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Review of the Hunter 37 by Hugh Schmidt

Year built 1989  
Location of boat Portland, OR  
The boat is sailed on Bays, sounds, or protected salt water  
How the boat is used Multi-week coastal cruising  
Normal wind strength 10-15 knots  
Average size of crew 2-4  
Liveaboard?  
Owner bought the boat in 89  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? Yes.  
Gear that's been added Radar, BBQ, Force 10 Stove (propane). Freedom 10 Inverter, Webasto forced air heat. Adler-Barber refrigeration. 150 amp alternator. 150% jib. Cruising chute w/sock. Dodger. Autohelm 4000. Max-Prop.  
Structural or complex improvements Ripped out most of the vinyl/sponge foam interior hull liner and installed closed cell flexable foam. Removed the nav station stool  
The boat's best features Sails well, very strong. Roomy, nice live aboard. High quality hardware. Swim transom good for SCUBA diving, dingy access. Anchored w/a friend in a Swan 36. We all had dinner on the Hunter because it had more room. We beat him to the anchorage, too.  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. Hood roller furling marginal. Autohelm 4000 marginal or worse. No where to stow extra sails. Fuel tankage to small. Hanging lockers too short even for a shirt, much less a dress. Cockpit very comfortable while sailing, but not at anchor. Every time I change oil I curse Yanmar and Hunter; Yanmar because they didn't give me any way to get the oil out, and Hunter because they didn't leave enough room above the engine to put the oil in. Poor insulation in ice box (which I added Adler-Barber to).  
Sailing characterisitcs Sailing downwind in 30 Knots true and six fot seas with full main  
Motoring characterisitcs With the stock prop we cruised 2400 RPM, 6.5-7 knots, three quarts of fuel/hour. With the 17"-3 blade Max-Prop we cruise 2000 RPM, 6.5-7 knots, two quarts of fuel/hour. With the stock prop, reverse worked well, but the stern would walk to port while the boat gathered way. With the Max-Prop, the boat accelerates so fast the boat doesn't have time to walk. Highly recommended. We installed a Last-drop shaft seal at the same time and now enjoy a dry bilge.I pitched the prop to max out at 2800 RPM. The engine is way too powerful for this boat. After you get close to hull speed, each knot requires almost doubling the power. It does 7.5 knots at 2800 RPM and 3200 RPM won't get it to 8 knots, so what's the point? With this tiny fuel tank you daren't go fast, anyway.  
Liveability We live aboard. We love it. Very nice. Some problems w/condensation in this wet Pacific Northwest, but forced air heat (fresh air ducted into the heater) and replacing the crappy liner cured it. Very happy with the Force 10 retrofit.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) Unbelievable. The bow pulpit got bent due to a... well, let's just say it got bent. Instead of charging a fortune for a new one (like the car companies), Hunter gave me the phone number of the vendor they buy from. The vendor sold me one at Hunter's price. Hunter put it on a boat being delivered to the local dealer.The little springs in two of the interior door latches broke. Same story. The vendor in this case said: "They aren't supposed to break. Engineering wants to see them. Would you please send them to us?" They replaced ALL the latches on the boat (six years old) for free.  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any The dealer did a poor job and is now out of business. The new one is much better.  
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