Just bought it

[casualemt]

Hi, This is my first post to the forum, I just bought an 1977 Oday 27. It has sat in the water for I'm guessing approximately 6 years without anyone doing anything for all that time..(I'm suprised it still has dock lines!) The previous owner passed away, and no one did anything to the boat except pay moorage fees. I now have the daunting task of cleaning it up. There was still food in the storage areas, clothes, bedding, corroded empty soda cans in the icebox..some unidentifiable fuzzy things...(they didn't move when I made a loud noise, so I don't think it is an animal of any kind) The boat has the little 8hp yanmar in it, and it does turn over, as in not frozen, haven't tried to start the motor as the exhaust system is RUSTY!!! I am excited to get the boat cleaned up and operational, it does have all the sails, rigging, and a ton of mussels on the bottom! My questions are: I believe it has the original head, a kind of large port a potty looking one with an overboard pumpout, anybody have any tips or manual information on the head?? what is the capacity of the fresh water tank? diesel tank? suggestions for a more usable (cruiseable) bow roller anchor system? And my big question is how do I get all that black mold/moss off of the deck? any good chemicals to help loosen it up? Thanks, Rich C.

 

[Pat]

Hi, you are not going to believe how your boat will clean up. If you go to google and type in O'Day sailboats, you will find a site named "I heart O'Day"...as in love....they have printedinformation on the original brochures for almost every O'Day boat including your 27. That site is a great resource...This site is a great resource too. Another wonderful resource is Rudy Nickerson who was with O'Day for many years and he owns
and operates a business, D & R Marine in Assonet, Massachusetts. D & R Marine's
website is a wonderful resource for your 27 and you can call Rudy as well at D & R's
telephone number. I'm going to defer to others as to what cleaner would be good for
a boat, but I'm willing to bet, it will clean right up...Do you have a trailer? This will be much easier to clean (outside) on a trailer than in the water. This website is a fabulous
way to get good accurate information on nearly every question you may have
Welcome, Patrick in Wichita

 

[RECESS]

You do not scare easy!

I bet under all that grim is a great boat. I use this on my boat. It cleans great and marine safe.

Totally Awesome.

 

[JonnyQuest]

Wow, thats a lot of Seagull Poop!


Interesting project, as I wonder if any of that grunge has permanently penetrated the pours and what the Braintrust says is the best way to clean it up (or new coat of deck paint!)

I have a '75 Oday 27--hope you enjoy your new boat! Be sure to check out teh SBO member 25yearslater. He has a long going thread about his restoration of an ODay 27: "And so it begins." A wonderful documentation of all he has done.

Welcome!

 

[anchorclanker]

Welcome! You have your work cut out for you, thats for sure. The outside should clean up pretty easily with some mild soap, a soft brush, and lots of plain oil water and elbow grease. But what of the inside? Was it wet? Did anything mildew, rot?

My 222 sat tied to her slip for at least 3 years, possibly longer. Nowhere near as nasty looking but still very filthy. The sail cover disintegrated upon removal but at least it had protected the sail. Fortunately, the interior was fine for the most part. Wasps were in the sailcover, grill cover, etc.. Luckily I didnt get stung.

Dont use bleach on lines or sails. Be very careful in the cabin if there is any mold or mildew. Wear a mask and use lots of soap and water and take your time. Dawn is probably the best and pretty safe to the environment. I believe everyone here will be very supportive and helpful, and no one will condemn you if you get in over your head and throw in the towel.

 

[anchorclanker]

PS. There is a Catalina 27 nearby that looks just as bad, but the hatch boards fell in, its got 6 inches of water in the cabin, is all moldy and mildewed inside and the cabinetry is all falling apart. Yuck.

 

[31seahorse]

Hello casualemt,

By the look of the other boats in the picture you must have discovered the Ancient Docking Area of Unloved Boats! I love looking around places like that.

Get the boat out of the water. Move it to a place close to your home where you can keep it for free. (Your yard would be good.) That way you can take your time and take breaks from the work so that you don't grow to think of the boat and its repair as a drudgery. You want it close to home so driving time does not eat into your work days.

Once the muscles are out of the water and dead they can probably be scraped off. A residue can be removed using On & Off, an acid chemical that must be handled with care. Drop cloth under everything or you will have a boat shaped dead spot in the grass.

