Advice on First Boat Purchase - Hunter 23.5

[TexSail]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Ouch!

When at sea; Sit to pee.

Good point...or over the leeward rail - this is Texas after all.

[Perithead]

Well, from what I have seen Hunters seem to be pretty good boats.

Purchasing a boat off e-bay is not a totally bad thing. I bought a Macgregor 25 early last Spring for $1200! It came with a good running 9.9hp 3 sails in good condition, decent trailer(just did a little work on it), new fabric on cushions interior and cockpit cushions, just a great purchase on my part I believe. People might say that the Mac is a poorly built boat but I would have to disagree. At the moment I am in the process of remodeling the interior and it is really turning out to be a pretty nice boat for under 2k!!!!!!!! WOW. The interior looks about bran new with new beautifully stain wood and just great things can happen to a boat if you just take some time to do some work yourself you can really make your investment pay off. I am thinking about selling her soon when I get the remodelling done for a good bit more than I payed for her and getting a larger fixed keel boat.

I say, go for a cheap ebay boat that can be fixed up with little effort. Get lucky with one no one else bids on. Whalah you have a nice boat for cheap that can be made into a money maker when you get some experience under your belt and really know what kind of sailboat you want.

[dinerofan]

Marty - I have a 1993 Hunter 23.5. It's easy to single hand and performs well in light winds. The room in the cockpit can't be beat and the open transom makes it feel much larger. The boat only weighs about 2000lbs making it easy to trailer. I only take it out of the water for hurricanes (about once a year). If I were trailering it more often or looking at long trips, I'd convert the trailer to tandem axle.


$10,500 is a premium price. I paid less for mine two years ago and would be willing to part with it for a much lower price than 10.5k. In buying a late model boat, you spend more time sailing and less time working on the boat, not to mention the overall condition of the boat. It is a dependable boat with a lot of good design features, but I would not pay a premium for a boat that is relatively easy to find for sale on the web. Hunter makes a good product for the crusing sailor. I like mine but am getting the fever for a larger boat!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, dinerofan.
Hope you can soon find a cure for your two-foot-itis. Left untreated, it's a terrible affliction!

[Ionlydream]

Might I suggest reading "The complete Trailer Sailor" by Brian Gilbert. Here is a useful quote that might help

- Structural Cracks or holes in the hull
- Missing major equipment like mast , boom, standing rigging or sails
- Extensive wood rot
- A partially restore boat

A boat with any of these problems earns an automatic "no thanks"

- Any trailorable sailboat without some kind of motor or trailer
- Any sailboat without a fiberglass interior liner
- A heavily modified sailboat
- Any boat with a spongy deck
- A filthy boat, especially one with standing water in the interior
- A boat with missing or hopelessly rotten cushions

A boat with any of these problems while not automatically rejected must be heavily discounted by the seller in order to be considered

He has a lot more to say included spending some money to have a professional look at it and give you his oppinion.

It is a good read and would be well worth the few bucks you would pay to get a copy

[Mark H]

Hi....I have been using my" excellant condition" 1993 Hunter 23.5 for two years now. I learned to sail in classes, on Beaver Lake ,Ar, for one summer a couple times a week. BLSPS
I love the water ballast feature,swing keel,jeffy reefing,110 genoa,8hp Toshata ,and easy of trailering with 1/2 ton pu.
A good friend of mine is now building me a wood tiller to replace the very good original metal tiller. This well allow me to install, more easily, a "tiller tamer" for hands free sailing.
The only change I have made so far.I paid under 9k....great sailing boat and very easy to sail.
Good luck...mark

Originally Posted by marty9876

Greetings All!!!

Got bit with the sailing bug, bad...

I'm thinking about purchasing a Hunter 23.5, 1997. Obviously it's a trailer boat, little gun shy on a fix keel boat currently (cost of slips/hauls etc).

Area thinking of sailing is Lake Pepin in Minnesota along with trips to Lake Superior/Lake of the Woods.

The boat is pretty clean. A little musty in side the deal said was just due to being not used/closed up (that true?). Looks to be/have been dry in the cabin, I crawled around and in the stern I saw remains of at least one water ring (brown ring). That normal?

