Hunter Cherubini 27 questions

[Teknishn]

Hello All, am posting this here as there is no option for posting to the Hunter manufacturer's forum and the search function didn't provide any answers to my questions. This post is aimed at present or former Hunter 27 owners.

I recently purchased a 1981 Hunter 27 (Cherubini design) from abroad. Had the boat surveyed and it is good in nearly all areas (DC electrical system needs some work....easy stuff, at least for me).

I won't see the boat for another 7 months when I repatriate to the States, so am doing a lot of pre-planning here as am outfitting the boat as a liveaboard (20 years living overseas, no living family, nowhere I have to be....but just know that it is time to come home so a small sailboat is a good option for me).

My questions about the boat concern areas on the boat that I don't know.

1. There is a 25-gallon water tank">fresh water tank underneath the port V-berth bunk....what's underneath the starboard side bunk? Is that a sail storage area?

2. Boat needs a shower installed in the head. What is the depth of the bilge beneath the head sole in order to install a drain? (Don't think it's possible, but asking anyway.)

3. The cockpit starboard bench is for gear stowage. How deep is this locker? All the way to the hull? (Would like to turn half of this locker into a ventilated propane locker). If the locker doesn't go down to the hull, what is the space underneath used for, if anything?

I have the basic drawings for the boat, including electrical and piping, but they do not show much in the way of these areas.

Any feedback would be much appreciated......

[SailingFan]

Originally Posted by Teknishn

1. There is a 25-gallon fresh water tank underneath the port V-berth bunk....what's underneath the starboard side bunk? Is that a sail storage area?

2. Boat needs a shower installed in the head. What is the depth of the bilge beneath the head sole in order to install a drain? (Don't think it's possible, but asking anyway.)

3. The cockpit starboard bench is for gear stowage. How deep is this locker? All the way to the hull? (Would like to turn half of this locker into a ventilated propane locker). If the locker doesn't go down to the hull, what is the space underneath used for, if anything?

I have the basic drawings for the boat, including electrical and piping, but they do not show much in the way of these areas.

Tek, we corresponded yesterday on another thread, I can only offer what I have learned so far about my own vessel and with what I see in the documents I retrieved from someone on these threads that show all Hunter models from the 22 ft through the 40 (or was it the 38?).

In our line, the 27, the vessel supposedly comes factory with wheel steering (but mine did not).

They came with a 35 gallon aluminum tank for freshwater in the forward vee berth (mine does).

They came with a 13 gallon black water tank on the starboard side of the forward vee berth (mine does not, it is overboard discharge only at the moment, but that changes excessively soon!). I believe that may be what is probably located there in your case, if nobody has removed it. The drawings from the factory show it there on versions other than mine (evidently). I seem to have gotten the stripped version of this hull from the factory, with additional removals performed by a PO (I am BLESSED like that).

I too have been considering shower options, and have come to the conclusion that there is insufficient room under the sole for routing drainage unless you are sending it directly into the bilge, in which case you get the added bonus of soap scum, human skin and hair, and who knows what else deposited into it to jam your bilge pump and make the boat smell like crap.

I am designing a workaround, however, that I will post when completed. It is essentially a tub of sorts to catch the water and route it into a mounted hose that runs through a dedicated but large aperture bilge pump that is mounted on the outside of the tub. As the entry to the vee berth is a little too far off the deck anyway, I am putting a little platform at that point, and putting the tub UNDER that holed platform. The drain line from that dedicated bilge pump will run either into the sink or out through a port, across the side deck, and over the side, or can be alternatively routed to a storage bladder. Either way, the water supply must be sufficient for showering, so will be pretty sparse, and possibly will come from that aluminum tank up forward. Nobody seems to think drinking water from an aluminum tank in a sailboat is a good idea anyway. I am considering using it solely for toilet supply and for supplying the shower. If I am lucky I may even figure out a way to heat it a little on demand for the shower! working on that idea too...

There are storage areas port and starboard under the salon berths, and there was an area along the hull interior on both berths that had a cushion for the passenger's back when sitting at the fold down table, and a hidden compartment behind that cushion, both on port and starboard sides (mine was stripped of that cushion AND of the vinyl covering of the hull interior, so presumably the cabinetry was removed though the top shelves are both still installed).

Of interest is that the nav station was designed on my boat as a fully enclosed wet locker with a drain into the bilge, but models after 1978 actually have a partial knee wall there, so that a person could sit on the pilot quarter berth (starboard side) and slide their legs into the locker area under the nav table, and I will be revisiting that quite soon! The area under that table on my boat is largely wasted anyway.

On my Hunter 27, the starboard cockpit locker is indeed open to the bottom of the hull, and contains a 12 gallon diesel fuel cell for the Yanmar SB 8 single VERTICAL cylinder engine, a primer ball for that tank, and quite a lot of room for storing stuff. You also access the back of the starter switch and gauge set through this locker. There is a lot of random wire in mine that needs homes, at least the plugs are present and the ends are not simply snipped off, but they may as well be because a PO removed the gauges and oil pressure alarm that was supposed to be there (left the wiring though). The starter switch is there though, so maybe I am lucky, because it does function.. BLESSED I tell you.

There is also an aft lazarette on my vessel, it is centered precisely aft of the cockpit, against the transom. I can store stuff in there, or use it as a livewell, as it drains into a y hose that also connects to the two rather small cockpit drains (which I will likely be replacing with drains that are twice the diameter, at a MINIMUM, than what currently is there, the factory units). I could rig the shower pump to that lazarette possibly too, or even just run it into the cockpit floor, I don't know.

Now, port in the cockpit there is no lifting lid in the bench, as this area is directly over the final quarter berth, and though only a non-claustrophobic kid could use it, that berth could technically be used. I am considering, however, making it into a storage area for water bags, in part countering the 12 gallons of diesel to starboard, and in part countering the weight of the toilet being installed forward to starboard. It also adds real fresh water to my vessel, and allows me easy access to those bags. I am additionally considering alteration of my nav station table to allow my legs to swing under it as later models of the Hunter 27 allowed, and I could put a back cushion against a modular bulkhead insert that closes that area from the nav station seat (that used to be where the quarter berth occupant's head would go when sleeping).

Now, on my boat, there is also a traveler mounted on the cockpit seats, right where the lazarette opens up, by the tiller mount (the emergency tiller mount for those with wheel steering). I see a place for a boom vang under the boom, but it is not currently rigged (thanks to the PO who removed all my running rigging but nicely left me all the hardware minus lines or any means of pulling new ones short of dropping the mast).

Too bad my stove insert is gone. Gonna have to make a support tray for a propane camping stove, and unscrew the cover off the old hole. I am also going to overinsulate the ice box unit in the countertop with styrofoam. I can make ice with a portable ice machine and keep that hole cool, even in the summer, if I can insulate it enough and keep its drain closed (or mostly so). I have a small fridge and microwave, but need to work out their positions. I have a few ideas there too, though.

Blessed, I tell you.