Challenger Yachts

[Maddog]

Roll Call - Anybody else out htere with a Challenger Yacht? I know there are at least a 1/2 doz whom I have talked to. 32's, 35's, Anacapas. Are you out there.

Yep. 1975 40' Ketch

[Maddog]

I should have mentioned that I have a 32.

[Gammonaire1]

Hello. I have a 1973 Challenger 32 sloop with a Perkins Deisel. 2nd generation owner and I love the boat. My father-in-law bought her new and treated her better than a few of his wives, I think. my Wife and I spent a few weeks at the isthmus at catalina aboard..... in 1974. and numerouss weekends at Emerald where dad had mooring, and also over to avalon, while he went up and down the coast to channel islands, newport beach, san diego, some fine times. Used to go to the annual treasure hunts over at the island, from the Los Angeles yacht club.. good times. I have been refitting and getting to know her personnally and have been really enjoying the experience. I am proud to have the finest in obsolete equipment. (lol)

I grew up on Alamitos Bay sailing sabots, and one-designs, cal-20's. Snipes, Nationals, Dragons, Family bought a couple boats, then a Columbia 29 ,Mk-II.

Then I met wife, whose pop had a ranger 26. I married her in 1972 (took her off his books, grin) and he then sold the ranger and ordered a challenger for delivery in 1973. still have the reciept in the papers.

Still have the wife, too, and now have the boat 35 years down the road. the rigging has been moved outboard with new chain plates, and I have one more bank of deep cycle batteries to replace, but otherwise she is in fine shape, just passing the 2008 survey.


Life is good.

[Maddog]

Outstanding! What hull number is she? Mine is #3, built in '72.

Gammonaire1, I would be really interested in details about moving the chain plates. Mine are not showing ny deterioration, but they are encapsulated in the glass, so I have considered this. I will probably sell her before I do that much work to her, but it would be nice to be able to pass this along to the future owner.

[Gammonaire1]

Originally Posted by Kai Nui

Gammonaire1, I would be really interested in details about moving the chain plates. Mine are not showing ny deterioration, but they are encapsulated in the glass, so I have considered this. I will probably sell her before I do that much work to her, but it would be nice to be able to pass this along to the future owner.

I would be interested in the details, too. Father-in-law had alzheimer's and was crafty, too. he hid his illness well, and one of the ways we found out how serious it had become was the wiring on the boat. .... and his having a boating accident, the details of which are still shrouded in mystery, but after talking to the yard, we found a repair on the port side rail/deck. the old fittings look to have been ground down below deck level, then glassed over, with the new shroud bracket being bolted down the side of the hull a ways. I have a few other challengers in the marina around me and have been looking at their rigging too. I could send you pix if you like. there are 3 on my gangway and another larger over a few.

[Gammonaire1]

Oh, and the sail number is 65, i don't know about the hull number but will check. the plates to th shrouds on my hull have bolt heads going down several feet. On another vessel on my gangway, the shrouds have been moved outboard with no boltheads visible.

[Gammonaire1]

BTW, Kai Nui, I was in the Coast Guard and my active duty, was stationed on the Mole at Cannery Row on an old 185 foot cutter (185' CGC LAMARR, ) doing SAR and interdiction before it was fashionable..... lol ,,,, before the aquarium went in, in 1968. Have some good presidio memories and memories of Monterey, Santa Cruz, Marina, Pacific Grove High School dances (thrown out of there, we were, but that's another story), rented rooms at the old monterey hotel and... anyway. Moss landing, eh? we did a sailboat recovery off of Pt Pinos and picked up a 25 foot chunk of hull, one time.

[slrken]

My wife and I just purchased a 1977 Challenger 32 - "Everything's Rosie" If you know of this boat, or her history, I would appreciate a word or two. She is now in Dana Point harbor. We have moved up from a 25' O'day we owned for 30 years. Her last owner kept her in very good condition, but of course, she is 30 yrs. old and has developed some character! Also, if there are copies of owners manuals for this boat for sale I would also like to chat with you.

Thank you in advance.

Hope you all have many great days of sailing.

I have scanned everything into my comuter for the manual. Unfortunately, here is the hard part. I need to get it all onto my work computer so that I can convert it to pdf's. Still working on it, but progress has been made.
Sirken, congrats on the new boat. She will undoubtedly give you years of enjoyment.

[Norm]

Do Challengers have cored decks or hulls? If so, what material was used for the core.

Thanks,
Norm

[Christian Van H]

Hi all! We are the proud owners of Challenger Anacapa 42 hull number one. We bought her as a basket case, formerly owned by beavers with degrees in electrical engineering from what we have been able to surmise. We are in the midst of a 5 year complete refit and she's just startin' to really polish up. BTW, my CYC hull and deck are all glass, no core at all. Plywood is used as a stiffener UNDER the deck however. Chris

[Christian Van H]

Couple more pics for people unfamiliar with the Anacapa 42...

