The Hunter HC 50 is an American

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

that was designed by the

Hunter Design Team Hunter Marine is an American boat builder, now known as Marlow-Hunter, LLC, owned by David E. Marlow. The company also produces the Mainship powerboat brand. Marlow also owns and manufactures the Marlow Yachts brand consisting of long rang ...

as a "long distance express cruiser" and first built in 2000. The HC 50 is a development of the one-off racers ''Hunter's Child'' and ''Route 66'', with a design goal of producing a fast cruising sailboat. The ''HC'' designation is an acknowledgment of its design ancestry. The design designation can be confused with the

Hunter 50 CC The Marlow-Hunter 50 Center Cockpit, also called the Marlow-Hunter 50CC is an American sailboat that was designed by the Hunter Design Team as a cruiser and first built in 2010. The design was originally marketed by Hunter Marine as the Hunter ...

of 2009 and the Hunter 50 AC of 2010.

Production

The design was built by Hunter Marine in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

starting in 2000, but it is now out of production.

Design

The Hunter HC 50 is a recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

, built predominantly of vacuum bag moulded

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, with a foam-core deck. It has a cutter rig, a

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a walk-through open

reverse transom A transom is the vertical reinforcement which strengthens the stern of a boat. This flat termination of the stern is typically above the waterline. The term was used as far back as Middle English in the 1300s, having come from Latin ''transvers ...

with a swimming platform and folding ladder, an internally mounted spade-type

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

and a fixed fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. It displaces and carries of lead ballast in the keel and also of

flooding water ballast A trailer sailer is a type of sailboat that has been designed to be easily transported using a boat trailer towed by an automobile. They are generally larger than a sailing dinghy.Royce, Patrick M.: ''Royces Sailing Illustrated'', pages 52-57. Del ...

in each of two lateral tanks, filled with electric pumps. The design has stand-up headroom below decks. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel fitted. The boat is fitted with a Japanese

Yanmar is a Japanese diesel engine, heavy machinery and agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in Osaka, Japan in 1912. Yanmar manufactures and sells engines used in a wide range of applications, including seagoing vessels, pleasure boats, cons ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

of or optionally of , both with 90 degree sail drives and folding propellers. The fuel tank holds and the fresh water tank has a capacity of . Factory standard equipment included a fully battened

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot i ...

, 95%

roller furling Roller furling is a method of furling (i.e. reefing) a yacht's staysail by rolling the sail around a stay. Roller furling is typically used for foresails such as jibs or genoas. A mainsail may also be furled by a similar system, whereby the ...

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...

on the inner forestay, hank-on light-wind headsail, gear for an

asymmetrical spinnaker An asymmetrical spinnaker is a sail used when sailing downwind. Also known as an "asym", "aspin", or "A-sail" it can be described as a cross between a genoa jib and a spinnaker. It is asymmetric like a genoa, but, the asymmetrical spinnaker is not ...

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

mast tripod support,

mainsheet traveler A traveller is a part of the rigging of a boat or ship that provides a moving attachment point for a rope, sail or yard to a fixed part of the vessel. It may take the form of anything from a simple ring on a metal bar or a spar to, especially in a ...

mounted on a stainless steel arch, eight opening deck hatches, four two-speed self tailing winches, stanchions mounting triple lifelines, anodized spars, fixed bowsprit with an anchor roller and electric windlass, stern "picnic" anchor locker, hot and cold water transom shower, a gimbaled nav station, fully enclosed Head (watercraft), head with shower, private forward and dual aft cabins, a dinette table, dual sinks, two-burner gimbaled liquid petroleum gas stove and oven, refrigerator and freezer, a water-maker, a fog bell and six life jackets. Factory options included a carbon fiber mast, Ship's wheel, wheel steering, a knotmeter, GPS, radar, autopilot, depth sounder, air conditioning, electric halyard winch and a bimini top. The design has a hull speed of .

Operational history

The HC 50 was named ''Cruising World's'' Best Performance Cruiser for 2001, describing it as "a boat that brings such offshore-racing innovations as water ballast and a gimballed nav station into a cruising context."

References

External links

Official brochure
{{Hunter Marine Keelboats 2000s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Sailboat type designs by Hunter Design Team Sailboat types built by Hunter Marine

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links