Pearson 365 Or H37c Ketch Vs Cutter

[monteverde]

For sailing the Western Caribbean for a year, which sailboat would you choose?
1977 Pearson 365 ketch. Pros: good navionics, newer rigging, new hull and bottom paint, new dodger. cons: non self-tailing winches, cheap-looking interior, engine is hard to access.
or
1983 Hunter 37. Pros: self-tailing winches, Arch with davits, Nice looking exterior and interior. I like the cutter rig. My wife likes the hunter. Cons: Rigging is old, no dodger

I think the Pearson is a better boat. I am worried that it will be much harder to sail. Which boat would you rather be out in?

[Cheechako]

By western Carribean I guess you mean Panama to Mexico...? I think you want pretty shallow draft for those areas right...?

[letsgetsailing3]

Go with what the wife likes.

Happy wife = happy life.

[nolandan]

Hunter is great coastal cruiser but do you trust your life to fad design and thin hulls?

[ctl411]

37c not a fad design or thin hull. I've owned two and now helping a friend with a third.

[Capt RonB]

The Pearson 365 is a great cruising boat and a decent sailer. My friend had the ketch and we had great fun flying all sorts of sails. He even had a fisherman that flew between the masts. Comfy too with a separate shower stall, nice v-berth. Love that boat as a cruiser.

Keep in mind that most cruising boats run the engine a lot even when sailing. Our Ericson 38, which is a very fast cruiser, racked up beaucoup engine hours when sailing. This was because we needed the electrical power. We ran an autopilot, radar, gps, laptop, lights, various small device chargers, refrigeration, etc and since we didn't have a genset, the main engine ran. And yes we had a 145 watt solar panel too. Even at anchor sometimes we ran the engine to replenish batteries.

Personally, I don't care for Hunters. I think the hardware is cheap and flimsy and the boats are too light for their size to be more than day-sailors. Beneteau and Catalina seem to use better hardware ... Catalina uses Garhauer stuff which I like a lot.

I'd go for the Pearson but you might find a P40 for about the same money ... bigger boat, shoal draft, will win races.

[ctl411]

OK again look before you speak. What is light about a 18000 pound 37 footer. Not your normal Hunter. Go to Hunterowners and look at the specs/reviews. One owner has been racing his boat since new trans Atlantic and across the gulf. These are a great buy if you can put up with the unknowing bad mouthing them.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by ctl411

OK again look before you speak. What is light about a 18000 pound 37 footer. Not your normal Hunter. Go to Hunterowners and look at the specs/reviews. One owner has been racing his boat since new trans Atlantic and across the gulf. These are a great buy if you can put up with the unknowing bad mouthing them.

I dont think you could call it "Heavy displacement" maybe "moderate" at best...

[ctl411]

Never said full keel crab crusher lol. Just stated not light. The 365 is a fine boat also looked into the bigger Pearson's after we sold our 37c last fall. Ended up finding a Gulfstar 50 ketch in Kentucky that needed a new home.

[monteverde]

Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, maybe as far south as Panama. Then back up to the Bahamas. Shallow draft is very important. I think the Pearson checks all the important boxes.

[boatman61]

The H37c is a Cherubini design that I crossed the Atlantic NC to UK just fine... sails beautifully..
And she aint that deep a draught... don't let Hunter prejudice put you off... these are great boats

[fjwiley1]

You'll enjoy the Ketch rig of the Pearson. Very roomy, well built and nice to look at, the draft is good, sails easy to balance with Jb n Jigger if the winds pipe up. The Ketch rig is old school and not very "fast" but sure looks like the ships of long ago. I'm prejudice of course.

Hunter has come a long way in improving their quality of boat. They had to improve or fail. They seem to continue overcome the stigma of being poor quality. Hats off to them for making the right business decision. Just my 2 cents.

S/V Water Wings
39' Ketch

[bioandy]

I had to make the exact same choice last season. Our search boiled down to a 1976 Pearson 365 Ketch and a 1980 37' Hunter Cherubini Cutter Draft was an issue where we sail and the Cherubini had a 4ft draft the Pearson 4'6". My wife liked the Cherubini, (I believe for asthetic reasons) but is very happy with our final decision with the Pearson 365 ketch. To be honest, as nice as the Cherubini was, part of my decision was based on some undeserving negative Hunter reputation, because I think the Hunter Cherubini is in a completely separate category from the rest of the Hunter line. We're still getting to know our P365 after sailing her for a full season. I'd say, go with the boat that will survey better. As far as the Pearson being "harder to sail", the only hard part is cranking in the bigass headsail when tacking. The main and mizzen are self-tending. Recent history of previous owners included cruising the Bahamas, Cuba, and Florida from NY home port. The Pearson 365 Ketch is a proven cruiser. They're both nice boats. Lots of luck!

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

Go with what the wife likes.
Happy wife = happy life.

Ditto.

The difference between the two boats is minimal enough for you purposes that it hardly matters. Go with what the wife likes.

[Dockhead]

I spent many years sailing a Pearson 365.

On the plus side:

They are very sturdy and very seaworthy sea boats, go anywhere, any weather. Built like a brickhouse. Very seakindly for their size.

Separate shower is a luxury in a boat this size.

Fantastic deck storage, more than I have on my present 54' boat. The flip side of that is that there is no cabin space aft of the companionway -- that volume is entirely devoted to deck storage and engine space.

Great nav table for a boat that size.

Bulletproof (if leaky) Perkins engine.

Minus:

Old.

Slow as molasses. It's almost more of a motor-sailer, which is how we used it (and there was actually a pilothouse version). The version which replaced this boat has much better sailing performance (Pearson 36-2 I think it's called?).

Because of the very long fin keel, goes in circles if you try to reverse.

Poor engine access. V-drive (ick).

Very short propellor shaft means you can't fit a cutter.

Very small accomodation for a boat this size (not a downside if you only have two or three people on board).


Someone remarked on the fitout's being cheap looking -- maybe there were different versions, but ours looked very nice. A fair amount of bare gel coat inside which is not so nice, but the joinery is more or less as good as anything from that era, barring perhaps Hinckley and simlar, mostly handsome mahogany veneer.