Options for Non-Mass-Produced Boats

[rgscpat]

One other qualifier would be if you're only comparing recent or older vintage boats; some of the production boats may be better built than they were a generation ago.

At any rate my only Hunter experience has been a couple of day charters and visiting and sailing on a couple of friends' boats. One of the charter Hunters (a 35' built around 2000) had a hard-to-service engine (basic stuff like oil almost impossible to check) and a hatch in the swim platform that seemed to be vulnerable to flooding, plus I didn't really get comfortable with the B&R rig downwind. One friend's boat had lots of breakage issues, but it was a much older Hunter 34 that was likely poorly maintained by previous owners.

No doubt there are a bunch of good older boats that were not on the big list of blue-water boats and your needs and assumptions may not match the list criteria. What do you want in a boat?

[caboteur]

Hi,

This thread sounds like any sports or car-truck conversation at the local pub or tavern!

In to-day's market most transportation products are good! They may be suited for different needs or desires but are relatively well suited for their purpose (there are exceptions).

Bénéteau, Catalina and Hunter share a major part of the world market of live-on sailboats. Bénéteau being by far the largest of the three. Nevertheless GM went bankrupt while being the largest auto manufacturer in the world! (technically Toyota had caught-up with the GM volume and quality by the time GM officially went down).
Yes, mass production gets costs down IF management and labor can agree to sound practices and then execute them well.

Over the last 50 years I have owned and sailed a myriad of boats, some were for sailing on small lakes, some were for cruising up & down the St-
Lawrence, some were trailerable and one was an ocean-crosser. I sailed accordingly... in my teens it was all performance, as a young father WE wanted safety, with our growing children we wanted more space but couldn't afford very large, once university over we got the ocean-crosser and crossed on her three times, then we got a smaller and easyer to boat to single-hand or to handle by a couple.

A list of these boats will illustrate the point; they are in chronological order.
Sunfish, Flying jr., Mirage 24, Skimmer (sailboards 2), Bombardier Invitation, Prindle 16, Drascombe Lugger, Tanzer 26, Tornado (the Olympic catamaran), C&C Landfall 38, Mirage 24, Bénéteau 31...

I liked all of them, they served their purpose well. I liked the Mirage so much I bought another one thirty years after the first. They're a great boat. So was the C&C and so is the Benny!

And so would the Hunter or Morris or Hinkley depending on your needs and desires!

So go sailing on Huck Finn's raft with a sail if need be, that was probably a good boat too.

Pierre, Le Caboteur

[Greggegner]

I prefer more of a wine glass hull with a more substantial keel. A skag-hung rudder is also nice. The mass and square footage under the water coupled with the "less flat" shape gives a kinder motion when it gets nasty. Add some overhang and the boat just rides better, We purchased a Pearson 385. When we coupled the hull characteristics with the layout we decide it was the boat for us. You don't have to spend a lot to get a good boat.