2003 Hunter 426 (unnamed in listing), Marina del Rey, CA

Identified risks (11)

Discrete events, kept out of the cost ranges so they stay visible and can be retired once you have looked.

• Composite rudder stock or blade found saturated, delaminated or cracked — replacement rudder required

  $4k–$26k

  30% likelyexpected $3kinferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding, and the single largest discrete risk on this boat. Three things stack. Cruising World's launch review records the rudderstock as fibreglass. The Hunter 426 owner who opened the 'Rudder Issues' thread describes manufacturing voids between stock and housing that admitted water into the blade and would not dry after three months. And forum expert opinion is that a composite stock stressed beyond design cracks rather than bends, hiding the flaw until it fails without warning. A spade rudder with no skeg is also the least forgiving arrangement for a failure. Probability is my judgement of finding something requiring more than the inspect-and-reseal already costed, not a fleet failure rate — it collapses in either direction on one haulout with a moisture meter and a drop.

  Rudder Issues — Sailboat Owners Forums“To think any fiberglassed skin rudder isn't going to get water into it is just foolness in my opinion.”

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“The rudderstock is fiberglass.”

• In-mast furler jams at sea and cannot be cleared from the deck

  $1k–$18k

  30% likelyexpected $2kinferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding, and it is about the system rather than this boat's condition. John Harries records that three of his friends with offshore miles on in-mast systems have been up the mast at sea to clear a jam, that reefing downwind on the wrong gybe puts colossal loads on the system, and that he would not cross an Atlantic with one. The Milk Run is downwind, in squalls, mostly at night, with two people. The specific compounding factor here is that an in-mast rig has no trysail track, so a jammed main is not merely inconvenient — it removes your ability to set any mainsail at all until it is cleared. Probability is my estimate of at least one bad jam over a year of tropical sailing, not a measured rate. The cost band is the repair, replacement sail and consequential damage, not the consequences of the event itself.

  In-Mast, In-Boom, or Slab Reefing — Attainable Adventure Cruising“three of the friends I have with offshore miles on an in-mast system have been up the mast at sea at least once to clear a jam—very scary stuff.”

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“Seldén in-mast furling system operated acceptably, so long as someone kept tension on the outhaul”

• Deck core saturation around fittings, hatch frames and stanchion bases

  $3k–$22k

  28% likelyexpected $2kinferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding. Practical Sailor's factory tour records Hunter using marine plywood deck coring cut into small squares specifically to stop moisture wicking — which, if that is what is under this deck, is a better-than-average arrangement that limits how far water travels. But that article describes the factory in 2012 building a Hunter 33, not this boat in 2003, so I cannot treat it as evidence about this hull, and plywood that does get wet rots rather than merely losing bond. Against it: 23 years, no rebedding recorded anywhere, and a deck carrying an electric primary winch, a windlass and a genoa track. Probability is judgement.

  Hunter Factory Blends Old and New Technology — Practical Sailor“Sandwich construction with marine plywood coring. The marine ply is cut into small squares to prevent any moisture penetration from wicking.”

• Heat exchanger, exhaust elbow or injectors found badly corroded on a lightly-used 23-year-old engine

  $1k–$9k

  25% likelyexpected $800inferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding. 900 hours over 23 years is about 39 hours a year — a life of short runs and long idle periods, which is the pattern that cokes elbows, silts heat exchangers and corrodes exhaust systems from the inside. Owner consensus on Yanmars is that the elbow is a five-to-six-year item on the calendar regardless of hours, with overheating and eventually a holed elbow as the failure path. The listing records no engine service of any kind. What keeps this band moderate rather than severe is that the 4JH3E is naturally aspirated — no turbo to corrode — and that Papeete has an official Yanmar distributor. Probability is my judgement from the usage pattern.

  Yanmar exhaust mixing elbow — service“rust out and at some point the exhaust will leak out through a crack and then a hole”

  Tahiti Cruisers Guide — Marine supplies“Sin Tung Hing Marine is the official”

• Keel-hull joint weeping or keel bolt corrosion requiring a keel drop

  $2k–$16k

  22% likelyexpected $1kinferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding. This is a bolted external lead fin with a bulb on a 23,600 lb beamy hull — lead is the good news, because it does not corrode and jack its fairing off the way an iron keel does, but the bolts and the joint still take concentrated load at the root and the boat has an unknown grounding history in a harbour with a shallow entrance channel. Bottom paint went on in June 2024, so nobody has seen the joint bare since. Probability reflects that most boats are fine and the ones that are not are expensive. The high end assumes dropping the keel, refacing both surfaces, rebedding and re-torquing.

