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Review of the Hunter 31_83-87 by Michael Lippmann

Year built 1984  
Location of boat Kingsville, Ontario, Canada  
The boat is sailed on The Great Lakes  
How the boat is used Weekends and longer  
Normal wind strength 10-15 knots  
Average size of crew 2-4  
Liveaboard? No  
Owner bought the boat in 2003  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? Absolutely! This is my 12th or so boat and it is wonderful - after much work - see below!  
Gear that's been added I bought this boat at a Sherrifs sale and it didn't have much on it - no engine, most of interior wrecked, no boom, no wheel, blisters on her bottom, etc., but she was real cheap - that's what I was looking for!  
Structural or complex improvements Lets see! Completely stripped interior out and rebuilt most of it, added another really well insulated cooler where the Nav Table was and now have a Nav Table on top of cooler, made much larger hanging locker behind Nav Table, built new floor through out boat, strengthened grid through out by laying up more glass and epoxy, made good sized limber holes through out so grid could drain properly, cleaned and washed between liner and hull with ultra hot water, bleach and cleanser (huge job), made a new boom out of a Mirage 24 mast, made a super heavy duty stainless steel goose neck for the boom, new wiring through out, removed fuel tank, installed sending unit and moved forward 6 feet and 2 feet lower down, moved battery location to port side just in front of berth to balance boat better (I race it extensively), installed a Universal M25 21HO diesel with a 16 x 10 folding prop (awesome power, great fuel efficiency and super reliable), installed a 42" wheel which gives great power in heavy air and is responsive in light airs, stripped out all blisters (about 50 1" in diameter) and filled with West Epoxy and then applied 6 coats Interprotect 2000E turned out awesome, just now installing a 3 burner oven and rebuilding/reinsulating factory cooler, built larger and more accesible engine box with insulation, and much much more!  
The boat's best features The basic layout is very good, deck is comfortable to work on, it goes to weather very well and has lots of interior space.  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. Boat is not built real well from the factory but no worse than some of the other production boats I have owned.  
Sailing characterisitcs Bear's Mistress sails very well, use a full 155% Mylar/Kevlar head sail for racing and can carry to 18K then reef main and then drop to a 110% jib if the air gets up over 22K, we use the 110% jib for cruising on the furler and it works very well when just my wife and I are on board. The boat balances very well, I have had it on a close reach or beat for over 2 hours with out touching the wheel! She sails very very well, a little slow in light airs and am looking into a bigger head sail - 170% out of light cloth for light air stuff. We also have an asymetric spinnaker which works real well.  
Motoring characterisitcs With the Universal M25 and the 16 x 10 folding prop the boat motors extremely well, I don't motor too much as the boat speed has to drop to less than 2 knots before I turn the motor on but I do motor when moving the boat between Regattas when I have to get there. She will motor at 6 knots at 2/3 throttle all day even into a fairly heavy chop and wind with out even breaking into a sweat - uses about 3/4 gal of fuel per hour when it is motoring into a 3 foot chop.  
Liveability Excellent for 2 people for a week, have had four on board for a 3 day weekend and that is about the limit.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) Called tham a couple of times for info while I was putting the boat together and they where no help at all!  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any Didn't  
Other comments I love the boat and she is getting painted this year (in the club parking lot - roll & tip Brightsides - Bright White with dark blue stripes added back on - she should look OK) I'll be sailing her for a while - we put on just under 900 Miles last year and are shooting for over a 1000 in 2006!  

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