My other half and I lived on a
C&C 40 (Redline Special) for years (back in the 80's)and enjoyed her speed immensly. She was a deep, fin-keel ship (~7' draft) with a tall stick (60') and that design held the TransPac
record for some time. Many would not condsider her B/W beacuase of her build. That being said we recently moved on to a '87 Hunter Legend 40 of similar design and honestly feel we could not have made a better choice. Like our
C&C she's fast and quick to accelerate. We love cruising, but at the same time we like getting there in half the time that most other cruising sailboats take to get to port. I especially like the insulated double
hull. We didn't need it out on the
west coast but it has come in handy on the
east coast.
Once we got her dried out and sealed up she is as dry as a bone, doesn't sweat a bit when it gets cold outside and has room to spare down below. The 80's Hunters were all hand laid up
fiberglass, and built stout. I looked at them for some time before I bought ours and found them listed from $55k to $85K. A lot depended on the condition. I actually found mine on Ebay for a song, went through it with fine tooth comb and wasn't disappointed. She was rigged for
racing, had a lot of upgrades (including a built in A/C & heater!) and [besides the need for some lipstick and rouge] she was in good shape so I got her for under $50K. I'll sink about $15K into her to make her a worldclass cruiser, but that's all she'll need. As for me and my wife of 30+ years?...we love her and think Neptune was smiling on us when we decided to jump back in the
water and leave the land behind.
If you decide to get her let us know how it goes.