1974 Challenger 32 Designer

[Barney Post]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

The Anacapa 42 was designed by Ted Carpentier, and built first by the Anacapa Boat Works (San Pedro Boat Works), followed by the Challenger Yacht Corp. headed by Howard Stern. See my website here: Anacapa Pilothouse Motorsailers - Home

As Robert Perry's email said, he never designed anything for Challenger Yachts.

Didn't see it at first. Very well covered on on your blog area.
RB

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by Barney Post

How does the Aculpulo 40 fit in to the picture? ACAPULCO 40 Sailboat details on sailboatdata.com (units English)

Hi Randy! San Pedro Boat Works (Anacapa Boat Works) found the Anacapa 40 ( was a "40" at the time) too expensive to build the Anacapa, and the market too limited. The had a second deck mold constructed to mate with the original hull mold and the Acapulco was born. Almost still born, and soon the molds were stored at the Islander Yachts yard, as Bruce Leeper (the owner) folded up shop and went treasure hunting with Mel Fisher. Gary Powell, a dealer for Islander Yachts kit boat division noticed the molds at the yard one day, and paid Islander to lay up a hull and deck for him. He built that boat, and customers took notice. Before he could make an offer on the molds Challenger bought them. They built several Anacapas, but no Acapulcos. When Challenger stopped production, Garry tried several times to buy the molds and finally succeeded. He molded a bunch of Acapulcos, some of which were sold as kits, some he completed. He destroyed the Anacapa deck mold, thereby ending the line. Eventually his company closed and the remaining molds were destroyed. Gary is a member of this forum today! His forum name is "yachtbuilder". Hope this helps your obsession!

[Barney Post]

Thanks so much for providing this background information. Would you mind if I included a synopsis of this in my record item for this yacht? (with attribution). (sailboatdata.com)

Randy Browning

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

Hi Randy! San Pedro Boat Works (Anacapa Boat Works) found the Anacapa 40 ( was a "40" at the time) too expensive to build the Anacapa, and the market too limited. The had a second deck mold constructed to mate with the original hull mold and the Acapulco was born. Almost still born, and soon the molds were stored at the Islander Yachts yard, as Bruce Leeper (the owner) folded up shop and went treasure hunting with Mel Fisher. Gary Powell, a dealer for Islander Yachts kit boat division noticed the molds at the yard one day, and paid Islander to lay up a hull and deck for him. He built that boat, and customers took notice. Before he could make an offer on the molds Challenger bought them. They built several Anacapas, but no Acapulcos. When Challenger stopped production, Garry tried several times to buy the molds and finally succeeded. He molded a bunch of Acapulcos, some of which were sold as kits, some he completed. He destroyed the Anacapa deck mold, thereby ending the line. Eventually his company closed and the remaining molds were destroyed. Gary is a member of this forum today! His forum name is "yachtbuilder". Hope this helps your obsession!

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by Barney Post

Would you mind if I included a synopsis of this in my record item for this yacht? (with attribution). (sailboatdata.com)

Anything I can do to help, Randy. Just clean up my crappy grammar...

[Yachtbuilder]

I see this is an old post, but I will make a correction to your Acapulco 40 Sailboat details on Sailboat data.com anyway.

The ballast in these boats should read 6250, not 5250 lbs.
The displacement is 22,500 lbs.

Just for your information, the one in your photo was the first one built by San Pedro Boat Works in 1966, ("Footloose"), sloop rigged and was owned by Robert Crabtree of Oxnard, Ca. When I obtained the tooling for these great boats, I added the "A-Platform" bowsprit to balance them a little better (the originals had slightly more weather helm than I wanted). I feel your web site performs a needed service.

Yachtbuilder

[Barney Post]

Originally Posted by Yachtbuilder

I see this is an old post, but I will make a correction to your Acapulco 40 Sailboat details on Sailboat data.com anyway.

The ballast in these boats should read 6250, not 5250 lbs.
The displacement is 22,500 lbs.

Just for your information, the one in your photo was the first one built by San Pedro Boat Works in 1966, ("Footloose"), sloop rigged and was owned by Robert Crabtree of Oxnard, Ca. When I obtained the tooling for these great boats, I added the "A-Platform" bowsprit to balance them a little better (the originals had slightly more weather helm than I wanted). I feel your web site performs a needed service.

Yachtbuilder

Thank you very much. These corrections have now been made. I'll have to find my notes relating to the whole discussion about the history of these boats. But if, in fact, this boat was built in 1966, it's not only the dimensions that I have listed incorrectly. My 'timeline' is off by about ten years.
I assume you have visited the excellent anacapas.com
website. I hope you'll stick around because I'm still trying to remember where this information came from and how I could have been so far off on the year.

