Diana's new stemhead fitting

I never liked the three-legged Hunter 25 pulpit and meant to replace it with something cooler from the very start.  This would mean cutting off the 7/8" stainless-steel stud from the stemhead fitting and polishing it over; but as Diana's PO had put her into some kind of close encounter with a piling, the original stemhead fitting was quite mangled and badly restraightened.  So I determined to make a new one.

I designed a very nice replacement part for this but found no one to make it at a reasonable price.  Then I happened to stumble across one on the Racelite web page and ordered it.  Though the dimensions on the site represented an adequate part, the actual thing seemed to represent them only nominally-- the thickness was not a true 1/8" and the length was entirely too short.  Rather typically I sat on this problem for over a year, working on other things, while I contemplated some solution.

Finally I ordered some flat stock, cut it to length, and sent it out to the local welders' with a pattern of the correct angle.  The part I received was simply beautiful.  I have begun to polish it and will finish it off before it's permanently installed.

 

You can see how the original part was only about 60 percent as long as it needed to be along the stem.  The flat stock welded to the part effectively doubles the thickness for the first three holes.  It is true that the tang for the forestay is still of the thin (original) stock; but as it's already thicker than were the shroud tangs I'll install it as it is and see if, as the rig is tuned, I get any elongation of the hole.  If that will be the case (which I doubt) I'll have it remedied with more welding.  As this Racelite part is meant for 20-to'22-footers, and as it's already meant to carry the load of 1/4" clevis pins, I'm betting it won't ever be a problem.

 

In this pic I have set the part on the bow to check the fit.  Thanks to my template the welder's work resulted in a perfect fit. You will see the gap behind the very top of the fitting-- this requires attention.  If I were to mount this as-is, two things would happen: Diana's J measurement (foot of the headsail) would be longer than that of a stock Hunter 25 by about 7/8"; and the natural stresses of a tuned and ruggedly-used rig would attempt to bend the fitting aftwards, putting the single screw through the deck into a shear load, and some distortion would occur.  This is why it is never wise to suspend rigging attachments over air, as would be done here.  I will fabricate a little block for in this gap, just something to support the compression load, and 'glass or epoxy it into place prior to paint and prior to attaching this fitting.

The horizontal pencil lines are marking where the mounting holes will go.  Only one of the original holes lined up.  I have a mahogany backing block for this, to be bedded in 5200 inside, and will drill new holes for the 1/4-20 hex-head cap screws.  Hex-heads are best for this sort of thing because you can put a ratchet and socket on each one and really tune them well.  Large-scale Phillips and, worse, slotted-head screws are really kind of pointless after a while.  A larger screw implies a larger load which means installation torque matters more.  No one can apply appropriate torque with a screwdriver handle.  I think the only reason people dislike hex-headed cap screws is because they make the boat look like Frankenstein's monster.  Personally, I like the look.  It's its own aesthetic.

The evident damage to the bow was from the PO.  The starboard-side toerail was cut to facilitate the fiberglass repair and reattached.  Coincidentally, this piece will have to be cut down to accommodate the anchor roller.  I'll fill the seam in the toerail with black 4000-UV to minimize the appearance of a crack.  Much of the old fiberglass repair was faired over with 3M filler (the grayer stuff).  The darker brown-olive is raw fiberglass from my sanding.  I have filled all the imperfections with both Evercoat 27 and epoxy and after painting with epoxy paint (Perfection or Brightside) this won't be visible or vulnerable.

The brown thing above the deck is the work-order tag from the welders'.  Mistakenly they wrote it up as being for my cousin Dave's shop; but this was my project and I contracted and paid for it.  (This happens a lot, actually.)

Sales pitch #1

If any other H25 owner is interested in having one of these parts, I will be happy to supply it.  It does, however, require a 4-legged pulpit; though I'd consider that an improvement.  I've designed an updated bow rail for Diana, along the lines of a J27's, complete with step-through end, varnished-mahogany seat/step with nonskid, and mount for Aqua Signal running light; though I'll be installing a plain-Jane castoff pulpit from another boat for the short term.

Sales pitch #2

Yes; the boat beside Diana, evident in one of these pics, is one of her sisters-- in this case a fellow February 1974 boat, this one the later trunk cabin/pop-top model.  They are both of the same series, Diana being number 027 and the other boat being 140.  At that time Hunter had two production lines of H25s at their Marlboro, New Jersey, plant; and I believe that the "0" signified the period's production series of "blister-canopy" or "flush-deck" models and the "1" signified the trunk-cabin models. If these boats were not on the production floor at the same time, they are probably not more than two weeks apart in age.

I have been referring to this other boat as "the sweet sister" and  hope to enter negotiations with her owner to take over her care and to restore her-- for she is still, even with an inadequate cover, in better condition than Diana was when I first found her and would represent a pretty easy, quick and profitable "quick fix" and resale.  She'll need some deck-core repair, paint, new cushions and upholstery, lifelines and probably cordage; and I do not know if there is an engine available.  But it wouldn't take much more than that for her to go sailing again.  As soon as Diana goes in I will have this boat shrink-wrapped and set a dehumidifier in her, to help preserve her.  Anyone interested is welcome to get in touch.

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What it's supposed to look like....

These illustrations are from an early brochure done by Hunter marketing based on my dad's 1972 drawings of the Mk-1 Hunter 25.

My dad's idea was to have windows like an airplane, aluminum frames having the right shape and then just installed in the cabinsides. John Luhrs later thought it was best to use the same commercially-available portlights all other boatbuilders used; and the design went downhill from there.

It was my idea to extend the settee berths under the bulkhead-- I had seen it on some more-obscure boat before. By doing this we got a 5-berth 25-footer that still has a decent cockpit.

The wrap-around coaming was my dad's idea but we all (Bob Seidelmann, my brother, Warren Luhrs, my dad and I) contributed to it. It is good-looking, if awkward functionally, except for at the back where it finishes off the cockpit very well.

The semi-flush deck (cabinsides tapering into nothing ahead of the mast) made my dad call this initial edition the 'blister-canopy' (as with the Supermarine Spitfire) or the 'bubble-top' (what they called the North American P-51C with Malcolm hood). Once a fighter pilot, always a fighter pilot....

The rig is tall and the boom short, typical for an IOR-influenced boat of this period-- it's technically high-aspect. The narrow stern is an IOR feature as well, meant to get the smallest-possible girth measurements to 'defeat' the rule. Still the boat rates 19.4, not 18.0; and so it is not a quarter-tonner.

The narrow stern actually makes the boat appear and behave very much like a double-ender, being responsible for the boat taking a following sea rather well and leaving the water close to the way it found it (if the outboard is not too heavy or kept down).

Notice that the mainsheet in this drawing goes straight down to where Diana's bridgedeck-mounted traveler goes. ;) Also the plan drawing appears to indicate a bridge deck, which was not as-built.

I just noticed that this drawing shows the deck having scalloped handrails, not those little teak sticks that went on production boats. They also appear to extend a little too far forward. By some bizarre coincidence (for I did not examine this before I made them!) the handrails for Diana look exactly like the ones in this drawing.

The parallelogram keel is a sign of the times (1972). In 1974 it would have had a vertical trailing edge. The semi-skeg in front of the rudder is as well; in 1976 my dad would eliminate all but a minor dimple there on the Raider and by 1978 he had said he should have done without it entirely.

Other than this, the Raider 33 looks like a direct descendant of the Hunter 25. Both boats are noted for early heeling, stability once heeled, good pointing ability and the tendency to be driven hard by the jib (throttle) and steadied by the main (shock absorber). I call this a 'hellandback' boat, because that's where it'll take you.

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