Boats
hunter I
return of the
The boat that started life as the Red Fox nearly 20 years ago is now back as a roomy, practical, economical and easy-to-launch day-sailer – this time with a choice of keels including a daggerboard. David Harding reports
HUNTER 20 SPORT LF: trailable, speedy day sailer PRICE: from £23,950 (complete)
f ever a boat failed to live up to its potential, it’s the one that was launched in 1991 as the Red Fox 200. Here was a spacious, fast and
forgiving trailable-sailer that offered so much but, in the eyes of many potential buyers, had one big problem – or, more accurately, two: unballasted twin asymmetric daggerboards. While this unusual keel
configuration offered a multitude of benefits in terms of practicality, efficiency and space below decks, it was simply too different and the Red Fox never sold as well as she might have. She later appeared in alternative form with an enormous cockpit, overnighting
accommodation under a blister coachroof instead of the four-berth cabin, and an ‘S’ (for sport) designation, but that wasn’t enough to reverse her fortunes. For fans of the Red Fox – and I
count myself among them – it was a great pity to see such a brilliant boat being so misunderstood. When Select Yachts bought both Hunter Boats and Red Fox Yachts in 2003, they decided not to persevere with the twin asymmetric boards. Fixed shallow twin keels were fitted instead, preserving the uncluttered interior and giving the boat a perfectly manageable draught of 0.68m (2ft 3in) for launching from a trailer. Performance wasn’t quite the same but still pretty good. I tested the Red Fox 200T, as she was called, in 25 knots of wind against the tide in the Solent and was impressed by the way she stomped upwind and, most
ABOVE AND LEFT The original Red Fox 200 with its unballasted twin asymmetric daggerboards
RIGHT The latest version with the optional ‘sports’ coachroof and single daggerboard
surprisingly, slithered downwind at double-digit speeds. I had never seen a twin-keeler behave quite like this before.
Seemingly destined never to
remain the same for long, this irrepressible little boat was then re-invented again by Select to appear as the Hunter 20 Sport. This time she had the hull and coachroof of the Red Fox 200S, paired with the twin keels of the 200T. Given extra zip downwind with an asymmetric spinnaker flown from a retractable bowsprit, she became one of the very small number of twin-keeled sporty daysailers. That was in 2007, since when the
various models built by Select have gone in different directions: Cornish Crabbers are building the Crabber
range and Hunter Boats have moved east, to Lauren Marine’s yard in Southampton.
Dagger’s drawn Lauren’s Danny Wheeler wasted no time in building a Hunter 20 and taking it to the London Boat Show. This boat, however, differs from previous examples in one crucial respect. She has a central daggerboard: just one, in the middle, where a daggerboard traditionally goes. This explains the ‘LF’ (lifting fin) designation. In my view that’s a thoroughly
sensible option. The twin asymmetrics are still available and so are the twin fins (to use Hunter’s terminology for what are otherwise known as bilge or twin keels).
A vertical stem contributes to the crisp, modern styling
Nonetheless, a daggerboard is undoubtedly the answer for people who want the ultimate in simplicity and shallow draught.
Like the asymmetric boards it
doesn’t need to be ballasted because all the ballast is internal, in the bottom of the hull. Housed in an open-topped case that runs straight down through the coachroof, all the board needs is negative buoyancy so it will drop, and it’s hauled up by a line with no purchase. Lifting keels don’t get any simpler than this and neither does the concept need any proving. Unballasted daggerboards have been used successfully for decades on boats such as the Super Seal 26 and they have much in their favour – not least their lack of complexity.
Practical Boat Owner 522 June 2010 •
www.pbo.co.uk
Boat test
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