I had an Irwin 31 hauled to my home and set on jack stands in the yard. We built a framework over it and covered the work area so we could work all winter. The work took from September to June, but it was well worth the effort. Stepping away from it was necessary from time to time.

Best Wishes, Phil

BTW: I like Bar Keepers Friend for cleaning. It is a pummace material that will not scratch, but cleans very well. Also, start with a pressure cleaner, but not the highest pressure setting. The swirling head should loosen the stuff in the nonskid sections. Easy does it on the wood areas.

 

[oliversdad]

Congrats! Looks like a challenging and rewarding project.Good luck.You have found a great resource in this site.Barry

 

[cb32863]

Be interesting to know what the interior is like and what the bottom is like too. 6 years in the water eh..... How much was it? Can't imagine the price was very high but the $$ going in to it will be.

 

[Pat]

I forgot about Awesome. We get it at either the Dollar Store or Dollar General...I can't remember which....it is a surprising product and the price is right. Pat

 

[Kevinbilly]

I forgot about Awesome. We get it at either the Dollar Store or Dollar General...I can't remember which....it is a surprising product and the price is right. Pat

It works!!!

 

[casualemt]

Be interesting to know what the interior is like and what the bottom is like too. 6 years in the water eh..... How much was it? Can't imagine the price was very high but the $$ going in to it will be.

After spending 14 years building custom yachts, 7 years managing 2 different marine repair yards, I have seen a lot, and after inspecting this boat, I could see its major issue was filth and neglect. It has all the parts, the interior was untouched in all that time, had to dig out bags and bags of bedding, cloths, food, old soda, and there was mould in the interior, as expected. I have since removed all the cushions from the boat, the covers are in decent condition, but I am going to launder them, I used my garden sprayer with a clorox and water mix, and douched the entire interior, inside storage areas, cabinets, ceiling, everything in the boat, Yesterday I opened all the hatches and ventilated the boat, and it smells pretty good inside. In the mean time, I have been scrubbing on the exterior inbetween other projects, and it is getting cleaner and cleaner with every day, the crap was caked on pretty thick on deck, but I am slowly getting it off. The little yanmar diesel turns over, and I should have it running next week, after rebuilding the exhaust. The sails and rigging are not bad, needs some new lines for the running rigging, but could be sailed as is. I used a flat shovel to remove all the mussels from the bottom, but I am concerned with the prop and shaft, the rudder is in good shape, and cleaned up easily. All the electrical on the boat works, including running lights, which I was happy to see. I did go the the auto wrecking yard and spend $25 on a nice big battery to replace the two dead ones, $100 for a new exhaust manifold for the engine, $13 for some new dock lines from Walmart, and some miscellanous cleaning supplies. My objective is to NOT spend a ton of money on this project as it is a stepping stone to my real objective....a cruising boat to take me to the south pacific!!.....Oh, I got the boat for $500 and it came with slip rent for a month..($200)

 

[kpgraci]

You ever hear of those ugly pickup competitions? That's what I thought of when I saw that pic. Wow. I'll bet there is a princess under all that dirt. Good luck with the project.

 

[emergpa1]

After spending 14 years building custom yachts, 7 years managing 2 different marine repair yards, I have seen a lot, and after inspecting this boat, I could see its major issue was filth and neglect. It has all the parts, the interior was untouched in all that time, had to dig out bags and bags of bedding, cloths, food, old soda, and there was mould in the interior, as expected. I have since removed all the cushions from the boat, the covers are in decent condition, but I am going to launder them, I used my garden sprayer with a clorox and water mix, and douched the entire interior, inside storage areas, cabinets, ceiling, everything in the boat, Yesterday I opened all the hatches and ventilated the boat, and it smells pretty good inside. In the mean time, I have been scrubbing on the exterior inbetween other projects, and it is getting cleaner and cleaner with every day, the crap was caked on pretty thick on deck, but I am slowly getting it off. The little yanmar diesel turns over, and I should have it running next week, after rebuilding the exhaust. The sails and rigging are not bad, needs some new lines for the running rigging, but could be sailed as is. I used a flat shovel to remove all the mussels from the bottom, but I am concerned with the prop and shaft, the rudder is in good shape, and cleaned up easily. All the electrical on the boat works, including running lights, which I was happy to see. I did go the the auto wrecking yard and spend $25 on a nice big battery to replace the two dead ones, $100 for a new exhaust manifold for the engine, $13 for some new dock lines from Walmart, and some miscellanous cleaning supplies. My objective is to NOT spend a ton of money on this project as it is a stepping stone to my real objective....a cruising boat to take me to the south pacific!!.....Oh, I got the boat for $500 and it came with slip rent for a month..($200)

Where are the pictures?