  Hunter 426 — Wikipedia“Fin keel: 7,237 lb (3,283 kg) lead”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Bottom Paint (June 2024)”

• Spreader-tip weld or root fitting corrosion on the B&R rig, beyond a wire replacement

  $2k–$15k

  20% likelyexpected $1kinferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding, and kept separate from the rigging cost item on purpose: that item prices new wire and terminals, this one prices discovering the spreaders or their attachments need work. Secondary sources record that some older Hunter B&R rigs have shown issues with welded spreader attachments that can be costly to repair. The mechanism is specific to this geometry: with 30 degrees of sweep and no backstay, the spreaders carry compression and fore-and-aft load that a conventional rig puts into the backstay, so tips and roots work harder for 23 years. Probability is judgement, not a published failure rate.

  B&R Rig — Sailboat Cruising“Some older Hunter sailboats with B&R rigs have occasionally shown issues with welded spreader attachments...which may require costly repairs.”

  Radically Swept-back Spreaders — Attainable Adventure Cruising“how much load is it putting on the spreaders?”

• Replacing the obsolete Simpson Lawrence windlass costs more than the windlass — deck rework, new cabling and a new deck switch

  $600–$5k

  35% likelyexpected $630inferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding. The vendor notice records the Simpson Lawrence series as obsolete with limited support for discontinued units, recommending a Lewmar V3, V4 or V6 as the replacement. Your catalogue already buys a windlass sized for 5/16in chain, so the machine itself is not this risk — this is the cost your catalogue line does not cover: a modern windlass rarely matches the old deck footprint or bolt pattern, the motor sits differently below, 2003 cabling is usually undersized for a modern unit's stall current, and the deck may need re-coring and re-glassing where the old holes were. Probability is my estimate that the fitted unit cannot simply be serviced and left alone.

  Lewmar Obsolete Windlasses Information & Replacements“Support for discontinued units is limited, which is a key reason to upgrade”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Electric Simpson Lawrence Windlass (12V)”

• Undisclosed charter, liveaboard or storm damage history

  $0–$18k

  15% likelyexpected $600inferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding, and set lower than on some candidates because nothing specific points at it. What puts the question on the table is only this: the listing gives no HIN, no ownership count, no survey history and no explanation of why a boat whose engine averages 39 hours a year carries a full air-conditioning and generator installation — a profile that reads more like a liveaboard than a weekend sailer. A liveaboard or chartered boat is not automatically a bad boat, but it is a different maintenance history, with far more hours on the domestic systems than on the sailing ones. Probability is my estimate that there is something in the history the listing does not mention.

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“exceptionally well-maintained”

• Osmotic blistering found at the survey haulout

  $2k–$18k

  12% likelyexpected $720inferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding, and set low. Practical Sailor's factory tour records Hunter laminating with vinylester in the outer skin and a modified epoxy resin behind it, which is good blistering practice — but that describes 2012, not 2003, so it is not evidence about this hull. Against it: 23 years in warm Southern Californian water is a harder blistering environment than cold northern water, and bottom paint went on in June 2024 so nobody has seen the laminate bare since. Probability is judgement. The high end is a full peel and barrier coat on a 44-footer at Bay Area rates.

  Hunter Factory Blends Old and New Technology — Practical Sailor“chopped strand mat and, hand-laid with vinylester resin”

• Underwriter declines the passage or imposes conditions specific to this rig and reefing system

  $0–$12k

  20% likelyexpected $600inferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding. Offshore underwriters ask about rigging age, crew experience, storm sail provision and the boat's design category, and this hull presents three things that invite questions at once: standing rigging of unstated and probably original age, an in-mast main with no trysail capability, and a production coastal design whose capsize screening formula I compute at 1.98, right on the conventional line. Probability is my estimate that at least one underwriter condition costs money that is not already in this file. The cost band is the required upgrades, not the premium itself, which belongs in your operating budget.

