challenger offshore
 

I have a friend looking into an offhore boat built by challenger. They are built in the midwest. According to there website they have been around. Does anybody have any info, experience, etc about them????

The ones built in Michigan Rock my buddy has a 28 foot 1993 and its one of the best riding 28's I've ever been in.....IMHO the newer ones are stepped lake boat crap....

Are they stepped hulls? My friend is looking into the 39 footer.

I think they call it a DDC hull one big step...they have a website.....

Lake boat crap??? Cheaply bulilt, Bad ride, Not true offshore built,??????

I think the 39 came from the 39 Aronow mold. Magic made them a few years too. Not a stepped hull. I've ridden on a few at LOTO, nice ride, seemed solid to me.
Gary

They are big in the Ozarks. The Missouri state police use them as patrol boats.

The 33 DDC hull is stepped I dont know about the rest..IMHO True V's Rule......did someone say Apache????Just remember opinions are like a$$holes everyone has one (including me) I dont like the DDc hull, but you may love it....got to get behind the wheel and run it and decied for yourself.....

The DDC hull bottom is designed by Harry Scholl. Same guy designed the bottom on the 37 Active Thunder. Great rough water ride, my 37 Active Thunder rode much better than my 42 Sonic in the rough stuff, and that was a true V, The 37AVH didnt go up and down and need trim. I also had a single step 38 Top Gun, that was the worst riding boat I haver ever owned, the design in the step and location was not good. Everyone has opinions, but all I can say is that I have owned these boats, and if Harry designed the bottom, and it was like Radio Active and dialed in prperly, you would have one of these:D on your face.

Only the 28 and 33's are DDC Hulls. Those were the first new hulls from the then Aero-Tech Challenger Days.
since then they bought up other molds including the Axiom 42 ,Mariahs and some Italian express stuff.
The 39 as stated earlier is the old Aronow USA then Magic hull.

The race team that I bought my hull from switched to a challenger and took it to the first race of 2002 in Daytona and the hull busted up before the race was over. The guy was pissed. The factory was not going to fix it until George told them that the year before he had won the national championship in a real old Magnum and never so much as got a crack but their boat could not finish one race. They built him another boat but said that this would be the last one they built for him. He raced it one season and hated it and then got rid of it. The team was "Team Deranged". So for a lake boat I guess they are O.K. but I would not take one to the ocean for some wave smashing. It might turn into a hull smashing instead. That is the only run in with them that I know of.

Would the 39 be considered old technology?? Would this hull be considered equal to say a top gun?????

Challenger= to a Cig........I dont think so......there I go again should just keep my mouth shut!!;)

The 28's the Missouri water patrol uses are a single step hull.

The 39 is the original Aronow mold. The 28 and 33 are, as discussed, DDC's. Both of the bottoms were designed by harry Schoel. The decks and interiors were designed by Bonnett Design. They were a mold making company out of Holland, MI (since closed). Bonnett also did the design for most all of the Powerquest plugs and molds though Powerquest "finished" their own molds. That is why the decks and interiors of the Challenger 28 and 33's look so much like the Powerquests. The DDC is an excellent hull. When laid up properly, there is little with the same power and weight that will run with it. Rough water handling is better than most.

Harry is one of the most under-appreciated and recognized designers in the industry.

The 24, 28 (old hull and deck) and 30 footer (banana boat) were original Challenger stock back when they were built in Northern Michigan. The old Challengers were tanks and ran well. Jim Agles ran a 28 in "C" class in the early ninties and the boat ran in the low 100's, scary fast for that hull. It was later sold to the guys out of Chicago "Crazy Rhythm" and I believe they still run it every once in a while in the Great Lakes Trophy Series. Boatme could answer that for you.

The 42 they have was from Offshore Concepts, Inc. A small custom builder out of Grand Haven, MI that built a handfull of custom boats. They had two models, the race deck and sport cruiser. There are still a few floating around.

Challenger also purchased rights to a 55 from Italy but they don't own the molds.

They also own the old Mariah molds.

I believe Challenger is the largest, smallest boat manufacturer in the U.S.

To answer your original question: The 39 is old technology, the deck is straight out of the seventies. And for all you Apache lovers (myself included), that's not an insult, don't get your blowers in a bunch. The difference between the 41 apache design and the 39 Aronow design is the Apache is timeless.

Whirly

they have a 26 DDC which is my boat, they bought the mold from Larson

http://www.challengeroffshore.com/code/models/DDC26.htm

Hey Dyno, Are you picking on my boat? ;) Dwight

Whirlygig, you certainly do have the history down. I really like the 396 and the 42 is really nice also. The only 39 Challenger is at the plant and is in good shape. I have seen many of the Magics and they are very nice.

whirly,

you are correct about crazy rhythm

they still ran that boat up until last year in the GLSCS

not sure if they are going to run this year

boat was a tank and took alot of abuse

it has been around a long time

Never Dwight!!you know I love ya man!!!I'm just disapointed in the direction that the company went in after it left Michigan...I love the old 28's, Classic and they rougher it gets the better they like it! In my opinion they sold out....

