The boat filled a distinct niche as an affordable, diesel-powered auxiliary cruiser. It was aimed at first-time buyers and small-boat sailors moving up to a keelboat with accommodations.
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 more expensive boats. However, every example examined had sloppy fairing at the transom joint, with gelcoat and putty used to finish the area.
The hull is solid fiberglass, with plywood reinforcement in high-stress areas such as the winch mounts and locker tops. The hull-to-deck joint is simple and strong: an internal flange molded at right angles to the hull, covered by a slotted aluminum toerail and through-bolted with stainless steel fasteners at six-inch intervals.
The reviewer found the appearance sterile, largely because of the bone-white-on-bone-white color scheme and the near absence of exterior teak. Hunter offered no hull or deck color options. High freeboard and a tall cabin trunk were considered almost necessary to provide more than six feet of headroom below.
Keel and Underbody
The standard boat carries a narrow, high-aspect lead fin weighing 3,000 pounds. A shoal-draft version uses a shallower 3,200-pound fin, with the extra mass compensating for the change in vertical center of gravity. The deep fin is more efficient, while the two versions offer similar stability.
The keel’s narrow attachment creates considerable leverage on the hull when the boat heels, and some hulls have experienced trouble where the keel meets the hull. The narrow keel attachment places substantial leverage on the hull.
Rig and Sailing Performance
The Hunter 27 has a modern, high-aspect masthead sloop rig. Its deck-stepped, white Kenyon spar stands on a wood compression post, and no compression stress has appeared at the step.
The chainplates are stainless steel U-bolts fitted through the anodized toerail without backing plates. The reviewer criticized this arrangement as inadequate for a primary load path. All headsails sheet to the slotted toerail; there’s no genoa track and no mainsheet traveler. The sheet leads changed during the production run.
A split backstay makes room for a stern boarding ladder and keeps the helmsperson clear of a centerline stay. Despite a 42.86 percent ballast ratio, owners don’t consider the boat stiff. They rate its sailing performance as only fair to good. As the boat heels, it quickly develops weather helm—a trait owners describe as extreme—and the outboard chainplates compromise its windward work.
Motoring performance is no livelier. The boat has just eight horsepower to drive 7,000 pounds of high-sided displacement.
Accommodations
Below, the Hunter 27 is roomy for its length. Headroom is just over six feet beneath the main hatch and nearly five-foot-ten at the forward end of the main cabin.
The forepeak contains a double berth, with a full-width head immediately aft. Newer boats adopted a holding tank, while older examples likely used portable toilets. Settee berths run along both sides of the main cabin and tuck beneath the forward bulkhead. A quarterberth lies to port, with a folding chart table above it. The starboard galley includes a sink, a two-burner alcohol stove, and an icebox.
Ventilation is good on newer boats, which have eight opening ports and two hatches. All the ports open for airflow. Older models have fewer openings, however, and none of the boats provides for heavy-weather ventilation.
The interior is finished with a molded fiberglass headliner, teak bulkheads and trim, and a teak sole. Joinerwork is of fair production quality, and stowage is sensible for short cruises.
Cockpit and Deck Gear
The T-shaped cockpit is one of the boat’s better features. It seats five comfortably, and its high coamings double as backrests. Molded islands hold the sheet winches, though they limit winch size to standard Lewmar 7s.
Wheel steering was standard, with late boats receiving a later Yacht Specialties pedestal. The wheel made the cockpit feel larger and came with an emergency tiller. A lazarette provides excellent access to the steering gear, but it can’t be used for storage. Neither can the starboard seat locker, which houses the aluminum fuel tank secured by a stainless steel strap.
Because the cockpit bulkhead slopes, a dodger is needed if the crew wants ventilation while it’s raining. Later boats adopted European-style pulpits and running lights, along with a good foredeck anchor well that drains through the stem.
Known Issues and Ownership Notes
Beyond the keel-joint and chainplate concerns, owners have reported a Renault shifting attachment that vibrated loose. Separately, owners have reported leaking strut bolts with shaft wear from poor alignment. The fuel system also lacks a grounding jumper between the fill and the tank.
Hunter’s sales pitch emphasized efficient construction and standardization. Every boat was built alike, with customization left to dealers or owners, helping keep prices down. In the 1980s, a new Hunter 27 sat at the bottom of its class on price and remained about the least expensive diesel-powered 27-foot cruiser available.
Verdict
The Hunter 27 is a pragmatic entry into auxiliary cruising. Its hull is honestly built, the interior is roomy for the boat’s length, and purchase prices were low. The trade-offs are limited rig refinement, poor helm balance, and a few structural joints that reward careful inspection during a survey.
Pros
- Fair, printthrough-free solid-fiberglass hull
- Strong hull-to-deck joint beneath the toerail
- Roomy cabin with more than six feet of maximum headroom
- Full-width head
- Standard wheel steering with a supplied emergency tiller
- Lowest-cost diesel-powered 27-foot cruiser of its era
Cons
- Narrow keel attachment places leverage on the hull, with keel-joint problems reported
- U-bolt chainplates have no backing plates
- No mainsheet traveler or genoa track
- Owners report extreme weather helm and only fair-to-good sailing performance
- Underpowered with eight horsepower
- Renault and Yanmar both called weak
