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History:
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7. New Bulkheads |
8. The Cockpit Floor |
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I think I first got the itch to find a classic flats boat to restore from my good friend and GM of Shelton Ferrari, Will Campbell.
Will's a fellow car nut and flats fishing aficionado who piqued my interest with his enthusiastic stories of vintage flats boats, particularly the Challenger. Listening to him talk about how incredible it would be to have a classic, vintage skiff among a sea of mass-produced boats really got me fired up. I've always been a sucker for custom, vintage cars so why not a boat?
I began to search the web for anything I could find related to Challengers. I hit pay dirt one day while reading the Florida Sportsman fishing forum.
One of the forum's members named RCarbon had just finished his very own Challenger restoration and posted a gallery of images. Once I saw those beautiful images I was hooked! I knew that was the type of boat for me.
I immediately began to scour the ads and the Internet for any Challengers for sale. As luck would have it, I found out through Will that Jody Moore's Challenger was for sale.
Jody's boat was known as a Perfection Challenger. It seems that sometime during the late 1970's to early 1980's a company named Perfection bought the rights to reproduce the same original classic Challenger that was first made in the 1950's. I believe it is the same exact boat but made a little later in time by a different company.
Before I go any further, please understand that I am by no means an expert on this subject. I barely even come close to scratching the surface of understanding the historic timeline of these boats. So don't hold it against me if I have recounted anything less than perfect.
The Challenger holds a significant place in flats fishing history because it is thought to be one of the very first flats skiffs. Originally constructed in Biscayne Bay as a runabout, several local upcoming guides such as Flip Pallot and Mark Sosin recognized it's potential as a shallow water fishing machine and began to buy and modify them for flats fishing.
The boat quickly gained popularity among many guides and flats fisherman for it's incredibly shallow draft and performance. Not only did it easily pole and track across the Biscayne Bay flats, the Challenger's unique round chine design allow it to get on plane in extremely shallow conditions by turing the helm hard over and literally rolling up on it's side to get on plane.
The Challenger was ideally suited for flats fishing and was even more at home in the Florida backcountry.
If my memory serves me correct, the popularity of the Challenger led to a few companies trying to expand upon a good thing. I believe it was Flip Pallot who took the Challenger hull and attempted to widen it. The result of this effort was known as the Wind River Skiff. I wish I knew more about these skiffs and what happened to them but I'm afraid I don't/
As you can tell by some of these older photographs, Challengers have very graceful lines and a very beautiful flare to the hull. The classic lines and proportions of the hull mixed with teak accents are what originally drew me to the boat.
Most of the boats I have seen have some type off teak spray rail fastened to the boat. I have been told that these were a necessity on the round chine hulls to cut down and deflect the water that would otherwise run up the hull sides and create an uncomfortable spray.
The Challenger that I purchased from Jody was a side console model. Although the Challengers came in a variety of different layouts, the side console was, in my opinion, the most beautiful and functional.
Jody bought the Challenger from the original owner Toby White and named her Happy Mon. If you read Florida Sportsman magazine you have undoubtedly enjoyed many of Jody's excellent contributions to the magazine. I can only imagine the adventures and the fish that she has seen in her time.
I bought the Happy Mon from Jody back in May of 2004. I immediately began the long, tedious process of restoring her but I had to relegate her to the sidelines when my first son was born in later that same year.
Being a father took priority over everything else and the restoration went on hold for almost a whole year. I was able to work on a few details here and there but I wasn't able to devote enough time to really see any progress.
I finally have had enough of a hold on fatherhood to free up some time to begin working on her again. I'm solidly making progress when I can and I am progressing along nicely. I will keep updating this journal when time allows so that you can track the progress along with me.
The whole motivation for undertaking this project was to have something special to pass down to my son when he's older. Some of my best memories of my childhood are when my parents took my brother and I fishing.
I eagerly await the day she is complete. God willing, my son and I will have a lifetime to build our own special memories on the Challenger's decks. Hopefully we'll be able to see her hit the water and catch some fish soon!
In the meantime, enjoy the progress!
Before Pics...
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