Another Hunter Rudder!

[Rakuflames]

I don't know this person but he has a slip near a friend of mine. My friend says this Hunter ran aground and the rudder was broken while pulling him off.

That'e just how I lost my first rudder, although it turned out that that rudder was already severely compromised. I was actually lucky that it happened under tow, even though it was a very badly done tow.

[zeehag]

the problem lies in the pulling off from a shoal.

with spade rudders you cannot do that and keep the rudder intact. doesnt matter if boat is a catalina, hunter, seidelmann, cal or what kind--pull it off a shoal you will hurt the rudder unless you are very very careful.

[S/V Illusion]

The same thing recently happened to us after going aground.

I guess that puts our Alden in the same category.

[rebel heart]

Like I said, that's five Hunters with banged up or lost rudders I've heard of in one year.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

My friend says this Hunter ran aground and the rudder was broken while pulling him off.

That statement isn't really correct. The Hunter didn't run aground, the owner ran thier Hunter aground!

BTW that rudder was probably built by Foss Foam and just happened to be on a Hunter.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Don L

That statement isn't really correct. The Hunter didn't run aground, the owner ran thier Hunter aground!

BTW that rudder was probably built by Foss Foam and just happened to be on a Hunter.

Been to Foss Foam's mfg site and had all the processes explained to me. Foss Foam makes the rudders Hunter wants. They don't come up with the design. They fulfill it.

At the end of the discussion, the Hunter was aground and the rudder broke while being pulled off. For me, that's SIX hunter rudders I've heard of. There are an awful lot of Catalinas around here, and Ihaven't heard of it happening once to a Catalina (doesn't mean it doesn't happen; just saying that I know way more Catalina owners than Hunter owners and have never heard of it on a Catalina.

All skeg rudders are exposed, no doubt about it, but I think there's more than that in play here.

I think it would take a naval architect to figure out why Hunters are especially vulnerable, but from what I see around me, they are.

I didn't set a record for buying rudders from Foss Foam. The record belongs to a boat owner who bought THREE for the same boat in one year.
I'm only in second place.

[Ocean Girl]

Rakuflames, have you noticed a manufacture year range of these rudder issues?

[ohdrinkboy]

maybe hunter owners are more prone to running aground and the rudder is not the problem

[S/V Illusion]

Another internet expert citing second hand information.

I always wondered how these experts never seem to have real first-hand knowledge.


I am tempted to get into a debate with this guy as to how cheaply made my rudder must be so as to allow the same problem to have occurred but why bother...

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

I don't know this person but he has a slip near a friend of mine. My friend says this Hunter ran aground and the rudder was broken while pulling him off.

That's just how I lost my first rudder, although it turned out that that rudder was already severely compromised. I was actually lucky that it happened under tow, even though it was a very badly done tow.

I am having a tough time grasping how this has anything at all to do with Hunter's....?

Heck a big 70' Hylas just hit a ledge here in Maine and lost her entire spar. Does that make the Hylas less of a boat. Hit bottom and lots of things can happen even to very, very well built boats.

There was a Hunter here in Maine that hit TREMENDOUSLY hard and took a football sized dent out of the keel lead. The boat survived just fine, did not sink, did not take on any water and when the keel was dropped there was nearly 1.5" of sold fiberglass in the keel stub. This was a much thicker layup than I would have imagined for a 34' Hunter... The rudder was scratched up but otherwise fine.

How would other brands survive this.....?? This is one of the hardest hits I have seen. Solid granite at full bore..... The Hunter survived to sail another day...


Heck the last Island Packet I saw that hit bottom lost an entire season because the encapsulated keel was still draining water out of the encapsulation/cement for two+ months....... Does that make it bad boat..?

[robert sailor]

When your Hunters rudder falls off when sailing, its sort of interesting but if it breaks or falls off after grounding its in the "yawn" dept.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Another internet expert citing second hand information.

I always wondered how these experts never seem to have real first-hand knowledge.


I am tempted to get into a debate with this guy as to how cheaply made my rudder must be so as to allow the same problem to have occurred but why bother...

In find it interesting that the OP actually owns a Hunter......... Perhaps the OP concerned in a trend she feels she see's.....???

[neilpride]

Heck any spade rudder in rocks is at risk of break off no matter if is a hunter or a swan.... more prone this silly designs with the rudder deeper than the keel...

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I am having a tough time grasping how this has anything at all to do with Hunter's....?

Heck a big 70' Hylas just hit a ledge here in Maine and lost her entire spar. Does that make the Hylas less of a boat. Hit bottom and lots of things can happen even to very, very well built boats.

There was a Hunter here in Maine that hit TREMENDOUSLY hard and took a football sized dent out of the keel lead. The boat survived just fine, did not sink, did not take on any water and when the keel was dropped there was nearly 1.5" of sold fiberglass in the keel stub. This was a much thicker layup than I would have imagined for a 34' Hunter... The rudder was scratched up but otherwise fine.

How would other brands survive this.....?? This is one of the hardest hits I have seen. Solid granite at full bore..... The Hunter survived to sail another day...


Heck the last Island Packet I saw that hit bottom lost an entire season because the encapsulated keel was still draining water out of the encapsulation/cement for two+ months....... Does that make it bad boat..?

No one is saying Hunter is a bad boat. I lost TWO rudders and I'm not saying that. The first one was severely compromised and I was lucky it went when it did. In the second incident, the rudder absorbed all of the impact and the boat itself wasn't damaged.

They are both what I call "good outcomes" although in the second incident I learned some important things about sailing my boat.

This boat was built in 1983 and doesn't have a single leak. Not anywhere. How many boats that old can say that? I take it as a sign of a well-built boat.

I think the rudder may have been designed to "take one for the gipper" as they say. Better the rudder than the hull.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

In find it interesting that the OP actually owns a Hunter......... Perhaps the OP concerned in a trend she feels she see's.....???

YES I see a trend, given that there are 3-4 Catalinas around here for every Hunter.

I don't understand why someone comments on a thread he or she finds so boring.

Saw the post about the missing chunk from the keel. I'm beginning to think I bought a stout little boat.