[Christian Van H]

Here's the Anacapa story as I know it;

The Anacapa was originally designed by Naval Architect Ted Carpentier, who also worked as an engineer for Hughes Aircraft and was a personal friend of the late Howard Hughes. His recollections of his time with Hughes are featured in the best seller “Howard Hughes: the secret life”. Carpentier was either hired by or sold the Anacapa design to San Pedro Boatwork’s owner John Leeper in 1963/64. San Pedro Boatworks built three Anacapa 40s, all sloop rigged without bowsprits. The “Peer Guint”, the “Octavia”, and the “Viajera” were all of high quality, with bronze ports and Barient winches. Their layout was slightly different than later Anacapas, with their galleys starboard in the pilothouse and chart and dressing tables in the aft cabin. All Anacapas carried the ubiquitous bathtub.

The Anacapa was designed to be comfortable with a good turn of speed. Built to early Cruising Club of America rule, she could compete with the likes of the Cal 40, and one of the first Anacapas, the “Peer Guint” was mentioned in a San Francisco Chronicle article in the late 60s when sailors complained of being beaten by “a three story boat”. Unfortunately, the center cockpit Anacapa was quite expensive to build, and the original tooling alone nearly bankrupted the small boatyard. The boat had a base price of nearly $40000 in the mid-60s, fairly expensive for its time. Feeling that the sailing public wasn’t quite ready for an ungainly pilothouse motorsailer, San Pedro contracted Ted Carpentier to redesign the deck tooling to enhance the lines and curb production costs. Thus was born the Acapulco 40. Aft cockpited and prettier, San Pedro sold a few of both models, mostly as hull or hull and deck kits before ceasing production completely. As an endnote to the San Pedro Boatworks run, owner John Leeper used the last two molded hulls to construct his famous “RV Beta” catamaran by adding a bridge deck and steel framework to create a workboat for use in his later treasure hunting days. According to Bernard Reller, a crewman aboard the Beta during the early 70s, the boat had twin Osco 120 diesels, living quarters, a machine shop, and a large winch which was designed to raise and launch a small manned submarine between Beta’s hulls. Leeper, a former Pan Am airline pilot and adventurer hunted treasure throughout the Caribbean. He was involved in the famous Atocha De la Senora salvage operation and was friends with salvor Mel Fisher. The RV Beta was lost off Nassau in the Bahamas after scraping a reef around 1999.

After the canceling of Anacapa / Acapulco construction, the molds for the hull and both decks were stored in Islander Yachts Inc. yard in Irvine, California. Mr. Gary Powell, a dealer for Islander Yachts kit boat division “Yachtcraft” who usually sold hulls and decks from discontinued models, came across the plans for the Anacapa / Acapulco while visiting the yard one day. As soon as he spread them out he knew he wanted one, and asked the owners to lay up a hull and deck for him. They explained that the molds and designs weren’t theirs to sell. Powell offered to write a check right there and then, and three weeks later he had a hull and deck at his yard, ready to start construction. Powell lovingly crafted this boat, named Oriana, which was an Acapulco version with an aft cockpit and a cutter rig. Kit boat customers who visited the yard often fell in love with the Acapulco’s lines and inquired about its availability. Knowing a good thing when he saw one, Powell approached Islander about buying the molds and was informed that the Challenger Yacht Corporation had recently purchased them. They were looking to fill a void in their lineup, and planned on constructing the Anacapa center cockpit pilothouse version. The year was 1973 and Challenger marketed the boat as the Anacapa 42 (the extra two feet came from the newly added stainless bowsprit which moved the center of effort forward and helped alleviate reported weather helm).

Challenger owner Howard D. Stern introduced the boat at a base price of $43950 plus “options”. Options such as wheel steering ($3500) quickly brought up the price, and none of Challenger’s twelve Anacapa 42s left the Terminal Island, California factory for under $80000. Currently (2008), the boats known to still exist are Charisma (formerly Trishen) ,a ketch in New Jersey, Bearhunter , a ketch in Alaska, and Kia Orana and ,two sloops in California. After a short production run between 1973 and ’75, Challenger found the boats simply too expensive to manufacture and make a profit, discontinuing the model in 1975.

In 1976 Gary Powell approached owner Howard D. Stern with an offer to buy the tooling for hull and decks. Stern was aptly named, and I cannot find anyone save his daughter who had anything positive to say about him. A former head of sales at Westsail, and a lawyer, Stern refused Powell’s offer. Powell didn’t give in easily though, and returned several weeks later after letting Stern stew with a slightly higher offer. A deal was struck, and Powell was the proud owner of some very well made molds. Forming Acapulco Yachts, Powell had no interest in building the center cockpit Anacapa version, and had that deck mold destroyed. He concentrated on the aft cockpit cutter, shipping a total of 30 high quality hull and deck packages which were sold to home builders. All of the boats built by Gary Powell’s Acapulco Yacht Co. had the stainless bowsprit and hand laid one piece hulls. Powell’s last boat, the Maluhia was completed and kept as his personal yacht.

Gary longed to go cruising, and a deal was struck with his business partner at the time; Powell would go cruising for a year aboard Maluhia, then return to allow his partner to cruise. Powell moved aboard and crossed the Pacific to Hawaii, cruising among the islands, but returned when his year was up to find his Acapulco Yacht Co. run aground by his inept partner. Powell was forced to close up shop, and both hull and deck molds were destroyed, bringing to a close the last chapter in the Anacapa / Acapulco story. As an end note, Gary Powell’s first yacht, Oriana, was purchased and circumnavigated by owners Ed Atkins and Bernie Houston, with the tale recounted in their wonderful book “One wave at a time”.