Thoughts on Hunter Cherubini 33 and 36

[texasliam]

We are looking for a coastal cruiser with ambitions of the Caribean some day. Will these boats do the job safely
36 hunter cherubini 81, draft 4'11
33 hunter cherubini quest, draft 4'

Liam

[RTB]

Liam, I sure hope so. Mine is an 82 Cherubini H36. Our plans are similar to yours.

[slomotion]

FWIW, we cruised an '83 Hunter 34 from Florida to South America and back. It performed well, and we only sold her because we wanted a bigger boat.

The old Hunter 33s are excellent performers at all points of sail; they like to be heeled; and they can handle rough conditions without drama. I'm only familiar with the deep draft version, but I doubt it makes much difference. In Good Condition, they can easily take you to Caribbean.

I'm not familiar with the 36 - I think they only made it for a year or two, and I don't think they have an aft berth. The Hunter 37Cs of the same vintage can be very sweet boats. But, with boats of this vintage, it's all about condition.

[RTB]

The 36 was only produced in 80-82. It does have a berth behind the nav station on the starboard side. There is much more info on the 37, and they seem to have a good rep.

My 36 has the Yanmar 3GMD engine, with only 20 hp. It could use more power. But she sails nicely, and is not slow.

[gonesail]

a 30 year old boat will probably be a project in most cases. how big a project depends on what you require and what the PO has done and how well he did it. you may encounter delam and or wood rot problems that need to be addressed. but i am sure many of the older hunters have done the bahamas and caribbean before

[slomotion]

RTB, I stand corrected on the 36's quarter berth. The 34's had an aft cabin with a large double berth, but you still had to kind of slide into it. Otherwise the lines of the 36 look very similar to our 34 - the 36 is a little heavier, but carries more sail. If the sailing characteristics are similar, she is very fast in light winds even when loaded down with cruising gear and she doesn’t need a lot of heeling drama to perform well. The price you pay is a tender boat which needs to be reefed early in stronger winds. But that’s common for fast boats and works well for cruising where sailing comfort is paramount. Because of the swept back shrouds, the 34 could be squirrely sailing down wind with the mainsail up. But unless you’re sailing from the Windwards to the ABCs, you don’t get to do much of that in the Caribbean, and the boat sails just fine under Genoa alone. We also had a 20hp Yanmar - it was mostly OK. I think your 36 could be an excellent platform for Caribbean cruising.

Gonesail is correct. There are plenty of well maintained 30 year old boats out there. But any part of them that is still 30 years old needs special scrutiny - engine, hatches, ports, deck, mast step, tanks, wiring, rigging, etc. All boats need something. Sometimes they’re easy and cheap to fix, sometimes not.

[smik13]

I have a 1980 33' Hunter. Our plans are about the same as texasliam. We're doing work on her now(alitttle paint, maintence on the engine, winches and replace some standing rigging and all the running rigging. We're thinking of putting her in the Gulf this December(hope the hurricane season is not as bad as they're saying).

[Mule]

Cherubini had a passon for cored decks with Balsa. The balsa is built like small squares of tile with a nylon net material holding the chunks of balsa together. Now the material is net side up on the decks and the gaps are not filled so if you have water intrusion anywhere it will run to the low spot. That low spot may change in a boat so you end up with rivers of rot. On a big power boat flybridge, fairly easy to work on it cost me, being my own contractor paying an average of $15 an hour labor to help me renew the 9x13 deck $40 a square foot. A sail boat will be more. I used AC grade plywood and polyester resin. If you go to a yard count on $75 an hour.

The reason I tell you this is that almost without exception you will have this issue on a Cherubini boat. All it takes is a couple of lifeline stancions not bedded properly, a leak around the mast and so on. I would bet almost double the price per sq foot on sail. On a sail boat I would use the plastic honey comb coring product, not plywood.

I looked at Hunter Cherubini sailboats and ended up going with power. the ones I saw looked good and I suspect they were good sailors but they had soft decks. I would run, unless the decks have been redone or unless the price is realllly good. If you find one, through the grace of god that does not have water intrusion, then rebed everything in sight. Were it me I would fabricate and glass mounting blocks to the decks using 5200 then screw into that.

This took a well priced boat and by the time I was done caused me to have spent the purchase price again. I used every trick I knew to save, so beware.

[Christian Van H]

Why are these boats called "Hunter Cherubini"? I doubt very seriously Cherubini had anything to do with their construction...

[slomotion]

Our old Hunter 34 had the dreaded mast step leak/damage issue. When we bought her, the problem had already been fixed by the prior owner with an innovative and probably expensive aluminum beam and epoxy repair of the surrounding deck. This is not an issue, or at least not as serious, for old Hunter 33s and 37Cs because they have keel stepped masts.

As for cored decks in general, it is a common and probably the most common construction method. I doubt that Hunter is any worse at it than most other manufacturers. Obviously, not all Hunters, Cherubini designed or otherwise, have such issues, and I doubt that Hunters are more prone to such problems than other cored deck boats. It is something a surveyor checks for precisely because it is a common problem for many boats, and an old cored deck boat either has soft deck/water intrusion issues or it doesn’t. Whether any given cored deck boat that does not have such issues is that way because of superior construction, effective repair, or the grace of God, is interesting but irrelevant.

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

Why are these boats called "Hunter Cherubini"? I doubt very seriously Cherubini had anything to do with their construction...

I believe John Cherubini designed the hunter models identified as "Cherubini."

[Christian Van H]

So it's like saying "Pacific Seacraft Crealock" or "Challenger Anacapa Carpentier"... no bearing on the construction quality at all...

[texasliam]

How does a cherubini differ from a regular hunter?

Liam

[RTB]

You might check out the very active Hunter Owners website. There is mucho help (and knowledge) there. As far as I know, it's the designer of the boat, to answer your question. I am happy with mine.

Ralph

[Hunter33]

He was the person that design it for hunter marine