Chinook is a Canadian made 1978 Challenger 7.4 m (24 foot 3 inch)
sloop with a wineglass underbody section, a long (not deep) fin keel
and a detached rudder. The hull form is a truncated (at the transom) double ender.
Chinook has 6' standing head room and a deep sump (12").
I have owned Chinook since 1994. I have made a number of improvements to Chinook including:
Replaced rotted plywood keel floors with composite "Solid oak/West System epoxy/glass mat"
floors.
Replaced the plywood sole with a laminated solid mahogany sole.
Replaced all thru-hull fittings with new bronze fittings.
Installed new bronze ball valves on all thru-hulls.
Replaced all hoses to thru-hulls.
Replaced the direct discharge marine head with a (legal) self-contained MSD.
Replaced two shrouds.
Replaced the lifelines with new double lifelines.
Bought a new main sail.
Rewired the mast and the running lights.
Repainted the topsides of the hull with two-part linear polyurethane (orange).
Revarnished the interior and exterior bright work.
Replaced all running rigging (halyards and sheets).
This season (1997) I have made the following additional improvements:
I installed a pressurized water system (including an accumulator tank).
I repaired all gel coat cracks in the deck with West System
epoxy and painted the deck with Petit polyurethane paint.
The cockpit sole had lots of athwartship cracks that I had to repair.
That repair was complicated by the molded in non-skid. Thus, I
ground the non-skid off and sanded the cockpit sole to a smooth surface
(still with cracks). I then rolled on three coats of West System epoxy
to fill the cracks and seal the surface. I made my own non-skid
by mixing sieved quartz sand into a batch of West System epoxy and
rolling the mixture onto the surface (after masking the edges).
When the epoxy cured, I scrubbed it thoroughly and then applied
two coats of Petit urethane paint.
I installed a new circuit breaker panel with voltmeter and ammeter,
added two 1.2 watt solar panels, installed a new battery box and two group 27 marine batteries.
I built new mahogany cockpit seats. I varnished one seat with 18 coats of spar varnish.
I finished the other seat with 12 coats of urethane varnish.
The final finish on both seats was achieved by sanding the surface
perfectly flat with 600 grit SiC sand paper and then polishing
back to a shine with 4,000 grit alumina powder followed by 40,000
grit alumina powder.
I installed a Hood Seafurl 810 LD furler to the fore stay.
Unfortunately, I forgot to add a guide block for the genoa halyard
to the top of the mast. Consequently, I suffered a bad case
of halyard wrap. That led to the discovery that a flexible
wire halyard is MUCH MORE abrasive than a 1x19 wire stay.
The result was that my jib halyard sawed through the fore stay.
I discoverd this little problem when the fore stay broke while I
was trying to furl the genoa as a thunder storm approached. Since
the sail was then the only thing holding the mast up, I couldn't
take the sail down until I jury-rigged an alternative fore stay.
Fortunately, my boat has a spinaker halyard, which when attached
to the bow pulpit makes a good fore stay. As a result of this mishap,
I built a new fore stay, installed a properly located guide block on the
mast head and reinstalled the furler, which works perfectly. Since I
replaced the fore stay on my Allied 36 Seaquestor
this spring, I used the old wire (with new StaLok fittings) and
turnbuckle from Seaquestor for the new stay. Thus, I replaced
a 5/32" stay with 5/16" end fittings with a 9/32" stay with 1/2"
end fittings. The breaking strength is more than twice the weight of the
boat, so I think it will be strong enough.
I built new mahogany trim for the interior to cover a grouted joint
in the hull liner, that had gotten "disgusting". I also revarnished the
dinette table (5 coats of urethane gloss varnish).
I am still working on the exterior teak. Yesterday (13 July),
I replaced all of the teak plugs that had come out with new plugs
I cut from the old teak cabin seats. As soon as the epoxy cures fully,
I will sand the exterior teak down and varnish it. The cabin topo
grab rails are in rough shape. Thus I am presently contemplating replacing
them with new teak rails.
Challenger 7.4m (24'3") Sloop Chinook"