  Radically Swept-back Spreaders — Attainable Adventure Cruising“For long-distance offshore sailing I would always recommend for my clients a more conventional rig”

• Large coachroof glazing or a transom locker fails in a following sea

  $2k–$15k

  10% likelyexpected $450inferred

  Reasoning, not a source: Reasoning, not a finding, and included as a flag rather than an expectation. Two features combine on this hull in a way that matters specifically for a downwind ocean passage: if it is the DS variant it carries a raised coach house with large ports, and the launch review measured the swim-platform hatches at about 32 inches above the waterline with small hinges and fasteners it said need reinforcing for following seas. My own arithmetic puts the capsize screening formula at 1.98 — just inside the conventional 2.0 line — and the comfort ratio at about 26.7, which is coastal-cruiser territory. Probability is deliberately low: this is a low-frequency, high-consequence item, and the band is repair and mitigation, not the consequences of the event.

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“small hinges and fasteners”

  Engineering:Hunter 426 — HandWiki“a raised coach house roof and larger ports”

Systems to check (24)

• Standing riggingnot looked at

  THE LARGEST SILENCE IN THE LISTING. An equipment list detailed enough to date the barbecue to 2025, the dodger to 2020, the accumulator to 2021 and the running rigging to 2021 says nothing whatsoever about standing rigging. On a 2003 boat that silence should be read as original wire until an invoice proves otherwise, which makes it 25 years old at a March 2028 departure and outside what most offshore underwriters accept. The rig is a Seldén-built fractional B&R: no backstay, two sets of spreaders swept about 30 degrees, with the aft lowers and diagonals doing the work a backstay would otherwise do. That geometry means the spreader tips and roots are structural in a way they are not on a conventional rig, so a re-rig here is an inspection of the spreaders as much as a replacement of wire. Nothing is known about chainplates, tangs, turnbuckles, the mast step or whether the mast has ever been out of the boat. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Running Rigging Replaced (2021)”

  Hunter 426 — Wikipedia“fractional sloop B&R rig”

• Mast, boom and fittingslisting only

  Seldén aluminium mast with a factory in-mast furling section, two sets of spreaders swept back 30 degrees, no backstay, and a Seldén in-mast furling system that Cruising World found 'operated acceptably, so long as someone kept tension on the outhaul'. This is the most consequential design fact about the boat for your specific voyage and it is one the sources genuinely disagree about. Against: John Harries of Attainable Adventure Cruising records that with this sweep the boom cannot be eased far enough for a run, the mainsail chafes on the spreaders, the boat becomes hard to steer downwind, boom preventer angles are unfavourable, and he would always recommend a conventional rig for long-distance offshore work — and separately that he would not cross an ocean with in-mast furling. For: Hunter owners on the sailboatowners forum report a Hunter 49 with a B&R rig rounding Cape Horn and another completing an eleven-month circumnavigation, describe the rig as exceptionally strong, and report no structural failures. Both are recorded; I have not adjudicated. What is not in dispute is that the Coconut Milk Run is 6,000 miles of exactly the point of sail on which this rig is weakest, and that there is no trysail track. No mast service history of any kind is stated.

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“swept back 30 degrees and no backstay”

  Radically Swept-back Spreaders — Attainable Adventure Cruising“the boom can't be let out as far as it should be for correct trim on a broad reach or run”

  Reliability of B&R Rig — Sailboat Owners Forums“this was the strongest rig and he would sail around the world with such a rig”

• Running rigginglisting only

  Replaced in 2021, which is a real and unusually well-documented positive — five years old now, seven at departure, which is mid-life rather than end-of-life for good double braid. Nothing is said about what was replaced (halyards only, or sheets and control lines too), what line was used, or whether the furling line and outhaul on the in-mast system were included, which matters because those are the two lines whose failure jams the main. Deck gear is Harken two-speed self-tailing winches with a #40 two-speed ELECTRIC primary on 12V — a genuine asset for a two-person crew and a maintenance item nobody has mentioned: no winch service history is given, and an electric winch adds a high-current circuit and a motor below deck. Halyard lengths for re-quoting derive from I 47.83ft and P 46.75ft.

