Challenger on eBay

[Quetzalsailor]

I think this one's been around before. Maybe she'll get lucky this time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1962-Joh ... otohosting

Too bad about those ports!

 

[CaravelaofExe]

949HH 'Cinder', ex 'Eroica', ex 'Pukka Gen'. Molich finished, in Denmark (not Sweden), 1962.

 

[CaravelaofExe]

Currently at $8,100.00

 

[CaravelaofExe]

This photo of 949HH Cinder is from a Boat Trader advert 2007.

I wonder if an owner in the past didn't like the usual more shapely aft ports, or whether it was a way of dealing with problems in that area? These ports, which I have heard described as Jaguar car and Knud Reimers, are a 50's/ 60's Alden styling icon and shouldn't be tampered with!

Anyway, hope someone can return this boat back to the kind of life this photo suggests.

"If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble. If it happens to be an auxiliary cruising boat, it is without question the most compact and ingenious arrangement for living ever devised by the restless mind of man – a home that is stable without being stationary, shaped less like a box than like a fish or a bird or a girl, and in which the homeowner can remove his daily affairs as far from the shore as he has the nerve to take them, close-hauled or running free – parlor, bedroom, and bath, suspended and alive.”

E.B. White, ‘The Sea and the Wind that Blows’

 

[TomY]

Well said Iain (and EB ). This Challenger showed up on another site. Is there any chance it was built this way with the current port design?

At any rate, I hope someone buys her and keeps the boat up. It looks to be in fair condition and pretty well equipped. I'm afraid too many Challengers are falling through the cracks of neglect. The cracks are getting bigger these days too as the economy of the world is suffering and that won't help.

Once these boats are neglected and start to show the deterioration, I'm afraid many buyers don't see the quality boat beneath that is still able to deliver the sailing and cruising enjoyment of a very capable, time tested 38' seaworthy sailing vessel.

 

[CaravelaofExe]

New Advert for 949HH 'Cinder' here

 

[CaravelaofExe]

Cinder (949HH) back on eBay again here.

 

[CaravelaofExe]

'Cinder' sold for US $8,500.00. Use link from last post.

 

[ledbetter3199]

My wallet cries for the new owner who obviously bought it site unseen, I just happened to be in Florida on vacation and decided to go look at the boat in person on 3/22/09 and it was very rough, also, I arranged and hired a surveyor to go through her and either give me a thumbs up as to whether or not to pursue bidding on it, as I was prepared to buy it in person that day, however, I got the thumbs down... besides all of the obvious problems that this untrained eye noted, he noted even more rather large issues that needed to be dealt with in order to even put her in the water. The pictures are misleading and I hate that anyone is allowed to put this type of boat on ebay as I know that those pictures on ebay were old and out of date, I recall looking at this boat several years ago and considered buying until I found our Challenger, which was in much better condition.
Due diligence does pay!

 

[CaravelaofExe]

Obviously talking sight unseen myself, but if the purchaser was from a country my side of the Atlantic, where exchange rates make sense of it, it could still be a reasonable proposition for someone with the time and ability to put in most of the hours his/her self and still work within the completed ceiling price level of, for example, the currrently advertised price of 'Black Pearl'?

 

[CaravelaofExe]

Which is the ledbetter3199 Challenger? Is it one of the non-bold type "missing" boats on my listing here?

 

[TomY]

Welcome Ledbetter! Good to see any action here, especially this time of year. I am going to guess you bought Alliance? Just a long shot but I haven't heard from the (previous?) owner in some time.

On Iains post, it's hard to say how much work the ebay Challenger would need but it could simply be beyond any practicality at some point. I never did understand the cabin ports, was that re configured, and if so, how?

 

[CaravelaofExe]

I find it hard to imagine that an intact Alden Challenger hull, no matter the state of maintenance, could ever be considered “beyond any practicality”.

 

[TomY]

That's true for the hull but the Challengers wooden cabin structure and cockpit add up to a larger portion of the boat than one that is all glass. And once that's gone, the option to do something all together different is there.

It's nice to know that one could be restored to original even as a hull and deck with the drawings available. To hire that out to a professional boatyard though would require a real passion on the owners part. Similar to what I see with the many rebuilds of wooden boats here in town such as BOLERO which really only has a few original ribs and planks now. The boats are worth it but are there enough passionate owners to go around?

We can do our part by helping to keep that passion alive here.

 

[CaravelaofExe]

Great that ledbetter3199 was undaunted and obviously wanted a Challenger enough to eventually find one suitable.

Hopefully Cinder's new owner understands the task ahead and how fine a good result can be.

 

[Cinderhope]

Cinder's new owner most certainly does

My family purchased Cinder and we are extremely excited about her potential. We will be doing most of the work ourselves on the boat and actually we saw the boat several times before buying since we live only a couple of hours away. We were also pleasantly surprised with the state of the sails, and the mahogany inside the cabin. The Cabin has been remodeled by the previous own and we will most likely be leaving it with the new bunk setup. It has afforded extra storage above the bunks which will be handy.

They had left the Cinder in fairly sad shape, but after spending a few days cleaning her out, we have realized she shows much more potential than originally thought.
We had a lot of cleaning to do on the first few days, but as a family we are excited for the challenge. We will be blogging the entire restoration process at www.aldenchallenger.com

Btw, We were thrilled to find this forum...it will hopefully prove to be a very handy!!

 

[TomY]

What great news! Please keep us posted here, and welcome.