Hunter Owner Reviews

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

Review of the Hunter 23 by Greg Stebbins

Year built 1988  
Location of boat Lake Ray Hubbard - Texas  
The boat is sailed on Lakes  
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 1999  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? Yes, I think so. This boat has met our needs very well. It keeps me busy. Our lake is not large. You can cruse the whole thing in one day. I've looked at the newer and larger boats in our marina and I am alarmed at what is passing for rigging and deck layout today. Dead eyes instead of chain plates!! Give me a break, and that was on a new Hunter!!I've seen new boats where I don't think you can even get forward under way.  
Gear that's been added Our dock is mostly populated with racing boats J24s and larger. I've been studying their rigging and making additions and mods accordingly.Additions -1.beefed up outhaul2.Boom vang on 180 degree bail3.Cunningham4.Genoa Tracks5.150 and 200 Genoas6.Spanker7.spinnaker track and pole8.adjustable backstay9.snatch blocks10.A real sink pump.11.there is a Henderson 30 with a retractable bow sprit that just facinates me.....  
Structural or complex improvements Not yet.... I'm thinking of moving the water supply somewhere else, The question is how  
The boat's best features My pre-Hunter experience has been with full (bow to rudderpost) keel boats. The 23 seems very responsive, but so would a floating log. The cabin is a comparitive joy against the current fiberglass interiors.Just when did Bronze, Wood and 3 strand go away? The boat is pretty strong. It has old world rigging - like chain plates real turnbuckles and a mast hight some what greater than the water line. It's got a hull speed of something like 6.5 knots but if you push the little sucker she'll plane up to something like 10 knots. For a low cost cruser, that makes the 23 a serious boat.  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. Everything works now, but I've done a lot of work and upgrades. I do not raise the mast, launch or trailer per instructions. My marina has a mast tower and a big hoist. I use the tower to pull/place the mast and the hoist to pick up the hull and place it on the trailer and in the water.I almost brained myself following the book.The port window cracked and had to be replaced (A little hull flexing maybe?). The electrical system is not very well done and required a lot of TLC to get it up to exceptable. Hunter should send every owner a letter of apology for the wiring on the 23.  
Sailing characterisitcs The 23 sails well under all conditions I've experienced so far. I been in winds from 0.0002 knots (God bless the 200%) to about 25 knots. The boat doesn't point up when knocked down like I'm used to but thats the trade off for the hull preformance. The rigging instructions which came with the boat basicly says  
Motoring characterisitcs The Nissan 5hp works fine (after 11 yrs!!). It gets me out of the slip, passed the break water and back again with no problems. So far we've used about 1 gal of fuel in 3 months. It is noisey. I plan to service it this winter (11 yrs come on!)  
Liveability The interior is  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) The Hunter people were great when I called for a new port window. They had to have one made but they got it to me in a vary reasonabe time at a very very low price.  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any I bought the boat from an individual.  
Other comments  

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 |