2007 Hunter 41 Deck Salon "INVICTUS", Emeryville, CA (Alameda County)

Measure the actual draft at the haulout, loaded as she floats. Is it 6.50ft or more?

Your gate is 6.5ft and this boat is quoted at exactly 6.5ft, so there is zero margin — and a boat loaded for a year's cruising floats deeper than a spec sheet says.

Can the seller produce any prior survey, insurance condition report or the boat's full maintenance and invoice file?

The cheapest information in the entire process — it would collapse the rigging, sail, engine-hours and deck-rot questions simultaneously, and it costs a phone call.

What sails are actually included, who made them, what year were they built, and are they laminate or Dacron? Is the mainsail slab-reefed or the optional in-mast furler?

The listing gives no sail inventory at all, so nearly $20k of the required list is currently an assumption — and the furling-versus-slab answer separately decides whether the in-mast jam risk exists on this boat.

When was the standing rigging last replaced, and is there an invoice? If it is original 2007 wire, say so plainly.

The largest single required-offshore line item, and at 21 years by departure it is well past the published 10-12 year service life and may make the boat uninsurable for the passage.

Will an underwriter quote a San Francisco to Brisbane passage on a 2007 Hunter 41 DS with a two-person crew, and what will they require — rigging age, storm covers over the saloon windows, liferaft, minimum crew experience?

Insurers set the real refit scope on production boats of this type, and a deck salon with a B&R rig is exactly the profile an offshore underwriter asks hard questions about — better to know before the offer than after.

Will the seller permit a full moisture-meter survey of the deck with the boat hauled — and specifically the area forward of the galley, the arch feet, and around every hatch frame and stanchion base?

Deck rot forward of the galley is an owner-reported pattern on this exact model, and it is both the largest financial risk here and the one a survey can settle outright.

Is the deck cored, and with what — balsa, foam, or solid laminate in the fitting areas? And is the hull solid GRP throughout?

I could not establish this from any source, and it is the difference between the deck-rot risk being a nuisance and being a re-core; it also sets how every deck fitting should be rebedded.

What are the engine hours, and what service records exist? Read the hour meter and photograph it, and confirm the meter has never been replaced.

The listing omits engine hours entirely, which is the largest single information gap in this file — it is the difference between a mid-life 4JH4E and one needing replacement before an ocean passage.

Put a magnet on the keel: lead or iron? And has the boat ever been grounded, when were the keel bolts last inspected or torqued, and is there anything at the keel-hull joint?

2007 should be the last lead year before Hunter moved to iron, which is materially better for a long voyage — and at 6.5ft in San Francisco Bay, grounding history is not a hypothetical question.

Has this boat ever been transported by road, and has the traveller arch ever been removed and reinstalled? Are the aft interior bulkhead top corners sound?

Owners of this model report that an arch removed for transport leaks and rots the aft bulkhead — one yes/no answer moves an $18k risk a long way in either direction.

Are the deck-salon panes bonded to the cabin side or mechanically fastened into frames, and can storm covers be fitted without cutting new structure?

This single construction fact decides whether resealing is a maintenance job or a fabrication job, and whether the boat can be made defensible against a knockdown at all.

Does the boat leak anywhere in heavy Bay Area winter rain, and have any hatches, ports or salon windows ever been rebedded?

Deck leaks are the mechanism by which a cored deck gets wet, so this bears directly on the largest risk line as well as on its own repair cost.

Is there measurable play at the rudder stock, does the blade sound solid when tapped along its lower third, and have the bearings ever been serviced?

A balanced spade with no skeg support means bearing and stock integrity are the entire safety case, and a wet blade discovered in the Marquesas is a voyage-ending problem.

Have the spreader-to-mast weldments and the spreader tips been inspected, and is the mast deck-stepped or keel-stepped on this model?

On a backstay-less rig the spreader roots carry loads a conventional rig gives to the backstay, cracked weldments are a documented pattern on this rig type, and I could not confirm the stepping from any source.

Ask a rigger directly: on this B&R rig, can a removable inner forestay and running backstays be engineered onto this deck, and what would it cost? And how far can the boom actually be eased before the main touches the spreaders?