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Running Rigging Replaced (2021)”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“#40 Two-Speed Electric Primary Winch (12V)”

• Sailslisting only

  Two sails: an Ullman in-mast furling mainsail dated 2018 and a UK 130% genoa with a Sunbrella UV cover, undated. Working sail area is given as 834 sq ft against a manufacturer figure of 962 sq ft total. The 2018 date on the main is the best sail information on any candidate in this project — eight years old now, ten at departure — but note what an in-mast sail is: no roach, no full battens, and therefore less drive and a shorter useful life than a slab-reefed main of the same age. The genoa being undated in a list that dates the barbecue is the tell. There is NO storm canvas of any kind, no trysail (and no track to hoist one on), no downwind sail, no spinnaker and no whisker or spinnaker pole mentioned anywhere — which on a boat whose rig already limits how far the boom can be eased makes the poled-out twin-headsail rig in your catalogue not a nicety but the primary trade-wind sail plan.

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Ullman In-Mast Furling Mainsail (2018)”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Working Sail Area : 834.00 sq ft”

  In-Mast, In-Boom, or Slab Reefing — Attainable Adventure Cruising“you can't have full horizontal battens and usually sacrifice some roach”

• Enginelisting only

  Yanmar 4JH3E, four-cylinder naturally-aspirated marine diesel, 56hp, fitted 2003, showing 900 hours. This is the good version of this engine family for your purposes: no turbocharger, which removes the single component its 4JH3-TE sibling carries that a two-person crew cannot repair at sea, and the 4JH series is common enough that parts move. Sin Tung Hing Marine in Papeete is the official Yanmar distributor, which is the single most useful piece of route logistics in this file — though the same guide records a cruiser whose valve clearances were set incorrectly there. 900 hours over 23 years is about 39 hours a year: very light, which means calendar-driven items (elbow, hoses, impeller, mounts, injectors) rather than wear-driven ones are what need attention. Service history in the listing: none at all. No oil analysis, no compression figures, no elbow history, no valve clearance record, no mention of the heat exchanger. Separately, the boat carries a Kohler 6EKOD-120 6kW generator with NO hours stated — note the asymmetry, the main engine has hours and the second engine does not.

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Yanmar 4JH3E, 56hp, 900 hours”

  Tahiti Cruisers Guide — Marine supplies“They set my valves incorrectly”

• Shaft, coupling, prop, stern glandnot looked at

  Not stated in any form — no drive type, no propeller type, no shaft or cutless bearing history, no gearbox model. The 426 is conventionally a shaft-drive boat behind the 4JH3E, and if that is confirmed it is a material positive for this voyage: no saildrive diaphragm as a five-year consumable and no rubber seal below the waterline whose failure sinks the boat. But 'conventionally' is not evidence, and the difference between a shaft and a saildrive is a required item with a hard deadline. Cruising World's launch review recorded a squeaking exhaust hose rubbing as a build criticism — trivial in itself, worth noting only because it is the kind of chafe that becomes a hole after twenty years of vibration. Ask for one photograph of the stern gland and one of the propeller. inferred

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“exhaust hose rubbing causing squeaking”

• Fuel tanks and systemlisting only

  51 gallons, confirmed by both the listing and the manufacturer record. That is the thinnest fuel capacity of any candidate in this project and it feeds two engines — a 56hp diesel and a 6kW generator. At a nominal 0.8 gal/hr at cruising revs it gives roughly 55-60 hours of motoring with no reserve, which is not a comfortable margin for the doldrums band north of the equator, and it means the jerry-can line in your catalogue is doing real work rather than providing a top-up. The contrast with 140 gallons of fresh water is striking and is a coastal-cruising design decision, not a passagemaking one. Nothing is stated about tank material, location, inspection ports, filtration type, fuel age or whether the fuel has ever been polished. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Fuel Capacity: 51 Gallons”

  HUNTER 426 DS — sailboatdata“Fuel: 51 gallons / 193 L”

