Challenger Powerboats Goes Out of Business
 

As you may, or may not know, when Mariah Boats Inc. went out of business in 2001, the remaining boat molds were sold at an auction to two different companies. One was Sea Fox based out of South Carolina, who purchased the 18-25ft molds, and have re-issued the Mariah line.

The other molds 25ft and up were sold to a company called Challenger Powerboats based out of Missouri. They used the old Mariah Z250, Z252, and the Z302 molds to create their FPS, or Family Performance Series. Challenger was primarily an offshore racing boat manufacturer, so their sales were extremely limited during the current economic state. The company filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on April 25, 2008 after a loss of $4.6 million in 2007, and a loss of $9.1 million in 2006.

After doing some research yesterday, I found out there was a Liquidation Auction where all the assets of Challenger were sold. Including the old Mariah boat molds. I found the company who handled the auction, and found photos of everything that was up for sale on September 27. It's pretty depressing to see all the old Mariah molds just sitting outside in an overgrown grass field. The model numbers are still spraypainted on them, and you can visibly see the Z250, Z245, 272, 302, and even the Z308 cruiser molds just wasting away outside. You can also see the Jubilee molds just stacked on top of each other. It literally hurts to see this, knowing all the hard work and passion Jimmy Fulks and his team put into the design and construction of these. I'm curious to see who purchased the molds, and if they plan on doing anything with them, and I hope and pray they don't get destroyed. :shakehead:

Anyway, here's the link to the auction photos. There's 6 pages, most of the molds start on page 4.
Challenger Powerboats Auction Photos

If anyone knows anything or has any info to add, let us know!

I guess that with the economy going the way it is, it was only a matter of time before one of the well known boat builders went under. :( It wont be long before those Challenger owners out there will be doing the same thing we've done with the original Mariah boats.....

Our friend GreatLakesSkipper on ebay must have been at the auction, he has a lot of new challenger parts available, and even an unfinished FPS 250 hull in one of his new auctions.

If you had the mold how hard would it be to build a new hull out of it?

All you'd need is the fiberglass, gelcoat and some skilled people to apply it all. :)

I know a guy here in Cali that has five employees building costom wakeboarding boats. His shop is simple, just a couple molds and a paint booth! They turn out a boat every month.
Thinking of bringing the true Mariah back?