# Hunter 216 vs Capri 22?



## JeffH (Jun 17, 2013)

My wife and I have been sailing in a club for 7 years and have decided to buy our own boat. The boat will be kept at our dock on a lake in deep water in GA and will be used for daysailing - we don't care about trailering and won't be sleeping on it. We have narrowed our search to a Capri 22 (fin keel, standard rig) and a Hunter 216. My concern about the Hunter is whether or not we will be happy in the long term with the lack of sail controls and the comfort level aboard when the weather turns cool. On the plus side, it is hard to imagine a simpler boat to sail and maintain. My concern about the Capri is whether or not I want the additional maintenance this boat presents over the Hunter. We don't really care about racing, but don't want to sail a slug either. Any thoughts, experience, or advice about these boats would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Welcome to the SailNet from the other Jeff_H...


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

I've not sailed the Hunter 216. I have seen them and the Asym sprit rig on them seems pretty sweet.

The Capri 22 is hardly a slug, so no worries there. It can also be setup about as easy or as hard as you like, with as few or as many sail controls as you might want.

History: The Capri 22 comes in 2 mods, (the mod 1 which had chiseled looking windows, and the Mod 2 which had ovaled out windows - this is the most obvious difference there were plenty)... Within that they came in 3 keels... shoal (almost never sold), wing, and fin. The wing USUALLY was sold most frequently, and USUALLY with the standard rig. The TALL rig was sold mostly to FIN keel buyers, but basically added 2 feet to the mast height.

It should be pretty obvious that if water depth is of no concern, and speed is the ultimate goal, then FIN KEEL, TALL rig is what you are searching for... and you want the race package, to get all the extra sail controls (even if you don't use them now).

Even in the wing keel, standard rig, the Capri 22 is a great sailing boat. It's hard to be unhappy with these boats, as they are still in current production... the parts are easily found, and there were a lot of these boats sold (easy to find others who can help you set them up, get parts cheap, and find used boats).

I owned/sailed my Capri 22 for 2 years, and loved the boat. I moved up (or was it down) to the Capri 25 because it has even more performance.

Again I know very little about the 216, but I know the Capri 22 is faster, and has more sail controls, so it's likely the better long term boat. I bet the 216 is easier to get out and going to sail, certainly easier to throw a chute up on that sprit. The Capri 22 one design looks for a Symmetrical spinnaker so there is your biggest difference.


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## chucklesR (Sep 17, 2007)

I've sailed the 216, sweet boat but slim control on the sails and below decks is non-existent.
Search google for 216 problems with ice splitting the laminates. Not too much of an issue were you are, but be aware that 216's are not your normal fiberglass and gel coat construction. 
We also had a minor issue with the centerboard - the cable is turned around a tight radius and likes to break. We replaced it with Dyneema.


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## Alex W (Nov 1, 2012)

I've had a chance to race on Capri 22s a number of times. They are a great day sailor with a huge cockpit and nicely laid out controls. The cabin is just big enough to hide from the weather in and do easy overnighters, but it would feel cramped for longer trips.

I haven't worked on one, but they seem like quite simple boats with limited systems. I doubt that it's much different than a 216.

Get the fin keel/tall rig if you can. A club here has 6 of them and races them on Thursday nights. The fin/tall boats do noticeably better than the wing/standard. They actually have them with 3 rig heights, one of the fin keel boats has a brand new rig using Selden spars (I think that is same as what is sold on the Capri 22 today) and it looks a little shorter than the other talls. It's still fast.

The Hunter 216 looks interesting, there is one that comes out to Duck Dodge (a weekly race in Seattle) and appears to do quite well compared to larger boats. I have no experience sailing one though, and the cuddy cabin doesn't look as useful as the Capri 22. Since the Capri 22 already has an enormous cockpit (comfortable for 4 people while racing) there is little reason to give up that little cabin.


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## avenger79 (Jun 10, 2009)

I haven't sailed the Capri but I have the Hunter. I do have limited experience but I loved sailing the Hunter. I wasn't able to find one here locally or it would be sitting in my driveway now. We did have an issue with the cable snapping for the centerboard though. easily repaired but not fun.


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