Skip to content
Hull Gauge
Recomputed 5 Nov 2026, 03:30 UTC

Hunter 34vsPearson 303

Hunter against Pearson · used asking prices, listed in the US

At the same age, the Pearson 303 asks 7.9% less than the Hunter 34; on the headline Gauge Values it asks 16% less, which mixes ages: its boats are older (median build year 1984 against 1985). We can't yet say which holds its value better: the Pearson 303 has no published depreciation curve.

same age · 4 shared build years · 21 and 16 boats in them · Indicative · in today’s prices · asking, not sold

02

Year by year

Each build year's Gauge Estimate, for the 4 years both have boats in. Pooled across those years (21 and 16 boats), the Pearson 303 asks 7.9% less than the Hunter 34.

Hunter 34Year builtPearson 303
1986−16%
£13,500 (16)
£16,000 (23)
1985−16%
£13,500 (17)
Gauge Estimate by year built · comparable boats in brackets, built within three years either side · — below eight comparable boats; a year where neither has eight is left out · the gap is the right-hand model against the left
03

What your budget buys

£6.5k£15.5k£24k
Hunter 34
none
no build year’s Gauge Estimate is at or under £15,000
1
the one boat listed now asks £15,000 or less
Pearson 303
1986
newest build year whose Gauge Estimate is at or under £15,000 (£13,500, 16 comparable boats)
0
the one boat listed now asks more than £15,000

At £15,000, only the Pearson 303 has a build year within reach.

04

A year of ownership

Each at its Gauge Value, on a South Coast marina berth, 44 engine hours a year (the median of 103 UK-listed sailing boats that report hours). An estimate in pounds from published rates, not a quote.

Hunter 34MeasurePearson 303
£850
Depreciation (not in total)
withheld
£5,750
Berth
£5,000
£1,200
Maintenance
£1,000
£500
Lift-out and antifoul
£450
£150
Insurance
£150
£250
Fuel
£150
£7,850
Total a year, before depreciation
£6,750 (better)

Each line is the middle of the cited range, to the nearest fifty pounds. Depreciation is a year of age on each model's published curve, at its Gauge Value, and stays out of the totals.

The Pearson 303 has no published depreciation curve, so its depreciation is withheld.

Sources: Lake Yard price list 2026 · BerthFinder · Boatsetter · Velos Insurance; Admiral Yacht Insurance · Boating Magazine, "Calculating Boat Fuel Consumption" · Littlehampton Marina fuel prices

05

Specification

Hunter 34MeasurePearson 303
10.44 mfrom listings
Length overall
9.22 mfrom listings
Sail
Type
Sail
—
Engine (as listed)
usually Yanmar 13 hpfrom listings
“from listings” marks figures read from the listings themselves; unmarked figures are from our model register and not yet checked against a builder’s published source.
06

Questions

Which is cheaper, the Hunter 34 or the Pearson 303?

At the same age the Pearson 303 is cheaper: the Pearson 303 asks 7.9% less than the Hunter 34 across 4 shared build years. Their Gauge Values, the median asking prices of all the boats we observed whatever their age, are £16,000 and £13,500.

Which holds its value better?

We can't say yet. The Hunter 34 loses about 5.4% of its asking price a year of age, but the Pearson 303 has no published depreciation curve: we fit one from at least 20 boats across six build years and publish it only when the fit holds. We have 17 Pearson 303 boats across 5 build years.

Which spends less time on the market?

Boats of the Hunter 34 had been listed a median of 427 days when we last saw them, against 172 days for the Pearson 303. That is time listed so far, not time to sell, which we don't measure yet. 20% of the Hunter 34 boats we saw 14 or more days apart cut their asking price; too few Pearson 303 boats were seen that far apart to say.

How do you compare them like for like?

We compare boats of the same build year. For each of the 4 years both models have boats in, we take the ratio of their median asking prices in today's prices, then pool the years, giving more weight to years with more boats on both sides. The figure is Indicative because the thinner side has 16 boats in those years. The Gauge Values compare the whole fleets instead, so they mix boats of different ages.

Other comparisons

Go deeper