I wrote an article several months ago discussing hulk fittings and the like:

Here it is: Fighting Hulkageddon

The fits I suggested for the hulk have already been posted in this forum.

However, there is an important dichotomy between Mining and Shooting in this game. Mining is very laid back, where you don't need to be vigilant. The shooting side of this game is much more dynamic, where playing involves a constant watch on whats happening so they can respond approrpiately. Frankly, these two play styles don't mix well. As the person who's not vigilant will die horribly to those that are. I honestly think that small changes to the system are in order.

Here are some important points:
1.) A Mackinaw CANNOT be tanked enough to survive a suicide Tornado attack.... Concord response times, in 0.7 sec and lower, are greater than 15s( at least, last time I checked in January). Any Arty Tornado deals 12k per shot, and a fully tanked Makinaw has less than 24k EHP. Granted, with skilled fleet boosters.... it MIGHT survive that second shot, but its not a given!!!!

2.) The Hulk can be fit with a good tank. It can hit 30k EHP, and fleet + Heat can put it into the mid 30's... but this is not a significant amount of EHP in todays suicide gank world, as a Talos can often dish out that much damage before CC arrives.

Given the increase in dessie dps, and the awesome gank of tier 3 BC's, I think a review of the exhumer class ships is very much appropriate.... The fact that you cannot tank a Mack to survive highsec ganks speaks volumes IMO. I think a well tanked Exhumer with all rigs/mids/lows dedicated to fitting tank, it should be able to withstand ONE suicide BC ship.

With about 30 percent more CPU, the mack could fit a 30k EHP tank...... (perhaps 1-5 pg more to smooth its fitting )
With about 5 percent more CPU, about 5 PG, and increase the shield resist bonus from 7.5 to 10 percent per level. The hulk would sport about a 40k EHP tank before gang boosts....

These would not be "CCP SAVE ME" changes... as fitting even 1 Laser upgrde would significantly compromise the tank by 10k+ EHP. Essentially, there needs to be a balance between tank and yield, where tanked fits can actually stand a reasonable chance of survival.

Truth be told, most miners I know will still NOT bother to tank their fits.... and that is the CHOICE the make... I just think the choice needs to be a real choice... especially in the case of Mackinaws... Also, groups of attackers can take out exhumers just fine, as it should be....