Hunter 270 Buyer's Guide
The Hunter 270 is a trailerable American cruiser built from 2000 to 2006 as the direct successor to the Hunter 26/260, with roughly 400 hulls produced by Hunter Marine. On the used market she presents as a compact weekender whose defining trait is a 2,000-pound water-ballast system: empty she draws 1 foot 9 inches and trails behind most mid-size SUVs, full she draws 6 feet and is documented as stiff. Shoppers will encounter a backstay-less B&R fractional rig, a walk-through transom, and an interior laid out for a family of four or five.
Layouts on the Used Market
Used Hunter 270s follow the production interior without documented alternative layouts. The cabin provides standing headroom throughout, extended by a pop-top adding 6 inches, a private forward V-berth, a huge aft athwartships double berth under the cockpit, an enclosed head with shower, and a full galley with two-burner stove and icebox. Above deck the larger cockpit with wheel steering carries a folding helm seat, and the full walk-through transom integrates a swim platform and boarding ladder. The sugar-scoop transom and 8-foot 11-inch beam are consistent across the build run.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
The boat's as-built equipment centers on the backstay-less B&R fractional rig with swept spreaders, a large roachy fully battened mainsail of about 170 square feet, and a roller-furling 110–135% jib. An asymmetrical spinnaker on a retractable bowsprit is part of the documented sail inventory, as is a 150% drifter. Because the market brief is silent on fitted-equipment tiers, no item should be assumed commonly fitted beyond the rig and transom architecture described; upgrades such as electronics or davits would be owner-level and not attributable to the model standard.
What to Inspect
The available documentation records no model-specific structural defect, drainage fault, or flooding path for the 270. Inspect the water-ballast system operation since the boat's stiffness and 6-foot full draft depend on tank integrity and fill capability. Verify the walk-through transom sealing and boarding ladder mounts, and confirm the B&R rig's swept-spreader attachments and the retractable bowsprit for the asymmetrical spinnaker. No quantified defect measurement or safety-relevant known issue is documented for this model in the source material.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The available documentation notes active owner groups on both coasts and the Great Lakes; no regional availability beyond that is documented. For a shopper, the 270 rewards verification of the ballast tanks and transom seals over any cosmetic rigging concern.
- Confirm water-ballast tanks fill, hold, and drain; stiffness depends on them
- Check walk-through transom and swim-platform ladder for seal and mount integrity
- Inspect B&R swept-spreader rigging and retractable bowsprit function
- Verify pop-top mechanism and standing-headroom enclosure condition
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
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| Hunter Marine 31 | 31.33' | $ 22,500 | 69 | 17 |
| Catalina 270 | 28.33' | $ 26,224 | 53 | 19 |
| Hunter 29.5 | 29.5' | $ 24,900 | 35 | 9 |
| Hunter Marine 310 | 30.83' | $ 35,000 | 28 | 8 |
| Hunter 280 | 27.75' | $ 24,756 | 16 | 5 |
| Marlow-Hunter 28 | 28.01' | $ 17,718 | 15 | 7 |
| Marlow-Hunter 320 | 31.58' | $ 48,000 | 13 | 6 |
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