Challenger 39 Pilothouse

[reiner]

We just bought a 89 mod Challenger 39 Pilothouse and would love to talk to People who have or had one. Any Challenger really.
The boat is in Brisbane and we are just moving in and learning the ropes.
We love the teak fit out inside and the dual steering option.
Still trying to convince myself about the bold on fin keel and the balsa sandwich hull. We have a good friend who is a professional fibre glass boat builder and he convinced me that Challenger build good boats and there is nothing wrong with a balsa core construction.
The other thing I have to learn more about is the Volvo Sail-drive in this boat.
Next week we see what it sails like.
Cheers
Reiner

[surfingminniwinni]

A mate of mine used to own one, from memory he had it from new. He is a member here, I'll ring him and get him to post his thoughts.

[Get-a-Life]

Reiner,

I used to be the gent for these yachts.

I had a "special" 39ft pilot house built for us.

Check to see if the one you have purchased has a "double spreader" rig?

If so, you have bought our old boat.

I would think by now, if it is still floating, you have purchased one of the better built boats.

The bolt on keel, "should" give you no problems, just check that there is that around the area where it bolts on, there are no arrears in the hull that do not look right?

The balso core sandwhich is an extremely strong hull set up "if" built correctly. When these yachts were built it was not unusual for them "not to be wetted out"

Check for any "bowing" of the compression post, then look at the cabin sole around the compression post. You are looking for the mast compressing the supporting material under the post. Not unusual.

Volvo sail drive, probably the 43hp model, turbocharged. Enough said?

The yacht will sail exceptionally well.

The good thing, is that most of them are old enough to have given enough owneres grief. By now they should be well and truly sorted out and would be a very good yacht, OR the opposite.

At least you did not get a shaft drive one?

Good luck and happy sailing.

I am willing to answer any of your questions and can probably supply some photos, etc.

Remember, they where all built to "special order" and the fit out was not the same in each one.

Dusty

[delmarrey]

Congrats on the purchase.
As for the balsa core below the waterline that's pretty much on builders sh!t list these days. They do have to be well saturated during the layup. But most important are the underwater fittings, including the stern tube/saildrive and rudder bearing. They need to be well sealed off from water intrusion.
Hopefully you had a good survey and sounded the hull around all the fittings. Water in the core will have a dead sound, absorbs the shock.

With a bolt on keel it's a good practice to lay FG/epoxy over the keel to hull joint sealing it off from any intrusion of water. As well, if it has any movement it'll show cracks in the lay up over the joint. Test your keel bolts with a weak magnet. If you feel a very slight to no pull then you have good quality bolts/studs. You can sound them with a hammer. They should sound very solid. If one or more is off tune, see if the nut will turn.

But as stated above the boat's been around awhile and all problems should have been resolved by now.
One more note; saildrives need to have a zinc on at all times and the gear oil check frequently.
Enjoy!

[reiner]

Originally Posted by Get-a-Life

Reiner,

I used to be the gent for these yachts.

I had a "special" 39ft pilot house built for us.

Check to see if the one you have purchased has a "double spreader" rig?

If so, you have bought our old boat.

I would think by now, if it is still floating, you have purchased one of the better built boats.

The bolt on keel, "should" give you no problems, just check that there is that around the area where it bolts on, there are no arrears in the hull that do not look right?

The balso core sandwhich is an extremely strong hull set up "if" built correctly. When these yachts were built it was not unusual for them "not to be wetted out"

Check for any "bowing" of the compression post, then look at the cabin sole around the compression post. You are looking for the mast compressing the supporting material under the post. Not unusual.

Volvo sail drive, probably the 43hp model, turbocharged. Enough said?

The yacht will sail exceptionally well.

The good thing, is that most of them are old enough to have given enough owneres grief. By now they should be well and truly sorted out and would be a very good yacht, OR the opposite.

At least you did not get a shaft drive one?

Good luck and happy sailing.

I am willing to answer any of your questions and can probably supply some photos, etc.

Remember, they where all built to "special order" and the fit out was not the same in each one.

Dusty

Hi Dusty, I think I bought your old boat. Yes to double spreaders. Did you sell it to a Peter in Melbourne?
It does have a dip around the mast on top of the deck but the survey report says not to worry but keep an eye on it.
The inside did get redone in 2006 and looks beautiful.
Anyway here is my email address I would love to find out more.
reinerg@bigpond.net.au
Thanks for letting me know
Cheers
Reiner

[tonyr]

Is there something wrong with Shaft drive versions of Challenger 39's?

[reiner]

Hi Tony, those posts are now 4 years old. We still own the Challenger but ours is a sail drive model. I have never met another challenger and wouldn't know about the shaft drive. Reg the comments on the Balsa Core...we have found no problems there. Its a very stiff and solid boat which sails beautiful.
Cheers
Reiner

[tonyr]

Thanks for the reply Reiner. I thought the posts had a bit of age to them but you never know.
We bought a run down Challenger late last year. nothing major wrong with it but its just been used for 30 odd years and not maintained very well. Structurally its very sound, No issues with the core. Ours has the galley down in the lower part with a settee opposite and a raised saloon area opposite the inside helm.
Then engine is under the galley bench on the keel with a shaft drive. It has a 4 cylinder perkins, runs very smoothly and quite. We are very happy with it so far but have had little use from it over the winter as we have taken the time to do some refurbishing inside. Just finished refurbishing the hydraulics, full rewire, and new instruments. Hoping to get plenty of use out of it this summer though.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, tonyr.

[reiner]

Originally Posted by tonyr

Thanks for the reply Reiner. I thought the posts had a bit of age to them but you never know.
We bought a run down Challenger late last year. nothing major wrong with it but its just been used for 30 odd years and not maintained very well. Structurally its very sound, No issues with the core. Ours has the galley down in the lower part with a settee opposite and a raised saloon area opposite the inside helm.
Then engine is under the galley bench on the keel with a shaft drive. It has a 4 cylinder perkins, runs very smoothly and quite. We are very happy with it so far but have had little use from it over the winter as we have taken the time to do some refurbishing inside. Just finished refurbishing the hydraulics, full rewire, and new instruments. Hoping to get plenty of use out of it this summer though.

Tony. If you have a look on utube you can see the inside and around ours
Just put Kyeemah Challenger in the utube search window
We have made a new mast foot and repaired and replaced lots
But knew that when we bought it
We did a 6 month trip up north and never had a problem .... Well not true a 16 year old gel battery died lol
Enjoy your boat
Cheers
Reiner

[reiner]

Tony here is the utube link
http://youtu.be/AJRb0NtERVw

Cheers

[Phoenix39]

Hi, I've recently bought TonyR's Challenger 39. Had is surveyed and all came up well. He did a top job totally upgrading the inside. Only needs some TLC on the exterior now. I would like to here from anyone with a similar boat.

Cheers

Phoenix39 (Chris)