Hunter 23

Description

The Hunter 23 is an American trailerable cruiser designed by the Hunter Design Team and built by Hunter Marine from 1985 to 1992, with well over 2,000 hulls produced—making it one of the best-selling 23-foot sailboats ever. At 23 feet 3 inches LOA with an exceptionally wide 8-foot beam and a light displacement of 3,200 lbs (1,300 lbs ballast), it was created as a direct successor to the popular Hunter 22, but with a fixed winged shoal keel (standard draft 2 feet 4 inches) or optional water-ballast centerboard (1 foot 2 inches up / 4 feet 10 inches down). The fractional sloop rig carries a fully battened mainsail of about 125 sq ft plus a roller-furling 150% genoa for roughly 240 sq ft upwind, with an optional asymmetrical spinnaker on a short sprit. Key family-friendly features include a pop-top that gives over 6 feet of standing headroom, a huge cockpit, foam flotation, kick-up rudder, and a surprisingly spacious interior layout: large V-berth, two full-length settee berths that convert to a double, a private aft quarter cabin (rare in a 23-footer), enclosed head compartment, and a functional galley. Easy to rig and tow behind an ordinary car, forgiving to sail, and genuinely comfortable for weekend or week-long cruising with four adults, the Hunter 23 remains enormously popular on lakes and protected coastal waters, with active one-design fleets in the Midwest, Texas, and Florida still racing today.