Learn on a Hunter 49

[IntoMyHealth]

I sailed endlessly as a kid on a laser and spent quite a few weeks on my parents 40 footer in my 20's. More recently I have taken my wife out on Hobie Cats and we have chartered (crewed) once. We want to sail!! I've looked at a few boats and for several reasons we really like the Hunter 49 and feel its a great fit for our family with a preference to 2007-08. Still not committed but I'd like to pull the trigger this Summer.

My request for opinions here is about a novice and newbie wife (and kids)learning on such a large boat. If I hired an instructor to essentially ASA certify us on our own boat, why not? After certification then we could day sail, weekend, and take a couple of weeks cruising New England to gain experience. I personally feel a large boat is easier to sail in many ways. The real challenges occur at the marinas and harbors for which I'm more than willing to hire a good coach and PRACTICE. What I don't want to do is buy a 35, learn, then have to sell it when a 35 is ultimately not the right boat for us.

[DSDman]

You are thinking the exact same way I did. Although it sounds like you have more experience than I to begin with. We decided to buy our boat, a 60 footer and learn on that boat. So while I am fixing it up we are learning the ropes so to speak. nothing extravagant to begin with, just motoring around the dock and river. learning to anchor, handle lines, learning systems and doing the basics, man over board drills, tying knots etc. As we get more experienced we will put up a sail, then two, then all three. maybe take a class or two. All the while learning to fix our boat and preparing for the future. I think it's a great plan.

[Vasco]

The hardest part will be docking but the 49 probably has a bow thruster.

[IntoMyHealth]

Appreciate the comments. I think one of the biggest challenges will be a reasonable rate on insurance. Or even finding a firm that will insure us.

[Boracay]

I'll second the suggestion of a bow thruster. Even with lots of experience one would make life a lot easier.

I'd also go for the shoal draft. When fully loaded the deep draft version is going to come in at over 7'. It's just too easy to find the bottom ...

I'd also look for quality bimini, dodger and clears from someone who knows the tropics , particularly if you want to keep your crew happy.

If the 100hp Yanmar is turbocharged consider the smaller engine. 75 should be plenty, and there will be lots of times you'll be running the engine slowly.

[cmac]

My wife and I started this journey without knowing what kind of boat we wanted. We became certified ASA 101, 103 & 104 and i read books from Leonard, Calder, Roth, Pardeys, and subscribed to the major sailing publications. After I became catamaran certified, we bought our own 40' and hired a terrific husband & wife team of ASA instructors that stayed on board for a few days to help us gain more confidence and work on our weak areas such as docking the cat in high winds, etc.

With the certification and experience with operating small sail and powerboats in the upper Mid-west, inhale my choice of three insurance companies.

Good luck,

Curt

[DSDman]

BoatUS actually turned out to be the way to go for me.

[IntoMyHealth]

Originally Posted by Boracay

I'll second the suggestion of a bow thruster. Even with lots of experience one would make life a lot easier.

I'd also go for the shoal draft. When fully loaded the deep draft version is going to come in at over 7'. It's just too easy to find the bottom ...

I'd also look for quality bimini, dodger and clears from someone who knows the tropics , particularly if you want to keep your crew happy.

If the 100hp Yanmar is turbocharged consider the smaller engine. 75 should be plenty, and there will be lots of times you'll be running the engine slowly.

Agreed with everything you say here. But what about the turbo Yanmar? That is on one of the H49s we are looking at. I thought it a benefit over the 75. No?

[Boracay]

My understanding is that diesels in general need to be run under load to prevent glazing and related problems.

Again, and it's really an opinion, turbocharged diesels need to be run at higher relative power levels than non turbocharged diesels.

So if we take a 15 tonne boat and put a 75hp non turbocharged diesel in it we can use the engine for battery charging (say 10% power), motorsailing(say 15% power), low speed cruising(25% power) or even extended fast motoring(80% power). This is the sort of use a diesel gets in a cruising yacht.

A 100hp turbocharged diesel in the same boat is (and I'll probably get jumped on here, but it's my opinion) is going to need at least 50% power (and probably a lot more) to keep it running properly, and 50hp is more than is needed most of the time. Running at lower power levels means the turbocharger hasn't kicked in, the fuel air mixture will be less than optimum and over time the engine starts to give problems.

The two types of engines that consistently pop up on Cruisers Forum with problems are those that are very old (20+ years) and those that are turbocharged.

[islandplanet]

You're on the right track in terms of getting good training. We met a lot of people while we were out cruising and there was a noticeable difference between those who invested in their education and those who didn't.

As you probably know from your business experience, (congrats on the sale of the company BTW), your biggest FUD factor is you realize that you don't know what you don't know. And a 50'ish boat is a major investment that you want to get right the first time.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by IntoMyHealth

Agreed with everything you say here. But what about the turbo Yanmar? That is on one of the H49s we are looking at. I thought it a benefit over the 75. No?

All larger diesels sold in the USA must be turbocharged in order to meet emissions standards. My current boat, purchased in 2006, came with a 76hp turbo diesel; I wanted a normally aspirated one, for the sake of simplicity, but couldn't order one. (I'm glad, in hindsight, to have switched to turbo. No more diesel rattles.)

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Boracay

I'd also go for the shoal draft. When fully loaded the deep draft version is going to come in at over 7'. It's just too easy to find the bottom ...

With all due respect, I'm going to disagree with Boracay, with whom I not only sailed, but with whom I've sailed on a Hunter 46LE.

I think the performance to be gained by the deep draft is significant. As someone with 7' draft, I'd rather have that than the ability to anchor in the skinny stuff.

Of course, I don't spend a lot of time in the Bahamas these days.

[islandplanet]

Turbo Yanmar is a great engine. Many people unfortunately don't bother to read the manual and operate it properly so you hear about issues with the turbo and deposits. We just did a 500 hour service and our 75hp Yanmar's turbo was clean as a whistle.

If you're buying a boat with a Yanmar turbo, ask the owner if he followed Yanmar's "engine racing" procedure? If he gives you a blank stare, he probably didn't. It's clearly spelled out in the manual and needs to happen every 2 hours of low RPM operation and 5 minutes prior to shutdown.

[captainKJ]

don lucas has a hunter, he might be willing to talk to you about it, I loved the boat when I sailed on it with him

[Boracay]

OK, so my recent experience has left me bitter and twisted, but I give yous the following situations. Both involve arrival at about 4:00pm:-
1) Enter Cape Hawke Harbour from the sea and find your way to a berth on a pilling Jetty just upstream of the Fish CoOp. Read the caution on the map and remember the admonishment in the Guide to avoid being carried forward onto the bridge.
2)Enter the Clarence River from the sea with a 2m swell. Find out that your boat does surf. Do this in the rain so that the leads are not visible. Take the first turn to Port then proceed WNW trying desperately to figure out where you are. Proceed to Yamba Boatharbour Marina.

I'm not saying that I touched bottom anywhere but will admit to be grateful that a) Boracay is steel and b) I followed consistent advice to enter on the fourth hour of a rising tide.