The Hunter 28.5 Sailboat

The lack of a backstay on this Hunter 28.5 sailboat tells us that it sports a B&R (Lars Bergström and Sven Ridder) rig.

'Scirocco', a Hunter 28.5 cruising boat

Published Specification for the Hunter 28.5

Hull Type: Fin keel with spade rudder

Hull Material: GRP (fibreglass)

Length Overall: 28' 5" / 8.7m

Waterline Length: 23' 9" / 7.2m

Beam: 10' 6" / 3.2m

Draft: 5' 2" / 1.6m

Rig Type: B&R

Displacement: 7,000lb / 3,175kg

Sail Area/Displacement Ratio: 17.5

Displacement/Length Ratio: 233

Designer: Hunter Design

Builder: Hunter Marine (USA)

Year First Built: 1985

Year Last Built: 1988

Number Built: not known

Owners Association: The Hunter Association

Published Design Ratios for the Hunter 28.5

Sail Area/Displacement Ratio: 17.5

Ballast/Displacement Ratio: 42.9

Displacement/Length Ratio: 233

Comfort Ratio: 18.8

Capsize Screening Formula: 2.2

Summary Analysis of Published Design Ratios for the Hunter 28.5

1. A Sail Area/Displacement Ratio of 17.5 suggests that the Hunter 28.5 will, in the right conditions, approach her maximum hull speed readily and satisfy the sailing performance expectations of most cruising sailors.

2. A Ballast/Displacement Ratio of 42.9 means that the Hunter 28.5 will stand up well to her canvas in a blow, helping her to power through the waves.

3. A Displacement/Length Ratio of 233, tells us the Hunter 28.5 is a moderate displacement cruiser, which means she'll carry all your cruising gear without it having a dramatic effect on her performance. Most of today's sailboats intended for offshore cruising fall into this displacement category.

4. Ted Brewer's Comfort Ratio of 18.8 suggests that crew comfort of a Hunter 28.5 in a seaway is similar to what you would associate with the motion of a coastal cruiser with moderate stability, which is not encouraging news for anyone prone to seasickness.

5. The Capsize Screening Formula (CSF) of 2.2 indicates that a Hunter 28.5 would not be the wisest choice of sailboat for ocean passage-making owing to the lower resistance to capsize in strong winds and heavy seas that is associated with similar sailboats with a CSF of 2.0 and above.

More about the Hunter 28.5...

The Hunter 28.5 is rigged as a sloop with a split backstay and a B&R rig, which means that it has no backstay and uses swept-back spreaders to support the mast. The mast is deck-stepped and has a height of 12.6m (41.33 ft) above the waterline. The sail area is 36.9m² (397 sq ft), with a mainsail of 16m² (172 sq ft) and a genoa of 21m² (226 sq ft).

Hunter 28.5 Accommodation Layout

The boat is powered by an inboard diesel engine with a power of around 15 hp. The fuel tank has a capacity of 42 l (11 gal) and the water tank has a capacity of 102 l (27 gal).

The boat has a hull speed of 7.4 kn (8.5 mph) and a PHRF rating of around 180, which means that it is moderately fast and competitive in its class.

Accommodation
The Hunter 28.5 has a spacious and comfortable interior that can accommodate up to six people. The layout consists of:

A V-berth cabin forward with storage lockers and shelves.

A head compartment to port with a marine toilet, sink, shower, and storage.

A hanging locker to port aft of the head.

A saloon with a U-shaped dinette to port that converts into a double berth, and a settee to starboard that can be used as a single berth.

A navigation station to starboard aft of the settee with a chart table, electrical panel, and instruments.

A galley to port aft of the dinette with a two-burner stove, sink, icebox, and storage.

A private aft cabin to port with a double berth and storage.

The boat has plenty of natural light and ventilation from several opening ports and hatches. The cabin sole is made of teak and holly wood, which adds warmth and elegance to the interior.

Hull and Deck
The Hunter 28.5 has a fiberglass hull and deck with wood trim. The hull shape is round-bottomed with a raked stem and a reverse transom. The keel is either a fixed fin keel or an optional shoal draft wing keel, both made of lead. The rudder is an internally-mounted spade-type rudder that is controlled by a wheel in the cockpit.

The deck is wide and flat, with non-skid surfaces for safety and ease of movement. The cockpit is large and comfortable, with high coamings, cushioned seats, and storage lockers. The helm station has an instrument pod, engine controls, compass, and cup holders.

The deck hardware includes two self-tailing two-speed jib sheet winches, two halyard winches on the cabin top, traveler on the arch above the companionway, genoa tracks and cars on the side decks, bow pulpit, stern rail, stanchions, lifelines, anchor roller, anchor locker, cleats, chocks, handrails, swim ladder, etc.

The boat comes standard with a 110% genoa on roller furling system and a mainsail with two reef points on lazy jack system.

The above text was drafted by sailboat-cruising.com using GPT-4 (OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model) as a research assistant to develop source material; we believe it to be accurate to the best of our knowledge.