[Yachtbuilder]

Hi Randy,

Your "timeline" is pretty close, if you were starting from the time these boats were really "brought to market" (my involvement with them). I felt this boat really deserved to be "ressurected", even if only for a few short years, which is what I did. As you may know, it was a CCA design, and was meant to compete with the Cal 40. It was truly a much better boat than the Cal 40, (with all due respect to Bill Lapworth) for those wanting a comfortable cruising boat. The Acapulco and the Anacapa were expensive boats to produce, which eventually drove San Pedro Boat Works out of business. Had the Acapulco come to market first, they would have had a better chance of succeeding, in my view.

Yachtbuilder

[Barney Post]

I think there a number of ways of 'succeeding'. Even though you may not have built a huge number, you obviously did it right. From what I've read, just about every one who owns one, all these years later, considers themselves most fortunate. This is a legacy to be proud of.

[Yachtbuilder]

Thank you Randy. That makes me feel good! I tried to build integrity into my boats, even though you don't "get rich" doing it that way.

Yachtbuilder

[derekjean]

Hello Acapulco friends. I would like to offer a correction to the timeline of the origin of the Acapulco line. As the very blessed and current owner of Foot Loose, and still in contact with Patricia Crabtree, the widow of Bob Crabtree, I do know that hull no. 1 was started in 1967 and completed in 1968. I am intrigued by this whole story of the Acapulco.

Derek Jean 31
Quadra Island BC

[Yachtbuilder]

Hi Guys. I had mistakenly referenced the year of the design (which was 1966) as the build year for Footloose. Thanks for point that out. I had received an email a while back that Footloose was in Alaska and was for sale. Congrats on getting her. When I first laid eyes on the drawings, during a visit with the V.P. of Islander Yachts in the early seventies, I felt compelled to get my hands on the tooling and build them. This wonderful CCA design deserved to have another chance to prove it's worth.

By the way, the sale of the finest one ever produced (mine) just fell through, so if anyone wants a shot at it I will be happy to put you in touch with the lady who has owned her for the past 25 years. She is a bargain waiting for the right person.

Enjoy!

Garry

[derekjean]

Thanks for the confession and hats off to your bold claim! I suppose it should rather be a debate as to which one was the finest ever produced!!! Although I'm sure the Oriana is spectacular.

It's good to hear from you Gary... I feel superbly gifted to have landed in this position. When I bought Foot Loose, I quickly realized that there was no turning back. I lived aboard in Sitka that first winter and fell into the hands of one of the most spiritual and generously gifted shipwrights in the united states, Mike Nurco. There he shaped my talents as I entered the marine world for the first time at 28. My first large passage was from Sitka to Georgia strait via west coast Queen Charlottes. Foot Loose was my teacher and we had some wicked adventures together over two years. After 3 years of living aboard and sailing around without focus, I landed on Quadra and have deemed Foot Loose worthy of complete restoration. Not until I committed to her in this way did I discover that she was reproduced . I thought the molds went amiss after islander and I am very pleased to find out about your chapter with them. Is it true that the tooling was destroyed?

In the bold spirit of Ted C.
Derek Jean

[Yachtbuilder]

Hi Derek Jean,

Of course you are right. Beauty, etc. is all in the eye of the beholder! I should probably clarify that the lovely "Oriana" was the first one I had built and was a fine vessel, well proven in the many years Ed and Bernie had sailed her all over the world. The one I was speaking of (finest ever built, etc.) was my last one, which I built in 1978 and sailed to Hawaii in 1979. She was built with no expense spared, which showed in every detail and she had engineering ideas that are not even seen today. Big claim, I know.

Regarding your question about the tooling being destroyed, I am not sure if the Acapulco was. I didn't do it (and never would have), but I had heard that my ex-partner (a fellow I had sold half of my business to so I could go cruising) destroyed it after he was not successful in keeping the business going. I have regretted doing that ever since. Enough said on that subject!

The Anacapa deck tooling was, however, destroyed by me. As Challenger found out, that was an expensive model to produce (the deck had to be molded in several parts and then assembled and finished out, which was labor intensive). There also was a limited market for it back then, as center cockpit boats had not really caught on. I had no desire to produce the center cockpit version and I was paying storage rent on the deck tooling.

As an aside, I just remembered an article from the San Francisco Chronicle (sports section) way back in the late sixties about a yacht race. Several skippers were complaining that this "three story high" (their words, not mine) sailboat was passing them in the race. I believe that Anacapa 40 was the "Peer Gynt".

By the way, the photos that a fellow forum member, Christian Van H, had kindly posted on this forum are of my last one (the Maluhia, now the Good Guys). If you look at the interior shots, you will see why I "boasted" a little. My intent was to do Hinkley quality and I even borrowed their interior decor idea from their Sou'wester 50: White Oak bulkheads and furniture, using teak only for the trim and sole. Sure made it lighter and brighter below!

Cheers,

Garry