Rudder is cracked up a bit on the leading edge and missing some off the bottom from ground hits. The bow has a dock ding in it, ~ 1" big chip missing. Deck has about 2 ~ 1" pieces missing from something being dropped on it. As part of the deal, the deal will fix these issues. The boat is there on consignment.

Asking was $10,900. I offered 10k, countered at $10,450 with the fixes.

No cockpit cushions. Fabric interior (upgrade for that model) with the stern rail seats/9.9 2001 Honda motor with low hours and electric start. No roller furler.

Single axle trailer. Water ballast boat.

The dealer will put the boat on a lift so I can inspect the centerboard/rudder raising system. The dealer is land locked and I don't think a sea trial is really doable.

I've never actually sailed on a boat of this type. Just got into sailing, took a class on 14 Ft boats, then ~ 22 keel boats and did the ASA 101 class.

Thoughts? Good/no good price for this boat? Good starter boat?

I hate no private head/no standing room/will be tender in the higher winds but... It's also "cheap".

Thanks for all your help, looking to much more posting/reading here!

[Mark H]

Hi Mate....I purchased a 1993 H23.5 two years ago.Its an awesoem sailboat.Excellant conditon; waterballased,swing keel,jeffy reefing,110 genoa foresail,6hp Toshahta OB,under 8k.
"Serenity" is a very eay to sail,and oh so sweet...mark.

[SailorMan500]

Hi Marty
I have owned a 1997 Hunter 23.5 for two years now, so I can give you an owner's perspective on this boat.

First of all, we had a no-tolerance policy for mould on a boat when we were looking since we planned to sleep aboard. Now, as owners, we remove all cushions and fabric for the off-season and clean thoroughly. Then we give a bleach wipedown of all interior surfaces at the start of the season. I even put a cup of bleach in the water-ballast tank when filling it so nothing grows there during the summer.

I read about the boat's supposed tender characteristics prior to purchase, but for me the trailering/storage benefits outweighed that factor when it came down to it. There may a tendency to be quicker to heel than a fixed keel boat, however she finds her angle and skips along just fine. There are reefing lines on the main though I have not felt the need reef yet. I use the roller reef jib to find a good balance.

We really like the openess of the cabin and with a little ingenuity you can find ways to organize and store your gear.

We sail the west coast (San Juan and Gulf Islands) and just got back from a six day cruise and found the boat and the cruise delighful.

This is certainly not an off-shore sailboat, however for the coastal inter-island sailing my wife and I like to do, it works very well. I can imagine it would also make a good lake boat as the swing keel and rudder make beaching possible.

Hope that helps.

[IAIN JENNINGS]

I would strongly recommend that you conbsider getting the proposed boat surveyed by a qualified boat surveyor - it sounds a bit rough. A surveyor will look all over the boat for problems and it shouldn't cost too much unless the boat needs to be lifted out of the water with a crane. There are lots of really well made nicely turned out Hunters available around the world, so don't just buy the first one that comes along if it sounds rough - you'll just have lots of time regretting the purchase later. I own a Hunter 260 aged c. 1994 / 1995 which is just a little bit bigger ( still a trailer sailer but weighing in at 4,000 pounds ( c. 2.25 metric tonnes ) and hence needing a four wheel trailer which can carry about 3 tonnes plus gross. My boat is WONDERFUL - it has about 2 tonnes of water ballast and it sails very nicely. It will never break any world speed records but it feels stable, is really nicely built and spacious. I am looking forward to having lots of nice safe times sailing on her. Everyone who sees my boat says how much better hte Hunter is than the ( also USA made ) McGregor trailer sailors.

Hope this little message helps. Happy sailing !

Dr. Iain Jennings

[Drew13440]

It's now three years since Marty asked for advice. I hope he's resolved his dilemma.

[Brasshopper]

What do people think about this boat at this price?

https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc

This is an all new question which happens to be the same as the original, almost. Trailering, being able to weekend aboard, sailing around the keys, and crossing the Florida Straits in good (excellent) weather are all important considerations. I am selling a bit of property for very close to this amount.

If someone knows a surveyor they would recommend who I could contact in the North Miami area, I would appreciate that as well.