Hunter Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997
Contact us
Hunter OEM Parts
General Marine Parts
 
 

Review of the Hunter 42 by John Christensen

Year built 1992  
Location of boat Blaine WA  
The boat is sailed on Bays, sounds, or protected salt water  
How the boat is used Multi-week coastal cruising  
Normal wind strength 16-22 knots  
Average size of crew 2-4  
Liveaboard? Yes  
Owner bought the boat in 1999  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? NO. When I bought this boat, I felt that I could not afford an Amel at about twice as much. By now I have spent as much as the original purchase price on repairs/upgrades. I wanted a boat that would be a comfortable home and safe to sail offshore. I should have known better, There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. I also know that there is no way I will ever get back what I have put into it.  
Gear that's been added A wave resistant dodger. 3/8" polycarbonate over 1 1/4" welded SS tube. A 8GPH water maker. A 2.5 kW inverter/charger. A single 1000 AH battery. A 150A 12V diesel charger. HF SSB ham radio with auto tuner. A Glaicier Bay fridge/freezer. Broadwater 4 burner stove/oven A 14" daylight viewable remote display in the cockpit. The Cap'n chart plotter. 2 GPS's. A salt water wash-down pump and hose. 1540 sq ft cruising chute. Faruno radar. Replaced 1" sewage hose to aft head with 1 1/2" hose, fittings etc. This stopped this line from plugging every 6 months.  
Structural or complex improvements Replaced the leaking aluminum holding tank that had brass/bronze pipe fittings screwed into it with a welded 3/8" polypropylene tank. Replaced the leaking aluminum water tank under the V berth with port and stbd polypropylene tanks. The original tank was built in, like most everything else and required ripping all the furnature down to the bare hull, cutting the tank into smaller pieces to remove it. This wasn't all bad because I could see and repair seveal large voids where the fiberglass was not wetted out. I removed, closed off 2 through-hulls in the engine room that were inaccessable without removing the batteries. A new through-hull with manifold was placed where it is accessable. Completely rebuilt the anchor well so the chain doesn't immediatly jam. Replaced the inacessable packing gland with a Last Drop that doesn't require adjustment.  
The boat's best features It is a pretty boat and low cost.  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. Read improvements above first. The packing gland on the propshaft is almost inaccessable, even with the batteries removed. Before moving them, no one could open or close the 2 seacocks on the stbd side of the engine room. The horizontally mounted anchor windlass dumped the chain directly on the almost flat mounting surface about 1.5" below the wildcat. Because Hunter decided to save $20-$30 on the controller, even though the windlass was designed bidirectional, the wildcat is worm drive so can't be backed up, it required a hammer and a prybar to unjam the chain unless it was constantly being tailed by hand, a very hazardous procedure.  
Sailing characterisitcs Not good in less than 10 knots. Sails well in between 10 and 25 kts. Have done 9-10 kts with 30-40 kts on the beam, with no jib and the main 1/2 reefed.  
Motoring characterisitcs Well behaved with MaxProp both fwd and reverse. At about 2200-2300 RPM uses about 0.6 to 0.7 GPH at 5.5-6 kts. I find I have better control, in tight docking conditions, in reverse. I have even made it into a space about 50' long with a 30-40 kt wind blowing right on the stern. This would have been far more difficult if I had to go in fwd.  
Liveability Not good initially. Hunters construction method of building a inner hull and a outer hull and gluing the 2 together means that the fan over the galley blew grease and moisture between the the 2 hulls where it condensed and ran down all over the books on both sides, leaving black greasy streaks on the ceiling as well. After filling most of this 1-3" gap with polyurathene foam and digging a duct to the vents,which faced foreward, to assure that water over the bow & rain would be diverted directly below, ((With minor mods they can be swapped so they face aft)) Hunter must like toilet smells. The hatch in the fwd head opens fwd. This guarentees any smells made in this head will be blown direcly into the main salon.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) I have called Hunter several times. Several times I talked to Joe Kerr(sp?) When I asked about brass fittings in aluminum tanks, I was just told "We don't do it that way any more." No additional questions were answered. When I called to find out how to service the mixing valves in the shower, I was told "Just take a sawsall and cut a hole in the hull. When you are finished, put a patch over the hole." When I went to a Hunter Owners Assn get together and asked questions, the factory rep that was there, he said he was only familiar with the "little boats and had no experience with the big boats."  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any The salesman at H&S Yachts was very good. Any q's asked that he didn't have a good answer for he would come up with something that avoided a confrontation. Ie: I said that I didn't like electric heads as I had found that the same macerator pump failed regularly. His reply "You have 2 heads, so if one fails, just use the other one."  
Other comments It's not a bad boat, but my previous boat was a Moody. It wasn't perfect but was built to a much higher standard of quality.  

Contact
About
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Limited Liability
Advertise Here
Copyright 1997-2024 SB Owners, LLC
All rights reserved.

Other Sailboat Owners web sites:
CatalinaOwners.com | HunterOwners.com | MacgregorOwners.com | OdayOwners.com | SailboatOwners.com | 10,000 Boat Names |