Thought I had this posted last night, but I'll try again.

Sep 9, 2004
39
The Challenger wasn’t designed as a long-term cruiser, certainly not compared with today’s boats. But, as I tell people: today’s boats are designed from the inside out; the Challenger was designed from the outside in. It was designed first to sail. Space left over was used for people comforts. Sailors who buy Clorox bottles don’t understand. Their loss.
Essay, 949EE, has prompted smiles and thumbs-up and turned heads since we moved her from the dock in Texas more than 18 months ago. She still does, even though she is far from finished. Grab rails are still raw wood, anchor chain and rode are often on deck, the main sags and sports the number 11881 - which may translate as a variation of Aces and Eights. The list is endless.
A year of work included building a new cockpit, including a new instrument panel that we could see without getting on our knees; rewiring and new instruments and new panel; Schaefer 2100 roller furling, new galley, Adler-Barber refrigeration in a highly insulated ice box; a re-worked head; new plumbing and pumps in head and galley; rebuilding nearly all v-berth and cabin lockers; a new in-deck hatch on the stern; bottom paint and Awlgrip on the hull; hours spent on brightwork; new Link-10, ARS-4, ProWatt 1750 inverter, 20-amp shore power charger, and six new Trojan T-105 batteries; and a Air-X wind turbine, among other improvements. By November, we’d had it working and wanted to sail.
We left Charlotte Harbor, on the West Coast of Florida, on Nov. 13, sailed overnight to Marathon, made our way to Cat Cay in the Bahamas, then Frazer’s Hog, and Nassau, then the Exumas. We retraced much of our route back to the states, getting home in early March by crossing through Lake Okeechobee.
For the first three weeks we - my wife, Cathy, plus her Yorkie and my golden retriever - had two buddy boats.
The overnighter down the west coast of Florida to Marathon was glorious sailing. One of the other boats measured a consistent 20 to 22 kts of wind for long stretches. Our highest consistent GPS speed readings were 7, with a high of 8.3. Didn’t think I’d ever see 8 kts. The old girl is stiffer than I expected. Even though I had to spend several hours replacing a bilge pump, it was wonderful sailing, watching the stars, seeing a fully round Moon lead little Mars over the horizon just before dawn.
So, after many miles, a spectrum of winds and waves, beaches and living aboard for more than three months, some thoughts:
Bless the full keel. While both the other boats had crew over the side on the way to Marathon to cut off the crab traps, Essay cruised along. Finally, we didn’t even bother to look for buoys to avoid.
Essay’s bilge pump thru-hull is below the water line. The first time water siphoned back into the boat we caught it in time. I raised the out-flow hose as high as I could get it under the port locker seat. Not enough. One morning I woke up at 4:01 and realized that my dog was wedged into the V in the v-berth, and was sopping wet. I climbed out of bed into six and a half inches of water in the cabin. After many hours of running the bilge pump and bailing into the galley sink, we could see the floorboards, then the top of the fuel tank, then the bilge. A loop vent costs 50 percent more in Nassau than from West Marine in the US, but that’s the last flood we’ve seen. I also increased the size of the hose, but there can be a problem with doing that: if the rise in the hose is long enough from the bilge pump to the top of the loop, when the pump turns off, enough water will return to the bilge to turn the pump back on. A check valve would solve the problem.
Even though I replaced the fan belt twice, I’m still pleased with the new 125-amp alternator. It charges quickly and fan belts are a lot cheaper than diesel or solar panels. The Air-X was a good source of energy.
The Challenger doesn’t have nearly the storage space a “modern” boat does. And we overpacked and over provisioned. But, not being able to find stuff, or having to empty half a locker digging for it, is worse than not having it.
At odd times I had trouble with weather helm. It was worst sailing from Frazer’s Hog to Nassau. Advice I got later varied: reduce weight forward (I have 300 pounds of chain); drop the mizzen, take in jib, reef the mail. Still not sure what works best.
Handling a dingy and outboard is a continuing problem. Carrying an 8-foot Caribe on deck covers the windlass and forward hatch and blocked the view over the bow. Getting our 9.9 hp Suzuki off the stern rail onto the dingy was a major chore. We’re working on alternatives, including towing the inflatable dingy, towing our small hard dingy, even looking at a two-part dingy made by Brig that stows in two pouches. Davits are an obvious answer, but to me that would be like putting horns on Mona Lisa. Not gonna happen.
The small “hatch” I installed in the aft starboard corner turned out to provide access to a huge storage area. I mentioned this in an earlier post.
For some reason, when we really needed it - like overnighters - the Simrad WP30 autopilot worked, but I never figured out how to get it to operate consistently. The radar stayed in a drawer. Just didn’t need it.
I’d added a seat behind the wheel by drilling a 1 1/2” hole through of the aft corner locker seats. Below the hole I mounted wooden blocks, also drilled out to accept the base of a seat post. Slide the post in, put the padded seat’s post in the post and a cushy seat sure beats standing, or sitting too low. It moves quickly to port or starboard, depending on the tack. But it is 4 to 6 inches too far back. I may mount it on the front edge.
The best $50 I’ve spent was for an infrared thermometer from Radio Shack. I knew the new temp meter in put in the cockpit panel read way too high, but I never would have guessed it was 60 degrees high. The IR meter showed that the old Westerbeke 40 rarely ran over 185 degrees. I have no idea what RPM generated what speed. The tach showed either no RPM or 5500. I may put a picture in the hole the tach now occupies.

