Hunter 43 Legend Buyer's Guide
The Hunter 43 Legend is a late-1980s Hunter Marine cruiser built from late 1989 to 1992 and later reworked into the Hunter 430, and on the used market it shows up mostly as a three-cabin boat with a charter past on some examples. Shoppers will find a 42-foot-6-inch fiberglass sloop with a shallow wing keel, a double-spreader fractional rig, and a layout built around comfortable cruising rather than racing minimalism. Knowing which layouts and upgrades are common, and what to inspect, makes the difference between a tidy purchase and a neglected one.
Layouts on the Used Market
Owner three-cabin arrangements are the more common version afloat, though both layouts are available, and ex-charter Legends are common. The familiar plan puts a V-berth forward, an aft double with a private head, and a third stateroom with bunk beds that owners consistently praise; a second head sits off the saloon, and some boats hide a porta-potti under the bunk cushions. Headroom is 6 feet 6 inches, the sole is teak and holly, and light comes from skylights and seven opening hatches. The T-shaped cockpit is roomy with deep seats and transom lockers, and the walk-through transom leads to a swim platform. A propane galley to port, a nav station in the third-cabin boats, and a wheel-steered binnacle round out the cruising interior.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Chartplotters, autopilots, biminis, and dodgers are commonly fitted and form the baseline navigational and weather protection a buyer should expect. Often-seen additions include an inverter, hot water, radar, a swim platform, and a cockpit shower, which together signal a boat set up for extended stays on the hook. Less common, and usually owner-installed, are air conditioning, heating, solar, a spinnaker, and electric winches; treat those as bonuses rather than standard. For a shopper, the meaningful clusters are power and energy — inverter and sometimes solar supporting refrigeration and outlets — and canvas and sail handling, where a bimini, dodger, and the standard roller furler and full-batten main define day-to-day ease.
What to Inspect
The structural claim that matters is the bonded full-length internal frame and stringer system, with chainplates anchored to that frame and deck hardware through-bolted with backing plates, so check for rig-load staining or movement around chainplates and hardware. The shallow bulb-wing keel drawing less than five feet deserves a close look for grounding damage given the draft. Because fresh-water capacity is not uniform and runs from 120 to 190 gallons across individual boats, with some fitted with a 75-gallon tank forward, two 45-gallon tanks, and a 25-gallon tank, verify tankage condition and any past repairs. The propane galley appliances and Corian counters should be tested in use, and the third head under the bunk cushions inspected for leakage.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The typical market for these boats is the United States. For a buyer, the short checklist is: confirm the three-cabin layout and head arrangement you want, verify the Yanmar 4JH2-E or earlier 40 hp Yanmar service history, inspect the frame-anchored chainplates and through-bolted deck hardware, and confirm the commonly fitted chartplotter, autopilot, bimini, and dodger are present and working. A used Hunter 43 Legend that passes those points is a rigid, shorthanded-friendly cruiser with genuine volume below.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Hunter 43 Legend. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 15 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 25 | 1 | $17,500 | — |
| Feb 25 | 3 | $84,900 | +385.1% |
| Mar 25 | 1 | $18,000 | -78.8% |
| Apr 25 | 1 | $32,000 | +77.8% |
| May 25 | 1 | $84,900 | +165.3% |
| Aug 25 | 7 | $49,900 | -41.2% |
| Sep 25 | 2 | $47,950 | -3.9% |
| Nov 25 | 3 | $46,900 | -2.2% |
| Dec 25 | 1 | $70,000 | +49.3% |
| Feb 26 | 3 | $84,900 | +21.3% |
| Mar 26 | 2 | $50,000 | -41.1% |
| Apr 26 | 3 | $67,900 | +35.8% |
| May 26 | 3 | $49,500 | -27.1% |
| Jun 26 | 2 | $42,450 | -14.2% |
| Aug 26 | 5 | $59,900 | +41.1% |
Where they're listed
Hunter 43 Legend listings appear across 1 country. United States has the most listings with 23.
Country view
23 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $49,900 | 23 | 6 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
10 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robertson and Caine 43 | 42.49' | $ 299,997 | 70 | 21 |
| Jeanneau Sun Sun Odyssey 43 | 43.34' | $ 110,701 | 63 | 7 |
| Hunter Marine 35.5 Legend | 35.58' | $ 36,450 | 58 | 8 |
| Hunter 40.5 Legend | 40.17' | $ 69,000 | 52 | 17 |
| Hunter 37.5 Legend | 37' | $ 49,900 | 47 | 6 |
| Hunter 37 Legend | 37.5' | $ 35,000 | 33 | 7 |
| Hunter 43 LegendYou are here | — | $ 49,900 | 25 | 7 |
| Marlow-Hunter 36 Legend | 35.73' | $ 78,777 | 13 | 6 |
| Marlow-Hunter 40 | 41.25' | $ 186,000 | 13 | 7 |
| Catalina Morgan 43 | 43' | $ 55,000 | 5 | 3 |