Capt. Rob wrote:
The Hunter 34 can certainly go offshore safely.

Capt Rob has taken a bit if flak as a result of posting the above
statement. I think the reason is that we are using terms like "go
offshore" pretty loosely since they can mean different things to
different people. Does it mean a N. Atlantic crossing in winter, a trip
down the coast or just getting out of the protected waters of your local
bay?

I know next to nothing about a Hunter 34, never having been aboard one,
but I have owned a Catalina 30 and have owned my current boat, a Tayana
37, for over 5 years and have sailed both of these boats extensively.

I suspect that my Catalina 30 was substantially similar in quality and
perhaps a bit less able in its safe passage ability than the H34 since
it was significantly smaller. We had the Catalina more than a 100 miles
offshore on a few occasions without problems and the Hunter is no doubt
perfectly capable of doing the same. These production boats are not
built to take the beating that severe mid-ocean storms can lash out, but
generally do just fine when cruising up and down the coast or doing
short crossings during the seasons when fair weather prevails. The
biggest problems we encountered with the Catalina were the lack of
tankage and storage.