Richard Date takes up the challenge of restoring an unloved and unwanted cruiser
When friends of mine, who were keelboat racers, successfully restored a Hunter 19 cruiser and changed the rig I was impressed.
If they could do it, maybe I could too – it seemed they’d started a trend.
It began at the 2004 Squib Nationals when a couple of ex-Squib champions took pity on a Hunter 19 that was languishing at the back of Holyhead Boatyard.
The Hunter 19 was built in 1972, and Hull No34 was in a sorry state. Credit: Richard Date
They bought the yacht and took it back to the East Coast. They restored it with a new interior and put a Squib rig on it before taking it cruising.
At a more recent Squib Championships in Holyhead there was a layday due to strong winds and, during a discussion at the bar, it transpired that another unloved Hunter 19 was on a trailer which had been acquired on ebay and that the trailer was sold to (yet another) Squib champion in Burnham-on-Crouch
The boat was surplus to requirements so if I could fetch it from Burnham I too could have a project to keep me busy for a year.
Crouch Cheetah
So, after quite a lot of diesel and the generous provision of a trailer, the…