• Electrical, AC and DClisting only

  The most modern system on the boat and, unusually, one with a good original foundation: Cruising World recorded at launch that the wiring was laid out cleanly, largely in conduit and chases, with attention to ABYC standards. On top of that sit a Magnum Energy 4,000W inverter-charger, a Victron battery monitor, a Kohler 6kW generator, a 16,000/10,000 BTU Webasto reverse-cycle heating and air-conditioning plant and a 12V electric primary winch. ALREADY ABOARD, for your generic catalogue: nothing from the electrical group that I am willing to mark. The Victron monitor is part of your battery-monitor-distribution line but that line also buys busbars and Class-T fusing, about which the listing says nothing, so I have left it standing. There is NO SOLAR of any kind mentioned, no external alternator regulator, no DC-DC charger and no alternator upgrade — so this boat generates power by running an engine, which is a marina-and-anchorage assumption rather than a passage one. The full 800W of solar and its mounting in your catalogue stands in full. inferred

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“The electrical wiring is laid out cleanly, to a large extent in conduit and chases”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Magnum Energy 4,000W Inverter/Charger”

• Battery banklisting only

  'New House Batteries (January 2025)' and a Victron battery monitor — and that is the entire extent of it. I have deliberately NOT marked the battery-300ah-x2 catalogue line as aboard, and the reason matters more than the words: no chemistry, no capacity, no count, no make. If those are flooded or AGM lead-acid, which is what most owners fit as a like-for-like replacement, they satisfy none of your 600Ah LiFePO4 requirement and will be three years old and cycled by departure. If they are lithium, the picture changes completely — but so does the question, because a lithium bank behind a 2003 alternator with no external regulator or DC-DC charger is a half-finished retrofit. Marking this aboard on the word 'new' would make the boat look cheaper than it is, which is the dangerous direction. One photograph of the battery compartment settles it. Engine start battery not mentioned. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“New House Batteries (January 2025)”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Victron Battery Monitor”

• Steering gearlisting only

  Single wheel with a Whitlock steering system, which Cruising World rated at launch as offering 'excellent control' — a geared rod-and-cable arrangement that is generally more durable than plain wire and, precisely because it rarely complains, is rarely serviced. Whitlock is now owned by Lewmar, so parts exist but come from one supply chain and not quickly, which is a consideration 6,000 miles out. The launch review also records an emergency tiller stowed in the port seat locker as standard equipment. I have NOT marked your emergency-tiller catalogue line as aboard on the strength of that: it is a statement about the model in 2003, not about what is in this boat's locker in 2026, and your catalogue line also buys a secondary steering method (a drogue-steering bridle and spare arrangement) which no listing statement covers. Nothing about steering condition, cable or rod age, or the quadrant appears anywhere in the listing. inferred

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“The Whitlock steering arrangement offered excellent control”

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“an emergency tiller stored in the port seat locker”

• Autopilot and self-steeringlisting only

  ALREADY ABOARD, and this is the best single line in the listing for your purposes: a Raymarine EV-200 Sail autopilot with a LINEAR DRIVE — the exact specification in your catalogue, on a boat within the EV-200's displacement band, integrated with an Axiom plotter and i70 instruments on the same SeaTalkng network. The EV-200 with a linear drive on the quadrant is the right pilot for this boat and this voyage; a wheel pilot would not be. What is missing is dates and detail: no installation year, no drive model or ram capacity, no statement about the rudder reference unit or where the drive is mounted. Two follow-ups matter. First, the drive attaches to a quadrant on a composite rudder stock, so its bracket and the stock's condition are one question, not two. Second, your autopilot-spare-drive line stands in full — a spare drive is the thing you cannot buy in Nuku Hiva. There is no windvane self-steering, so that whole catalogue line stands.

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Raymarine EV-200 Autopilot with Linear Drive”

• Hull and laminatelisting only

  Fibreglass hull designed by Glenn Henderson, first built 2003, with a nearly plumb stem and a walk-through reverse transom with a swimming platform. Listing dimensions are 44ft LOA over a 42ft hull with a 39ft waterline, 14ft 2in beam and 23,600 lb displacement; the manufacturer record gives LOA 41.83ft and LWL 39.18ft, so the '44ft' includes the bow platform and the transom step — I have used 44 for the per-foot yard and survey costs because that is what a yard will measure. My own ratios, computed rather than quoted: capsize screening formula 14.17 / (23600/64)^(1/3) = 1.98, just inside the conventional 2.0 line; displacement-length ratio about 175; comfort ratio about 26.7. Those are coastal-cruiser numbers on a beamy, light, fast hull — a PHRF of 117 says the same thing. NOTHING is known about this hull's actual construction: the only Hunter construction source I could find describes the factory in 2012 building a 33 (balsa above the waterline, solid below, plywood-cored deck, through-bolted hull-deck joint, structural grid), and I will not treat that as evidence about a 2003 426. No HIN, no ownership history, no prior survey, no grounding history and no damage history are given. Bottom paint June 2024. inferred

