Hunter 356 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Henderson produced a hull that comes back very wide at the transom, but most of which is above the waterline, and a special "reflex" design underneath allows the hull to think it's a narrower boat, therefore creating less drag — a mechanism the boat's surprisingly little wake seems to bear out. The fiberglass bottom is reinforced with Kevlar from the stem to the keel sump, a protective forward layup one hopes never to need, and the hull is cored from boot stripe to sheerline with Baltek while the deck is Baltek and plywood-cored fiberglass. The flange is first sealed with 3M's 5200 marine sealant, then is through-bolted, not screwed, on 6 inch centers, with a heavy-duty rubrail track screwed in between and a stainless rubrail put in place. The entire cabin is actually built outside the hull using a modularized cabin construction technique developed by Hunter's parent company, Luhrs Marine Group; three sections are fiberglassed to a grid along the bottom and to each other to form a solid unit.

Rig and Handling

The 356 wears a fractional sloop rig with a 110 percent headsail and roller furling standard on the headsail, plus optional in-mast furling. Hunter's use of two spreaders and reverse diagonals under the B&R rigging eliminates the need for a backstay, lets the lower stays move inboard and the upper stays attach outboard of the walkway, and the strut arrangement allows for a smaller-diameter mast that keeps the center of gravity lower to minimize pitching. A stainless steel arch keeps the cockpit as open as possible and carries the mainsheet attachment close to the end of the boom, while all lines can be worked from the cockpit so the boat can easily be handled by a crew of two. Test sailors found her a spirited boat that handles very well, and the Whitlock steering — a superior rack and pinion system that eliminates the sloppiness of cables — impressed one tester with its tight, responsive feel, much like a sports car.

Accommodations

Below, there's a definite upscale look and feel, with joinery softer and rounder than before, bullnose moldings, detail features and upgraded hardware on the cabinetry, and solid teak woodwork instead of veneers with radiused corners and fiddles. The saloon features an attractive teak and holly sole polished to a high gloss, a convertible dinette that sleeps two and a settee opposite for another guest, plus a double berth forward and a queen-size berth aft in the master suite that takes standard-size sheets and boasts an innerspring mattress. Headroom throughout is a generous 6 feet 5 inches for the most part, the head has a separate stall shower, and storage includes a pair of hanging lockers forward, one aft, and drawers in each sleeping compartment. The galley has an L-shaped Corian countertop, a double basin stainless steel sink, a two-burner propane stove, optional refrigerator and freezer, and teak fiddles sturdy enough to double as handholds; a microwave and pressurized hot and cold water are standard.

Cockpit and Deck Layout

The deck layout has more room than you'd usually find on a boat this size, with generous cockpit storage underneath aft seating and on the transom and a cavernous port-side space sized for optional genset and air conditioning units, a water-maker and extra batteries. A folding cockpit table stows vertically along the centerline, the helm seat flips back to form steps to the transom, and a three-rung telescoping ladder eases water boarding. At the bow, a pair of anchor rollers includes one holding a standard Delta plow anchor and the other for a second anchor, with locker space for an optional windlass and rode. Molded two-tone skid-resistant decking, stainless grabrails, a Windex wind vane and a hot/cold cockpit shower round out the standard equipment.

Known Issues

The documented concern centers on the large lockers on the sugar scoop that drain into the bilge, a path a careful surveyor will want to evaluate for flooding risk. Otherwise, the sealed rudder tube of the drag-link steering system ties deck and hull together with no leaks and no need for a stuffing box, and the composite rudder is impervious to corrosion, lighter and stronger than conventional materials — points that speak to the builder's effort in making the boat safe and easy to work.

The Verdict

The 356 is comfortable for both short and long-distance cruising, and its modular cabin, reflex hull and B&R rig reflect a deliberate step away from earlier Hunters. A choice of two keel depths — a 5 foot shoal draft or a 6 foot 5 inch deep draft — lets buyers balance draft against the stability a shoal keel was designed to deliver.

Pros