Nov 28

Nov 28 This Scorpion is Deadly: Another Vintage Sport Boat Saved With an Epic Restoration

The fact that we have featured quite a few George Linder designed 21 Challenger, Shadow and others is a testament to the design and the appeal for boats in that size range. Boats that can handle a range of power, perform in some rough water and take the family along. What is also obvious is the timeless lines of the low profile hull. This restoration is a full resurrection, an abandoned 21 Challenger copy called a Scorpion from Canada, left in a field for 10 years, rotten to the core and an ambitious young guy who brought it back to life.

When I first saw Daniel’s yellow 21, I wanted to learn more. He had messaged me about finding the boat and was about to go into the painstaking journey of boat restoration. I don’t know if Daniel has a medical degree, but he went into full surgery on this one. The hull was cracked, and consequently the core was compromised, the structure was rotten and it needed everything. This is an extensive one, with lots of pictures, let’s dig in.

When Daniel was looking around for a 21 Challenger, he found one that was in need of major repair but the owner wanted a lot of money for it, so a friend told him about one that was left in a field, and it was love at first site.

Daniel and his father, in what looks like a great shop, had there work cutout. Since they had to redo the core, they made a cradle to support the boat, and got to work removing everything. They redid the entire hull with balsa core.

They built a cradle for it. Here you can see the old transom, later Daniel made a new splash well with a higher transom cutout.

I joked with Daniel that it would be easier to make a mold and make a new boat from it and in some ways that’s true. Once the core was glassed in, they cut a new transom and stringers from marine plywood. After putting it all together, a new tank was fitted and foamed into place. A new marine plywood floor tied it all together.

New balsa core which still is an incredibly light and strong material. Lots of work to re-core a hull.

Another cool thing Daniel did was make a new splash well, making the transom taller and giving a nice clean look. When it came to hardware, there wasn’t a lot to salvage. The windshield was mostly missing, so they made a template out of wood, and cut a piece of tinted Lexan, which turned out amazing. Although the bow rail isn’t there anymore, Daniel might add that in the future.

At some point, Daniel had purchased an old Checkmate and it ended up being a donor for much of the parts you see on the Scorpion, including the jackplate, trim lever, hydraulic steering, hot foot, and most importantly the Mercury 3.0L EFI 250 Pro XB. The 250 XB was a fairly hot engine aimed at the hi performance bass market at the time. Great engine for this boat. I always love the 250 range, perfect blend of performance, value, and power.

Extensive repairs to the hull, patching, filling and sanding. The extra work here making things straight and true is worth it.

As you could see, the original was a nice yellow color with a white hull, and I think it was smart to stick to that color scheme. A very classic look for a great looking boat. Once the boat was turned over, the repairs on the hull were extensive, patching, filling and sanding. You can see where Daniel and his Dad repaired it. When they got it where they wanted, and blue printed the hull straight, they got it ready for paint. They did weigh the boat before rigging and it was 1250 Lbs.

After primer, they painted it with Interlux VC Performance Epoxy, a super durable paint made for hulls. This came out great and is probably better than new. Incredible work these guys did. To get it back to the original yellow, they used Epifanes Poly-urethane, a durable marine paint. The yellow looks really sharp and you can see the gloss in the photos. An added benefit of yellow’s and white’s is they do hide any imperfections, not there are any here but it’s a great low maintenance color that pops.

The color scheme is just like original and looks great.

For the interior, Daniel used the seats out of the Checkmate, the pedestal buckets and bench have the matching colors and look really sharp. The windshield and hardware Daniel made look very nice. Not only is the windshield a nice custom piece, it’s pretty nice to have, especially where Daniel boats around Southern Ontario, which can get a little chilly. I really love how they used a donor boat, salvaging some great parts to finish the Scorpion.

The Mercury 250 Pro XB was taken off an older Checkmate, and much of the hardware was too. A great donor boat really helped the project along.

Although he season was almost over, he got to run it for a bit and without much setup work was in the high 70s. With some experimenting Daniel is looking for 80+ MPH and should get there. What a build, thanks for sharing Daniel. I really appreciate these projects.