  HUNTER 426 DS — sailboatdata“Displacement: 23,600 lb / 10,705 kg”

  Hunter 426 — Wikipedia“PHRF racing handicap average of 117”

  Hunter Factory Blends Old and New Technology — Practical Sailor“Hull and deck are attached using an outward facing flange that is chemically bonded with 3M's 5200 and then through-bolted with stainless hardware all the way around.”

• Keel and keel boltslisting only

  THE GATE QUESTION, AND IT PASSES BY EXACTLY NOTHING. The 426 was built with two keels: a fixed fin at 6.50ft with 7,237 lb of lead ballast, and an optional shoal-draft wing keel at 5.00ft with 7,389 lb. The listing states draft 6'6" — precisely your 6.5ft limit, with zero margin — and, crucially, states ballast of 7,237 lb, which matches the DEEP FIN exactly and not the wing keel. Two independent sources give the same pairing. So on the evidence this is the deep-keel boat, it is at your gate rather than over it, and per your instruction I have recorded the deeper figure. Understand what that number is: it is the manufacturer's nominal figure for an empty boat, and a cruiser loaded for an ocean passage with 140 gallons of water, full tanks, chain, stores and a year's spares will sit several inches lower. If your 6.5ft limit is a real physical constraint — a specific pass, a specific marina — this boat does not clear it loaded. The good news is the material: lead, not cast iron, which ages far better. No grounding history, no keel bolt torque record, no comment on the joint. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Draft: 6' 6"”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Ballast: 7,237 lbs”

  Hunter 426 — Wikipedia“Fixed fin keel: 6.50 ft (1.98 m) draft; Optional shoal draft wing keel: 5.00 ft (1.52 m) draft”

• Rudder and bearingslisting only

  Internally-mounted spade rudder on a single wheel, with — per the contemporaneous launch review — a FIBREGLASS RUDDERSTOCK. That one sentence is the most important technical fact in this file after the rig. A composite stock has one real advantage (it cannot corrode, which is how most stainless stocks fail) and one serious disadvantage that owners and surveyors describe consistently: overstressed, it cracks rather than bends, so the damage is hidden and may fail later without warning. The most on-point evidence I found is an owner of this exact model reporting manufacturing voids between the rudder stock and its housing that let water into the blade and were still draining after three months of attempted drying. The forum also records that Hunter's outright stock failures were concentrated in a model using a CARBON-fibre stock, which may or may not be the same construction as this one — that distinction is unresolved and is a question for a surveyor who knows Hunters. The listing says nothing about the rudder at all.

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“The rudderstock is fiberglass.”

  Rudder Issues — Sailboat Owners Forums“Most of the Hunter rudder stocks breaking were of a certain model that used a carbon fiber stock.”

  Hunter 426 — Wikipedia“Internally mounted spade-type rudder controlled by a wheel”

• Deck, hardware and hull–deck jointlisting only

  Harken two-speed self-tailing winches with a #40 electric primary, an electric Simpson Lawrence windlass and a walk-through reverse transom with a swimming platform. The specific model-level finding, and it is directly relevant to a downwind ocean passage rather than a general worry: Cruising World's launch review measured the swim-platform hatches at about 32 inches above the waterline and singled out their small hinges and fasteners as needing reinforcement for following seas. A walk-through transom with lightly-fastened lockers that low is a downflooding path when a wave climbs the stern, which on this route it will. Nothing else about deck hardware is stated — no rebedding history in 23 years, no comment on the chainplate arrangement, no mention of lifelines, stanchions or their height, and no jacklines or hard points. The lifelines-guardrails line in your catalogue stands in full and should be treated as unknown rather than absent.

