title: Hunter 18.5
text: # Hunter 18.5
  
  The Hunter 18.5 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by the Hunter Design Team as a cruising sailboat and first built in 1987.
  
  ## Production
  
  The design was built by Hunter Marine in the United States between 1987 and 1993, but it is now out of production.
  
  ## Design
  
  The Hunter 18.5 is a small recreational keelboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig with a fully battened mainsail, a raked stem, a reverse transom, a transom-hung kick-up rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed wing keel. It displaces 1,600 lb (726 kg) and carries 520 lb (236 kg) of ballast.
  
  The boat has a draft of 2.00 ft (0.61 m) with the standard shoal-draft wing keel, allowing ground transportation on the factory standard trailer.
  
  The boat is optionally fitted with a small 3 to 6 hp (2 to 4 kW) outboard motor for docking and maneuvering. Other factory optional equipment included a portable head, galley alcohol stove, water pump tap, cooler and anchor.
  
  The design has sleeping accommodation for three people, with a double "V"-berth in the bow cabin and a straight settee in the main cabin on the port side. Cabin headroom is 48 in (122 cm).
  
  The design has a PHRF racing average handicap of 288. It has a hull speed of 5.28 kn (9.78 km/h).
  
  ## Operational history
  
  In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "in the late 1980s, Hunter Marine expanded their cruising, boat line into smaller sizes. They also redesigned the line with a more 'modern' look. The Hunter 18.5 was one of the first of Hunter's minicruisers to be introduced. Unique features include a very shallow (two-foot draft) keel with both a bulb and 'winglets.' Best features: Headroom of four feet is exceptional for a boat of this size ... Ballast is also highest for the group ... Worst features: The keel is too shallow, and has too small a lateral area, to expect even so-so upwind sailing performance, with or without the winglets (which we suspect are too small to serve any real purpose). The full-length battens make it difficult to 'read' the trim of the mainsail, The flip-up rudder, being deeper than the keel, is thus unprotected and therefore subject to damage or loss if a sudden shoal water situation is encountered and the flip-up mechanism isn't ready for it."
  
  