Hunter Sailboats, the Florida Builder That Put Americans on the Water

A powerboat family builds sailboats in Florida

Hunter came from the Luhrs family, New Jersey boatbuilders who were turning out more than a thousand powerboats a year by the early 1960s. Warren Luhrs started Hunter in 1973 in Alachua, Florida, building sailboats designed at first by John Cherubini. One of the first was the Hunter 30, a masthead sloop that came ready to sail and stayed in production until 1983, with about 1,000 built. The same family business also produced the Mainship trawlers. When Luhrs stepped back to go offshore racing in the late 1980s, quality and service slipped, and he returned to run the company, lengthened the warranty and hired designer Rob Mazza in 1991.

From the late 1990s Glenn Henderson and the in-house team designed the boats that define Hunter for most buyers today: wide-transom cruisers with big interiors, walk-through transoms and the signature stainless arch carrying the mainsheet over the cockpit.

The B&R rig, the arch and the Hunters we cover

Hunter adopted the B&R rig, with sharply swept spreaders and no backstay, which simplified rigging and allowed a large-roach mainsail. The arch moved the mainsheet out of the cockpit. Purists criticized both, but owners liked the open cockpit and easy handling, and the formula sold in large numbers.

Our three Hunter guides span both eras, and two of them need a warning about names, because Hunter reused model numbers for unrelated boats. The Hunter 30 guide covers the original Cherubini boat of 1973 to 1983, now one of the cheapest 30 foot cruisers on the market; the later 30-2 of 1988 and the 30T are different designs. The Hunter 27 badge was used on four boats: the Cherubini 27 of 1974 to 1984, the fractional 27-2 of 1989, and a Glenn Henderson design built from the mid-2000s to 2013 that is our main focus, with a raced 27X variant and a trailerable 27 Edge motorsailer alongside it. The Henderson 27 squeezes an aft cabin and six feet of headroom into a pocket cruiser with a B&R rig.

The Hunter 33 we cover in detail is the 2004 Henderson design, built in several hundred hulls and later updated as the E33 and Marlow-Hunter 33. It is a very popular first cruising boat in the US because it offers a big interior, a simple rig and a modest price. Read the year and designer on any listing before comparing prices.

Marlow-Hunter, parts support and buying a used Hunter

Hunter filed for Chapter 11 in 2012, and David Marlow of Marlow Yachts bought the company that August, renaming it Marlow-Hunter. Production continued with updated models for more than a decade, but Practical Sailor reports that Hunter boat production stopped in 2024, and the former website no longer belongs to the builder. Owners rely on aftermarket suppliers, rigging shops and active owner groups for parts and advice.

Hunters sell for less than Catalina or Beneteau equivalents, which makes them strong value, provided the survey checks the brand's known weak points.

• Chainplate attachments and deck leaks where shrouds pass through
• B&R rig tension, spreader brackets and swept-spreader shroud condition
• Arch mounting bolts and deck core around the arch feet
• Keel to hull joint and keel bolts, especially after groundings
• Deck core moisture around stanchions and hardware
• Engine hours and exhaust elbow condition on Yanmar diesels
• On 1970s Cherubini boats, mast step support, original wiring and seacocks