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“about 32 inches above the waterline”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Harken Two-Speed Self-Tailing Winches”

• Through-hulls and seacocksnot looked at

  Nothing known whatsoever — not one word about seacocks, through-hulls, valve material, strainers or bilge pumping. What is knowable is the count, and it is high: two VacuFlush heads in and out, two showers, a galley, engine raw water, a 6kW generator's raw-water intake and wet exhaust, a Webasto reverse-cycle plant's raw-water circuit, cockpit drains and transducers. Fourteen to eighteen penetrations, all presumptively 2003 fittings that have been immersed in Marina del Rey for 23 years. Any watermaker your catalogue adds makes one more. This is the cheapest thing in the file to resolve — count them, exercise every one, and check whether any are gate valves rather than proper seacocks — and one of the most expensive to discover at sea. Note the bilge-pump line in your catalogue stands in full; the 2021 'new sump pumps' are shower sumps, not a bilge pumping arrangement. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“New Sump Pumps (2021)”

• Plumbing, water tanks and headslisting only

  140 gallons of fresh water, a 30-gallon holding tank, dual Sealand VacuFlush freshwater-flush heads, a new accumulator tank and new sump pumps in 2021. Two observations. First, the water capacity is generous and the VacuFlush system uses very little water per flush, which pairs well with the watermaker in your catalogue — this is a boat that can carry water comfortably. Second, 30 gallons of holding for two heads is small, and freshwater-flush toilets consume potable water, so the arrangement is optimised for a marina with a pumpout rather than for a month in the Tuamotus where you must hold or go offshore to discharge. VacuFlush duckbills, bellows and vacuum switches are consumables nobody stocks in the Pacific; carry two full service kits. Nothing is said about tank material, hose age, either head's service history, or the holding tank's plumbing. ALREADY ABOARD from your generic catalogue: nothing here — there is no watermaker. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Holding Tank Capacity: 30 Gallons”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Dual Sealand VacuFlush Heads”

• Ground tackle and windlasslisting only

  One item only: an electric Simpson Lawrence 12V windlass. I have NOT marked the windlass catalogue line as aboard, and the reason is specific rather than cautious. Lewmar, which absorbed Simpson Lawrence, lists the Simpson Lawrence series as obsolete and states that support for discontinued units is limited, recommending a V3, V4 or V6 as the replacement. A windlass whose parts you cannot get is a windlass you cannot rely on 6,000 miles from a chandlery, and anchoring is the most-used system on a year of atoll cruising. Beyond the windlass, the listing is silent on ALL ground tackle: no anchor make, type or weight, no chain size or length, no snubber, no swivel, no second anchor and no rode. On a boat that will spend a year anchoring in coral, that silence is not a small gap. Note the Tahiti guide's warning that chain ordered into Papeete takes months — this is a Bay Area decision. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Electric Simpson Lawrence Windlass (12V)”

  Lewmar Obsolete Windlasses Information & Replacements“The Simpson Lawrence Series (300, 3500, 4000, 5000) is also obsolete.”

  Tahiti Cruisers Guide — Marine supplies“STH has some chain in stock and is able to order chain for you that will take a few months to arrive.”

• Safety equipmentnot looked at

  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This is the emptiest safety section of any candidate in this project: no liferaft of any kind, no EPIRB, no PLBs, no flares, no danbuoy, no jacklines, no tethers, no harnesses or lifejackets, no medical kit, no fire extinguishers, no drogue, no damage-control gear, no grab bag, no MOB ladder, no storm sails. Not one item from your safety catalogue appears in the listing, so the entire safety_gear group stands at full price with nothing to deduct — which is worth remembering when comparing this boat's $135,000 ask against candidates that already carry a raft. Two items in that catalogue deserve special note on this hull: the Jordan series drogue needs strong attachment points engineered into a transom that the launch review already criticised for light fastenings, and the ATN Gale Sail is not optional here but the primary answer to a jammed in-mast main. inferred

• Electronics and navigationlisting only

  THE STRONGEST SECTION ON THE BOAT and the reason to take this candidate seriously despite everything above. ALREADY ABOARD, for your generic catalogue: a Raymarine Axiom 12-inch HybridTouch plotter (chartplotter line), a Raymarine Quantum solid-state radome (radar line — note the '48 NM' claim is doubtful, Quantum radomes are 24-mile units), a Raymarine EV-200 autopilot with linear drive (autopilot line, recorded under autopilot above), dual i70 instrument displays (instrument-pack line), an ICOM IC-M402 fixed VHF with a helm remote mic (VHF line, but you still need the handheld), and by necessary implication a SeaTalkng/NMEA2000 backbone connecting them. That is four to six catalogue lines wholly or largely retired, and it is all one brand that Papeete's Sin Tung Hing distributes and Marine Supplies services. What is NOT aboard: AIS of any class — a serious gap on a route with commercial traffic and one of the highest-value items in your catalogue — no satellite communications of any kind, no Starlink, no Iridium or InReach, no paper charts, no sextant, no radar reflector and no emergency VHF antenna. No age is given for any device.