This voyage is six thousand miles of running, and the honest answer to a rig that cannot square its boom is a headsail-based downwind plan — if that cannot be fitted here, the whole design question sharpens considerably.

On sea trial: what RPM does the engine reach at wide-open throttle, what is the coolant temperature after twenty minutes at cruise, is there smoke at load, and when was the mixing elbow last replaced?

The cheapest possible test of a nineteen-year-old engine with unstated hours, and it costs nothing beyond the sea trial you were going to do anyway.

Which autopilot DRIVE unit is fitted — type, model and capacity — where is it mounted, and does the ST7000+ system still work?

The listing names only a control head, and drive capacity is what decides whether any pilot can hold this beamy hull downwind in a following sea — it also sets how much of your generic autopilot budget applies.

What are the three batteries — chemistry, capacity, age and bank split — what size is the inverter, what alternator is fitted, and does the inverter-charger block access to the keel bolts on this hull?

Determines nothing about the purchase price but everything about how much of your generic electrical catalogue applies, and the keel-bolt access point decides whether a routine inspection needs joinery removed.

Confirm there is genuinely no chartplotter, radar or AIS aboard, and check whether the ST60 instruments and the VHF still work and whether the VHF is DSC-capable with a GPS feed.

This decides whether your generic electronics budget is a plotter installation or a complete navigation fit-out plus a rewire off SeaTalk, and the answer changes the total by several thousand dollars.

Is there an emergency tiller aboard, does it physically fit, and what spares exist for the Whitlock direct-drive system?

Required offshore, never mentioned in the listing, and a geared steering system is harder to improvise a repair on at sea than cable and sheaves.

How many through-hulls does the boat have, what are the valves made of, are any gate valves, have any been replaced since 2007, and does the air-conditioning circuit have its own intake and discharge?

A complete blind spot in the listing, cheap to resolve at the survey haulout, and the cost swings between servicing what is there and replacing everything on a boat with more penetrations than most.

Open both aft lazarettes and lift the engine pan. Is the plywood separator sound, and is there standing water below the engine?

Both are owner-reported build-detail failures on this model, both are cheap to fix in Emeryville, and both quietly wet structure for years if left.

Are both the refrigeration and the separate freezer working, how old are they, and is the fridge/freezer divider sound?

Owners of this model report the original units typically needing replacement and the divider rotting, and a second cold box is a real electrical load to carry for a year at anchor.

Is there a dodger, is there a bimini, and how old is any canvas aboard?

The listing mentions neither, and the answer also affects sequencing, since the traveller arch is where both the shade canvas and the solar array want to live.

What make and model is the windlass, what chain size does its gypsy take, and what anchor and rode are aboard?

A gypsy that does not match the 5/16in G4 chain in your catalogue means a new gypsy or a new windlass, and that decision has to be made in the Bay Area because chain takes months to reach Papeete.

When was the bottom last painted, and what does the boat's berthing and use history look like — liveaboard, raced, chartered, or lightly sailed?

Sets whether the bottom line collapses or stands, and use history is the best available proxy for everything the listing does not disclose.

What propeller is fitted — fixed, folding or feathering — what shaft and seal, when was the cutless bearing last replaced, and have the shaft fasteners ever worked loose?

Owners of this model specifically report shaft fasteners letting go, and all of this needs the boat out of the water, so schedule it with the survey haulout.

Lie down in every berth at the dock and work out which two are usable at sea on both tacks. Are there lee cloths or any provision for them?

An athwartship aft berth and a forward pullman are marina berths; if the dinette and settee are the only sea berths, the watch system for a twenty-day passage is decided before you buy, not after.

What is the actual fuel capacity, what material is the tank, does it have an inspection port, and when was the fuel last polished?

The listing states no capacity at all — the 51-gallon figure is from the manufacturer record — and it sets how much jerry-can capacity your generic catalogue has to carry for the doldrums.

Where would the boat be berthed during the fifteen-month refit, and does that change the California district use-tax rate from Emeryville's 10.75%?

At a $130,000 asking price, a 1.5-point difference in district rate is nearly $2,000, and Alameda County is at the high end of the Bay Area band.