When I moved to Annapolis to edit Rudder Magazine in 1982, one of my first assignments was to test a new Surfhunter 25 on Buzzards Bay. As luck would have it, high winds turned the bay into a washboard of punishing 3-footers. I dreaded what was to come, but the Surfhunter 25 was based on the same deep-V breakthrough hull that C. Raymond Hunt developed, the one that won the storm-raked 1960 Miami to Nassau Powerboat Race. On the bay, the Surfhunter was comfortable on any course and turned with great authority. It never tripped over its own bow, and she provided a dry ride.
I spoke to Winn Willard, the longtime president of C. Raymond Hunt Associates in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and he told me that in the early days, a Surfhunter 25 was powered either by a single inboard or a sterndrive. Initially, a Mattapoisett builder made the boats out of cold molded mahogany, but at some point, Jarvis Newman in Maine used a wooden version as a plug to build the first fiberglass hulls.
Early decks were fashioned out of wood to suit the customer, but eventually, fiberglass deck molds were made in the style of classic bass boats popular at the time. The molds were later bought by Tommy Johnson in Rhode Island, who provided hulls and decks to subcontractors who customized them for their customers.
When Hunt Yachts was created in the early 2000s, the company bought the molds from Johnson and incorporated the Surfhunter 25 into its line. Along with some minor tweaks to the hull, Hunt Yachts also created center console and runabout versions of the design.
In its earlier iterations, the hull began with a moderately raked stem and a gently curved forefoot, with spray strakes above the waterline that submerged and continued to the transom to become wide, flat chines. The chines were not very deep in the water, primarily because going fast in the 1960s and 1970s meant keeping the hull out of the water to reduce drag.
“On the hull itself, there are three strakes per side, plus the primary chine at the topsides/bottom intersection,” Willard says. “The strakes, or lift strips as we call them, are staggered. Only the outer one runs all the way to the transom. The idea on the early deep-Vs was the boat was to run on the primary chine until it climbed far enough to clear the water. Then the boat would run on the first lift strip down, maintaining good dynamic stability.”
There was considerable flare forward to cope with rough seas, producing a dry ride. The keel was gradually radiused from stem to stern, allowing a modest amount of slipping in turns to minimize the potential for tripping.
Like Hunt’s Bertram 31, the Surfhunter 25 is iconic. Both boats have influenced the designs of countless builders for almost six decades.
This article was originally published in the January 2024 issue.
