At the AC Boat show my friend brought his wife aboard a few of the Beneteau's
after seeing the C&C, Tartan and Sabre.
She carefully examined the interior and said, "This is cheaper than low end
Ikea!" She was right. If anything, the Beneteau's seemed worse than ever.
Still, we were most shocked by the poor layout on the Etap. C&C only had the
110 there. We all agreed the C&C 99 is the nicer boat, especially for cruising.
FYI..the most popular boat at the show was a toss-up between the Tartan, Sabre
and Bavaria.

Capt RB

what about Hunter? Seen one? Any comment on its quality and sailability?


"Bobsprit" wrote in message
...

At the AC Boat show my friend brought his wife aboard a few of the
Beneteau's
after seeing the C&C, Tartan and Sabre.
She carefully examined the interior and said, "This is cheaper than low
end
Ikea!" She was right. If anything, the Beneteau's seemed worse than ever.
Still, we were most shocked by the poor layout on the Etap. C&C only had
the
110 there. We all agreed the C&C 99 is the nicer boat, especially for
cruising.
FYI..the most popular boat at the show was a toss-up between the Tartan,
Sabre
and Bavaria.

Capt RB

what about Hunter? Seen one? Any comment on its quality and sailability?


Hunter seems to have improved, at least on their larger boats. These are still
coastal boats, but the DS models are better looking and probably sail okay.
Marc has direct experience with the DS Hunter, I think, which raced and won
over a C&C37XL.
We were aboard the DS 43 or 44 and we all felt that owning one would be
tolerable to say the least.

RB

If it's a coastal boat, that would be well above your needs.

"Bobsprit" wrote in message
...
what about Hunter? Seen one? Any comment on its quality and
sailability?


Hunter seems to have improved, at least on their larger boats. These are
still
coastal boats, but the DS models are better looking and probably sail
okay.
Marc has direct experience with the DS Hunter, I think, which raced and
won
over a C&C37XL.
We were aboard the DS 43 or 44 and we all felt that owning one would be
tolerable to say the least.

RB

If it's a coastal boat, that would be well above your needs.


Poor Ganzy. He exposes himself with every post. What "isn't" a coastal boat in
the ranks of this group? No one here sails long distance because that takes
months and months. All are coastal boats.
You are SUCH a dumbass!

Bwahahahahaha!

RB

You don't know what is or isn't a coastal boat???????

No, it doesn't. You claim to be an exceptionally experienced
sailor, but you've never sail for 3 days max! You certain WIN
at being an idiot.

"Bobsprit" wrote in message
...
If it's a coastal boat, that would be well above your needs.


Poor Ganzy. He exposes himself with every post. What "isn't" a coastal
boat in
the ranks of this group? No one here sails long distance because that
takes
months and months. All are coastal boats.
You are SUCH a dumbass!

Bwahahahahaha!

RB

On 20 Jan 2004, r.brody wrote:

Hunter seems to have improved, at least on their
larger boats. These are still coastal boats, but the
DS models are better looking and probably sail okay.
. . . We were aboard the DS 43 or 44 and we all felt
that owning one would be tolerable to say the least.

The entire Hunter line has been in the process of re-design during the
past several years, a process that is still on-going. Apart from what
arguably is just an esthetic issue of the Hunter overhead traveler
(the obtrusiveness of which appears mitigated somewhat on its new
center-cockpit larger boat) and also from lingering structural issues
some knowledgeable folk contend might still be a problem, its newer
larger models (of which the center cockpit one shown in AC is an
example) appear commodious and comfortable, at least below deck,
though with what to some might be an enormous caveat: In most
conditions (and even after accounting for variables in wind/tides,
etc.), none of these models sail anywhere near as well as a comparably
sized Catalina or Beneteau or most of the much higher-priced (even if
not exclusively high-performance "racer") others.

Even so, however, it is pretty clear that, as is so for most owners of
other brands, Hunter owners seem to love their Hunters.

(The owner of the stolen Beneteau meanwhile has said he switched to
that manufactuer's boat after having owned Catalinas.)