The macerator blew out just before we got to Nassau. After many attempts at trying to avoid the inevitable, I finally bought a new macerator. I don’t know of any pump-out facilities in the Bahamas. But the harbor flushes well. Thankfully. Enough said.
Those of us who sail, and who work on old boats, know how glamorous it really is. Yes, it can be thrilling, but it is also work. Sometimes it is hard work. So, to put some perspective on the days of snorkeling in water with almost unlimited visibility, and the sandy beaches and kicked-back days and the fresh lobster and conch and warm tropical breezes, here are some of the problems we had. Most are just things that will happen, some were caused by “operator error.”

Cast off from our dock but forgot the dogs. Picked them up at the neighbor’s dock, 100 feet away. Bad bilge pump. Both main and mizzen ripped, small rips along seams. (It is good to be half-owner of a Sailrite.) New Sirius satellite radio didn’t work. (Now have a $21 refund in my pocket and an XM radio; works great.) Anchor rollers froze, rode sawed through roller to SS sleeve. Broke cockpit remote mic connection. Blew an oil line just out of Marathon. (This was the worst of the problems and took too long to get fixed. Or maybe the macerator was the worst problem.) Tech who supervised the new e-mail system didn’t unlock the keypad on Icom 700Pro SSB. The Pactor II-USB blew up also. Good system for e-mail, when it works. Cathy spent three days in Nassau hospital with an intestinal problem. Still don’t know what it was. Both of us had dental problems. A golden retriever can be difficult to get out of the water and back onto the boat. A four-pound Yorkie can be flipped into the water - full one-and-a-half, layout position - if he is astraddle the jib sheet and you pull up on it sharply. Yorkshire terriers are much easier to get back onto the boat.
Was it worth it. Oh, yeah!
 

jsmall

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Mar 25, 2005
41
Dufour 31 Seaford VA.
Do you think you will be posting any pictures of your adventures or projects (cockpit rebuild in particular) on your web site? Great story!
Jimmy 949L
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Ditto on sharing the experience.

I'd love to see the work you've done on your Challenger as well. Thanks, good inspiration for the upcoming season.
 
Sep 9, 2004
39
My son is making great progress on a site that should be up - and have tons of photos - in about a month. He'll be down here in a couple of weeks and we'll work on corrections and select photos. With my connection speed, I've given up on uploading or even sending photos. But I'll let everyone know when the site is ready.