Hunter 28 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Hunter Marine built the 28 predominantly of fiberglass, with a winged, bulbous keel cast in lead. The deck is bolted to the hull on a horizontal flange joint with fasteners spaced every three inches, and the interior carries a complete fiberglass liner that period survey found well executed — Hunter had, by this 1991 example, finally got the structural grid liner right. That liner sits over a sole angled at 45 degrees, which does the boat no favors below. The bow pulpit leg bases are poorly designed and show considerable crazing in the gelcoat around them. The hull bottom itself was badly blistered on the surveyed boat, and the internally mounted spade rudder exhibited large soft spots — both items a buyer should treat as real, not theoretical, weaknesses of the class.

Rig and Handling

The 28 wears a fractional sloop rig, specifically a 3/4 rig rather than a full-head configuration, with the mast stepped on deck. The standing rigging is extraordinarily light: upper shrouds are only 0.20 inch wire and lowers with the wishbone backstay a mere 0.15 inch. Roller furling fitted to the boat could not be tensioned adequately because the rig was too lightly built to carry the load. Under sail she proved unusually tender, a characteristic the winged lead keel did nothing to suppress. Steering is by a wheel — a large 30 inch destroyer wheel — set in a cockpit whose sheet winch islands slope steeply outboard with no horizontal surface, and which lacks any raised coamings to lean against.

Accommodations

Below, the standup space is only 20 inches wide by 5 feet long, set on that sharply angled sole. The so-called aft cabin is a cave behind the engine with a cushion on the floor, entered across the same steeply canted surface. The main cabin's aft-facing U-shaped settee has a seat too narrow to sit on comfortably, and cushions throughout are vinyl over foam rubber. The head is the worst of it: its sole sits above the turn of the bilge and is steeply angled, and the toilet is so low that one has to fall down onto it rather than sit at normal height. In a 1998 review, marine surveyor David Pascoe criticized the aft cabin, head, dinette, reverse transom, swim platform, rigging dimensions, deck hatch, cockpit dimensions around the wheel, winch mounting, lack of back support, keel, fiberglass quality, and engine mounts as a connected litany of faults.

Known Issues

Beyond the blistering hull bottom and soft rudder already noted, the surveyed boat showed engine mounts so soft and loose that the Yanmar diesel oscillated by as much as 1/2 inch when started. There are no engine gauges, the control panel sits low in the cockpit, and the plastic throttle lever on the pedestal bends easily in the hand. The hull-recessed swim platform, a nice feature on larger boats, is misapplied on a 28 footer, and the boat has no lifeline gate, forcing crew to climb over the wires. The very small deck hatch makes stowing a sail difficult, and the bow anchor locker is one of the few well-designed details in the whole layout.

The Verdict

The Hunter 28 is a racer-cruiser that chases interior volume and a shallow wing keel at the expense of seaworthiness and livability. Her liner and deck joint are competently done, and her beam gives a wide platform, but the tender motion, featherweight rig, and cramped, poorly planned cabin make her a hard sell against the Catalina 28 or Pearson 28-2 for cruising use. She is out of production and best approached as a budget day-sailer or club racer with eyes open to the structural and mechanical frailties.

Pros