"Capt. Rob" wrote in message

We have three new hunters at the yard and I'm not aware of any service
issues.

Well duh. Doncha think service issues tend to show up after a boat has been
in its owner's hands for a while?

I'm also selling a 1997 Hunter 43 and have access to it's
service history, which shows very little in the way of trouble. What
type of problems have you seen?

Hunter 410--keel pulling loose from the hull, despite tightening the keel
bolts. (Hunter's fix: "slap some flexible caulk in there.") Numerous
electrical problems. Hunter 320--this boat has hatches (the sort that
typically are found on a relatively level deck) attached to near-vertical
house sides, and they've cracked and leaked, even after being replaced
twice. Electrical problems. Poor design of the various cubby holes in the
cockpit, the weep-hole drains of which don't seem to drain the water that
accumulates in them. Older Hunters--softening of the *pine* mast step,
which is encased in glass and sits on a reinforced hull member, but doesn't
stay water-tights and eventually softens and allows the base of the mast to
sag into the wood. This has been a problem with older Catalinas as well.
And wet decks are almost ubiquitous on older Hunters and Catalina, and even
on some newer ones. Also, those numerous fixed deck windows on older
Hunters generally leak after about 7 years in the sun and rain. One 37.5
Hunter we inspected in a driving rain literally had a waterfall cascading
down the face of the power panel. Nice. The hull liner was almost
completely black with mildew.


I'd take the Swan, but not the Wauquez or J. We could have had either,
but the designs were not comparable to the 35s5. In the case of the
Wauquez we looked at one in CT in very good shape. Bunks were too
short, head was tiny, no swim platform.

A swim platform is a necessity for a sailboat to be worthwhile?

Teak decks may be nearing the
end of their life cycle on boats so fitted.

Or, if maintained properly, they might be just fine. Best non-skid
available.

Look at the prices on
Yachtworld...

Hmmm. I thought you were criticizing me for reading yachtworld.com. Now
you are suggesting I do so. Which is it?

pretty much the same as the 35s5. The J 34C was in the
running for a while. We really liked sailing it, just as much as the
35s5 in fact. But the fit and finish below was inferior. No aft cabin,
no swim platform and another head designed for short people. J-boat
does seem to understand that people over 6 feet also need to sleep. We
could have bought the beautiful 34C, but the cabin was not even as well
done as our C&C 32.
The features we wanted are important to us as we'd tried them on other
boats and could see their practicality. Because of the failings of the
Wauqiez and Jboat, they can't compete with the 35s5 from a design
standpoint. I'd take the Swan I suppose, but are you so certain that
lofty build quality would still make a boat the right fit for everyone?

I don't know about everyone, but it would for me.

Max