Design and Construction
Lee’s hand is the through-line of the 490’s story. He designed the Squib — a one-time Olympic Keel Boat also sold as the Hunter 19 — as well as the Hunter Europa and Hunter 701, and the 490 sits among the several Hunters he produced for the renamed firm before mid-decade. The hull itself is a solid-fiberglass monohull carrying 300 pounds of iron ballast and a total displacement of 1,000 pounds, with a 6.59-foot beam and a lifting keel that swings from 3.25-foot maximum draft to 1.51 feet. That ballast-to-displacement ratio of 30 percent, paired with a capsize screen of 2.64, marks her as a small, comparatively well-weighted day-cruiser rather than a lightly ballasted runabout.
Rig and Handling
The 490 is rigged as a fractional sloop with 118 square feet of working sail, split between a 6.50-square-meter mainsail and a 4.65-square-meter jib. Period commentary characterizes these boats as very quick, capable, safe small cruisers that can give most of the competition a clean pair of heels — a verdict consistent with Lee’s racing-yacht pedigree and the boat’s low 5.01-knot hull speed coupled to a modest wetted surface. The lifting keel extends her reach into shallow creeks at 1.51 feet yet firms her up offshore at full 3.25-foot draft, a flexibility that suits the sheltered estuaries and tidal rivers where such a tender naturally lives.
Accommodations
Below, the 490 is honest about her size: the cabin provides berths for two or three people within a 4.9-meter length and 2.01-meter beam. There is no pretense of a third cabin or standing headroom estate; the boat is a weekender for a couple with a child or a third occasional crew, and the lifting keel’s trunk necessarily shapes the saloon footprint. What she trades in volume she returns in trailability and the ease of a shallow-draft shore landing.
The Verdict
The Hunter 490 is a small, well-ballasted lifting-keel cruiser with a racing-influenced pedigree and a reputation for surprising speed in company. She is best understood as a characterful estuary and coast dayboat rather than a miniature offshore passagemaker, and her scarcity in absolute numbers only adds to the appeal for a buyer seeking something distinct from the ubiquitous later Hunters.
Pros
- Lifting keel gives 1.51-foot shallow draft yet 3.25-foot ballast-backed stability
- Quick, capable handling credited by period review against larger competition
- Drawn by Oliver Lee, a noted model-racing and Olympic-class talent
Cons
- Only 4.9 meters long with berths for just two or three — minimal cruising space
- Production said to have been 80 hulls with sail numbers observed only to 41, so real counts are uncertain
