Hunter 27 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Practical Sailor's survey found the hull molding fair and free of roving printthrough, with good gelcoat and finish quality that bettered many costlier boats anchor. The layup is solid fiberglass with plywood reinforcement in high-stress zones such as winch mounts and locker tops, and the hull-to-deck joint is a simple, strong arrangement: an internal flange molded at right angles to the hull, covered by a slotted aluminum toerail through-bolted with stainless steel at six-inch intervals. The sterility the reviewer noted comes from a bone-white-on-bone-white scheme and almost no external teak, with no hull or deck color options offered. High freeboard and a tall cabin trunk were deemed almost necessary to claim over six feet of headroom. One consistent blemish was sloppy fairing of the transom joint with gelcoat and putty on every example examined.

Keel and Underbody

The underbody carries a narrow, high-aspect lead fin of 3,000 pounds on the standard version, with a shoal-draft variant using a shallower 3,200-pound fin whose extra mass compensates for the shifted vertical center of gravity. The deep fin is more efficient, and stability between the two is similar. That narrow attachment, however, generates considerable leverage on the hull when the boat heels anchor, and some hulls have seen trouble at the junction where the keel meets the hull.

Rig and Handling

The Hunter 27 is a modern, high-aspect masthead sloop with a deck-stepped white Kenyon spar on a wood compression post, and no compression stress has shown at the step. Chainplates are stainless U-bolts through the anodized toerail with no backing plates—a choice the reviewer criticized as poor for a primary load path. The rig sheets all headsails to the slotted toerail with no genoa track and no mainsheet traveler, and the leads were altered during the production run. A split backstay permits a stern boarding ladder and keeps the helmsperson clear of a centerline stay. Under sail, owners do not regard her as stiff despite a 42.86 percent ballast ratio, and describe performance as only fair to good; she rapidly acquires weather helm as she heels, a fault owners call extreme, while outboard chainplates compromise windward work. With just eight horsepower against 7,000 pounds of high-sided displacement, motoring is no sprightly affair either.

Accommodations

Below, the Hunter 27 is a roomy boat for her length. Headroom reaches just over six feet under the main hatch and nearly five-foot-ten at the main cabin's forward end. The forepeak holds a double berth, aft of which is a full-width head; newer boats adopted a holding tank while older ones likely used portables. Settee berths run port and starboard and tuck under the forward bulkhead, a quarterberth lies to port with a folding chart table above, and the starboard galley carries a sink, two-burner alcohol stove, and icebox. Ventilation is strong in newer boats with eight opening ports and two hatches, all ports opening for airflow, though older models have fewer and no provision exists for heavy-weather ventilation. The cabin finishes with a molded glass headliner, teak bulkheads and trim, and a teak sole, with joinerwork of fair production quality and sensible stowage for short cruises.

Cockpit and Deck Gear

The T-shaped cockpit is among the boat's better features, comfortable for five with high coamings doubling as backrests and molded sheet-winch islands that unfortunately cap at standard Lewmar 7s for size. Wheel steering, standard and later Yacht Specialties pedestal on late models, enlarged the perceived space and came with an emergency tiller and excellent lazarette access to the steering gear—though that locker and the starboard seat locker (housing the aluminum fuel tank on a stainless strap) are unusable for storage. The sloping cockpit bulkhead means a dodger is needed to ventilate in rain. A switch to European-style pulpits and running lights, plus a good foredeck anchor well draining through the stem, marked later builds.

Known Issues and Ownership Notes

Beyond the keel joint and chainplate concerns, owners have reported a Renault shifting attachment vibrating loose and, separately, leaking strut bolts with shaft wear from poor alignment. The fuel system lacks a grounding jumper between fill and tank. The builder's own pitch stressed construction efficiency and standardization—every boat built alike with dealer- or owner-level customization—to hold prices down, and a new Hunter 27 in the '80s sat at the bottom of its class cost-wise, remaining about the cheapest diesel 27-foot cruiser available.

The Verdict

The Hunter 27 is a pragmatic entry into auxiliary cruising: honestly built in the hull, roomy for its size, and cheap to acquire, but compromised in rig refinement, helm balance, and a few structural joints that reward a careful survey.

Pros