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Review of the Hunter 260 by Mike Harms

Year built 1998  
Location of boat Toledo, Ohio, USA (Lake Erie)  
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. Lake Erie and its tributaries have many shallow areas where only a shoal-keel boat can sail. Also the 6' draft of the centerboard is great when sailing in deeper water. The water ballast, while not ideal ballast, gives the boat needed balance, once we get to 5 degrees heel, or so. Draining the water allows the boat to be easily trailerable, too. The size and modifications make it liveable for two adults and two teenagers for a week or so, which fits our needs.  
Gear that's been added A set of 110 Amp hour house batteries on a combiner with the motor battery for charging. Raymarine ST60 Wind, speed, depth instruments. 12A flexible solar panel for charging during sailing or moored. VHF radio and mast antenna. AM/FM/CD stereo with Bose speakers. Mast head light. Added deck-mounted connections for the above. Saloon seat access doors. Water pump and new faucets in head and galley. Spinlock clutches for halyards and jib lines. 13 plastic tubs with lids under the seats and under the galley to hold stores and equipment. Igloo electric cooler.  
Structural or complex improvements Rebuilt bimini to give maximum headroom. Stripped, resealed and repainted bottom. Reduced the size of the saloon table by 11" aftwards, removed its lower support structure so it could lie flat with the seats and had cushions made for it to make larger berths out of the seats. The rudder's interior core cracked and crumbled, particularly at the pivot point with the tiller pole. Bored into the rudder, fragmented and removed the broken core, and poured in new glas/gel mixture for reinforcement. I cut an emergency replacement rudder from a 2x12 and keep it on board.  
The boat's best features The water ballast, the berth flexibility, storage and sailing performance.  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. As above in improvements, the rudder's core fragmented and had to be rebuilt. Also, steering with the rudder and an outboard motor is difficult. Attempts to connect the motor and rudder for single maneuver steering have not been successful.  
Sailing characterisitcs We've been becalmed on Lake Erie, been in 25+ knot storms with the main and jib reefed, and everything in between. We will usually reef around 12 knots and sometimes sooner.  
Motoring characterisitcs With a 9.9 hp Yamaha 4-stroke, extra long shaft and power thrust prop we move at 6.5-7 knots. When reversing it has been best to apply continuous RPMs, rather than shifting between forward and neutral. In reverse the boat tends to wander if not under power.  
Liveability With the table able to lay flat with the seats not and convert into a full berth the liveability is greatly improved. We can use the forward berth now for storage full time, which saves the effort of moving items between the fore berth and the saloon. The electric cooler gives us multi-day food storage without taking any more space. The pressurized water allows us to really wash and clean things. The only thing missing is showering capability, but we'd need to go much bigger in boat size to get a comfortable shower.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) Fast and helpful.  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any n/a  
Other comments  

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