I owned a 24 V sport, by Aero Tech Challenger. Tough hull. But, I had the same boat tie up to me in Lake of the Isles four years ago, and I was afraid to walk across the deck! Boat was the cheapest looking thing I had ever seen. Not at all like mine. I think it was the year before mine was built.Or year after?

I ran a 550hp through a bravo, the boat radared at 79.8 mph. many poker runs, still looks good.

Mine was I think a 94? I have a friend who runs the 28'. same tough boat as mine was. What year are you looking at? I can call my buddy up and see what year his is. Some real world knowledge for you if ya want? One year can make a big difference!

I know you love me Don..lol
I agree that a full v hull is better in the rough water. I like the ddc for the boating I do but, in the big waves the true v's are best. I know there is allot of people that would argue that but I have done both and the deep v's win in the rough water. Now in the flatter stuff the stepped hulls are hard to beat. Dwight

There were 12 DDC 28's built between 1996 and July of 1997 in Ohio, with the last VIN# ending in 797. Most were Missouri water patrol. The hulls and decks were shipped to St. Louis, Ron DiBartolo, for interior and rigging. The laminate schedule was Harry Schoell's except for using Airlite in the decks and Airex in the hulls. Any with VIN numbers after 797 were totally made at Challenger. The Missouri water patrol hulls and decks were laid up as Schoell wanted them to be, any after that, maybe caution is the best approach for your friend. Schoell's bottom design was a masterpiece of simplicity and it worked. 87.6 mph on a 33Ft. DDC with stock 502EFI. including exhaust....2 people half tank of fuel.

Carboman,

The 33 you recite did run 88 on Radar with only the 415 hp 502 EFI's but don't forget she also had blackhawks.

No question the boat is fast. It is available at Challenger's website, in original form still with blackhawks.

Whirly

Yeah it has been there for a while now. Too bad it would be nice to see that boat out and about. I almost worked a deal on it before I bought a new one. Dwight

I have a 1999 SV-24 for sale on this site, check it out, good pics. Purple and yellow with 496 HO Mag, beautiful boat, classic lines, no steps, little bit old school dash, but other than that, it's solid and runs 70 mph. Bought 2001 Eliminator 28 TD Daytona twin 496 HO Mags. Must sell the Challenger.

Harper220

OH Boy, he said the "A" word.:D :D

:fish:

Oops...

I "had" two challengers... was so disappointed.

If you want to contact me directly...

[email protected]

FYI... George and I did run a 28' Challenger for Ron DiBartolo and we were overall happy with it. We got out of the Challenger only to go into a canopy raceboat. Challenger was always very helpful and always provided what they promised. I am sure if you are interested in a Challenger, Ron would be more than happy to give you a complete tour of his facility along with a test ride in his boats. Ron stands proudly behind his entire line of boats either racing or not.

http://www.challengeroffshore.com/
Phone: 636-390-9000 or 800-644-6826 ask directly for Ron DiBartolo and tell him Ben Hedrick sent you.

Good luck, Ben

The 42 is from a very old mold It was built in Fla. Under the name Performer: You can find the add in Dave patanudes library on the NJPPC web site. www.njppc.com

Hmm. Hey Whirlygig, is that right?

FWK,

The 42 challenger started out as a 36 Cigarette "wide body". It also was built by Midnight Express, they called it the 37. Overall beam was 9'4" with the rub rail included. Midnight took the 36, cut the transom off, angled up the rubrail for a deeper hull side and stretched it to 40'6" overall. They built one hull which was a simple hull plug to build a deck plug on. The deck plug got to "duratec" stage and then was stored in the weeds behind Marine Machine for a few years as the company went defunct. There was never a deck mold built.

The hull mold, hull plug and deck plug were purchased in the early ninties by some of the remnants of the Cary Marine Corporation after Randy Postma closed it down in the late Eighties. They started a company called Offshore Concepts, Inc. The hull mold was refinished, the hull and deck plug were cut and pasted to produce what they called the 42 Axiom Race Deck. They later produced a second deck mold for the same hull and named it the 42 Axiom SC (Sport Cruiser) with more head room and integral windshield. The company produced a handfull of custom offshore powerboats before selling years later to Challenger Offshore, now owned by Ron DiBartolo.

Below is a pick of the original hull mold beginning the refinishing process.

The next pic is the original deck plug that was designed and built by the guys from Midnight Express.

This is what the same deck plug looked like after the guys at Offshore Concepts modified it for their mold. The dash shot.

Another...

Shot of the deck plug just before the mold was built over it.

The final product in the water.

Dash pic of above boat

Salesmanship,

Member that one don't ya???

All I remember is your twin engine BT running faster that my trip Axiom:o :)

Rough water might have been a different story though! :D

Whirly