dealer. But this was a small boat - deeply discounted to move her quickly - and they threw in every option they had on the shelf and treated me as though I was buying a 356! If I go Hunter again - they definitely have my business! And if not my business - my reccomendation!  
Other comments I think the H212 has succeeded as a bigger H170, but doesn't really compare well with the H19, H22 and H23's I've seen. It needs a little more beef on the hatch, tiller, and a little more ballast weight to convince me it's in the same class. It feels like the designer worked up from the H170 and not down from the H240. I'd reverse that thinking next round. I really like the the innovative plastic hull and think it will hold up well over time.  

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