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Raymarine Axiom HybridTouch 12" Display”

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“Raymarine Quantum Radar (48 NM)”

  Tahiti Cruisers Guide — Marine supplies“Sin Tung Hing Marine serves as the authorized dealer”

• Canvas, dodger and coverslisting only

  A dodger and full cockpit enclosure new in 2020, plus newer canvas and cushions generally. This is a genuine asset and better than any other candidate in this project: a dodger alone is a several-thousand-dollar item and the enclosure makes a night watch in rain survivable. It will be eight years old at a March 2028 departure, which is the end of a normal Sunbrella life before it sees a year of tropical UV, and the clear vinyl panels will be well past their best — clear vinyl yellows and crazes faster than the fabric around it. No sail cover or stack pack is mentioned, which is consistent with the in-mast main. No awnings of any kind, so the foredeck-awning line in your catalogue stands in full — and on a boat with a large glazed coachroof, shade at anchor matters more than usual for keeping the interior habitable. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“New Cockpit Dodger & Enclosure (2020)”

• Windows, hatches and portsnot looked at

  Not one hatch, port or window is mentioned anywhere in the listing or the maintenance history, in either direction. What is known comes from the variant description: if this is the DS, it has a raised coach house with larger ports specifically to get light and headroom below, which means more and bigger glazing than a conventional 42-footer. Assume 23-year-old gaskets and bedding compound throughout. Two consequences follow, and they are the same two on every deck-salon boat: leaking frames are the route water takes into a cored deck, and large fixed glazing is the standard argument for carrying cut-to-fit storm shutters offshore. Whether this hull is the DS or the AC is unresolved and changes the size of this line. inferred

  Engineering:Hunter 426 — HandWiki“The AC model has a conventional aft cockpit, while the DS features a raised coach house roof and larger ports”

• Dinghy and outboardnot looked at

  Nothing at all — no dinghy, no outboard, no davits, no chocks, no lifting tackle, no snorkelling gear. The entire dinghy_outboard group in your catalogue stands at full price. One hull-specific note that will matter when you specify it: this boat has a walk-through reverse transom with a swimming platform and no backstay, which is an unusually good arrangement for launching, boarding and hoisting a dinghy — stern davits are straightforward here in a way they are not on a boat with a backstay in the way. That is a genuine, if modest, advantage of the B&R rig for a year of atoll cruising, and it is worth weighing against everything the rig costs you downwind. inferred

  Hunter 426 — Wikipedia“walk-through reverse transom with swimming platform”

• Interior and sea berthslisting only

  Two staterooms and two heads, a spacious salon, and an aft stateroom with a walk-around queen berth; the model's standard equipment included two enclosed heads with showers, a dinette converting to a berth, a microwave, dual sinks and a gimballed stove, with Corian counters and twin deep stainless sinks per the launch review. For two people this is a good layout to live aboard in and a mediocre one to go to sea in — a walk-around queen aft is unusable in a seaway, the dinette double is not a sea berth, and nothing in the listing mentions lee cloths, so the lee-cloths line in your catalogue is doing essential work and needs two properly through-bolted positions found. The other thing a two-cabin, two-head layout costs you is stowage: no sail locker is mentioned, and a year of cruising plus fifteen months of refit spares has to go somewhere. Refrigeration is not mentioned anywhere, which is odd in a list that dates the barbecue, and engine access is unreported and worth checking by eye. Webasto reverse-cycle heat and air conditioning is fitted — irrelevant on passage, useful at anchor if you run the generator, and another set of raw-water plumbing. inferred

  2003 Hunter 426 — YachtWorld listing“spacious two-stateroom, two-head layout”

  Hunter 426 DS — Cruising World“a two-burner stove and twin deep stainless-steel sinks set in Corian countertops”