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Review of the Hunter 27_75-84 by Michael

Year built 1982  
Location of boat Alameda  
The boat is sailed on Bays, sounds, or protected salt water  
How the boat is used Day sailing  
Normal wind strength 10-15 knots  
Average size of crew 2-4  
Liveaboard?  
Owner bought the boat in 1997  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? Probably but we might go for something a little bigger.  
Gear that's been added Second battery and 1/2/both switch.Battery charger.  
Structural or complex improvements No  
The boat's best features Easy to sail. Reasonable headroom for a 27.Forgiving when sailing.Traditional saloon layout.Good size water and diesel tanks.Others say the ice box is poor but ours works like a dream, keeps ice for 3 days!  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. Poor bilge design, very shallow with keel bolts almost always wet.Back stay splits and anchors either side of the cockpit almost eliminating any chance of neatly installing a bimini.Worst reverse handling of any sailboat I have ever used. Maybe it's just my boat but I cannot go straight in reverse for even a yard and I have no problem with my father in-law's Catalina e.g. I am familiar with the required technique. We just plan ahead to make sure we have enough maneuvering room and so far it has not been a big problem.Ports are all broken in some way, 17 year old plastic locks. At least one flange on each port has snapped, they would have been better installing fixed ports instead of cheap plastic.Skylight hatches both have the same problem as the ports.Had a few small blisters rapaired but that is to be expeceted on a boat of this age and vintage.  
Sailing characterisitcs Fairly neutral. Poor performance in light airs but that is to be expected, this is a fairly heavy boat for it's size and sail area.Put in one reef at 20 knots, the second at 25 knots then think about going home unless you like a rough wet ride.  
Motoring characterisitcs This boat has a 6hp (yes six) Yanmar 1GM which is small but has enough torque to power at near hull speed with full revs (3000). I generally motor at 2500 rpm which yields 5 - 5.5.knots in fair seas.The size of the motor was the only point that gave us second thoughts when deciding to buy. We looked at reviews and other comparable boats and the fact that we would use the boat for day sailing in the S.F bay only. Our conclusion was that this was just about minimum but OK. As it turns out the little Yanmar is fine, I have never had any issue in currents and it is 100% reliable and with a 12 gallon tank a 6hp can literally motor for a couple of days.  
Liveability We have never spent a night on board so cannot really say. You would have to like camping and then maybe a couple and one child might manage for a long weekend. Anything longer would be a real adventure. There is also no shower or hot water so a sunshower would have to be rigged on deck and water boiled for cleaning cooking pots etc.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) Disappointing. I contacted them about the possibility of obtaining a copy of the original manual, they said yes for $15 which sounded OK. What I got was a set of very badly copied pages, slanted on the page, may words and even paragraphs cut off and in no specific order. It probably took an junior admin. 5 minutes to run off.I phoned to ask if I could perhaps get a better set of copies and experienced the most awful attitude which included a comment roughly equivalent to  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any We bought the boat from Cruising Specialists in Alameda. Dave Millar handled the sale and was helpful, patient very pleasant.  
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