 

[anchorclanker]

Where are the pictures?

I second that, this thread is useless without pictures.

 

[OdayDave]

I love seeing an old neglected boat brought back to life. Before and after pictures will be interesting to compare. Make sure you check for water intrusion under the mast step and on the interior bulkheads where the chainplates attach to make sure that you don't have a compromised bulkhead that could result in a loss of the rig when under sail. These are all fixable problems but unlike some of your problems, these are not just cosmetic. They are safety issues. I found the water intrusion problem when I pulled the mast step off to install an organizer plate. The bolts had wet wood around them so I knew the core was wet. It took a couple of weeks to fix it but now it's better than new.

You may also want to replace the fuel and water hoses on the Yanmar. I had a fuel leak last year that dumped a couple of gallons of diesel fuel into the bilge. I've since replaced all the hoses.

It sounds like you know a bit about boats and their systems and it's great that you can bring this one back to life. Hopefully you can make some money on it when you sell it so that you can continue to move towards your goal.

Dave
s/v Lagniappe
O'Day 25

 

[25yearslater]

I'm here for ya bro. Can't abide to see a 27 meet the wreckers hammer.

 

[rs8684]

Wow! I give you credit. I wouldn't have considered taking on your project. The after pictures will really be intersting....

 

[anchorclanker]

If he got that much work done almost two weeks ago, im sure it looks much better. The cushions cabinets and motor would have really killed it if they were bad. Thats a far cry from this Cat 27 nearby, its in much much worse condition.

 

[casualemt]

Update on my progress...

First, I really appreciate all the input from everyone. I have been at the project for about 3 weeks now, and having a deadline to get the boat out of the marina by the end of the month has been a weight over my head. First I had to get the hull unstuck from the bottom as the growth had pretty much connected it (lol), I had a diver come, but the neurotic marina rules didn't allow him to clean the bottom...What?? Anyway they did allow him to clean the running gear, (I would consider the whole bottom "running gear") and he did tell me I had a nice variety of organisms growing on the bottom, and some of the big stuff happened to fall off (swim away?) when he swizzled out the through hulls with a screw driver, nice guy. Anyway, my big news is that after trying to start the little yanmar diesel with starting fluid, the motor kind of seized up...I could turn the motor back and forth, but when it got to a certain point, it would just stop, like it was hitting something inside the motor. I got freaked out thinking I had busted a rod or something weird like a broken valve...I also discovered the exhaust system was a bloom of rust at the mixing elbow, not much of value left. I went ahead and removed the exhaust system, and pulled the head. I discovered evidently when I used the starting fluid, the first time it tried to combust, it must have knocked all the old carbon loose in the head, and there was so much that it actually stopped the piston from going all the way up...interesting.. I cleaned out the head, and the intake and exhaust passages...luckily there was a yanmar diesel shop about a mile from the marina, and they were super nice about helping me get parts, gaskets and advice on putting it back together. I reassembled the engine, built a new exhaust system out of 1 1/2" galvanized pipe, had to make a temporary new fuel tank out of a gerry jug (old fuel in the tank) replaced the fuel filter, bled out the old fuel (interesting that this engine a YSB 8 has a factory electric fuel pump) topped up the oil, tried to start it, bled it again, tried to start it, bled it again...this time bled the fuel return line...and that little popper came to life!!!! Needless to say, I was one happy boat owner. While waiting for parts, I continued my efforts to scrub the boat clean, really needed a jack hammer for that black crud...I have a pressure washer that would have probably gotten right to it, but the Marina doesn't allow pressure washing on the docks.... This friggin marina has so many restrictions, I'm suprised they even allow you to have a boat there...Any way, I have removed all the cushions, and laundered the covers, they are not worn, just dirty, treated the foam, aired everything out, fabrezed the crap out of everything, and now it smells fresh as a mountain meadow inside the boat...with a little diesel mixed in..from all the bleeding...Sunday morning my son and I left the Marina of Our Lady of Multiple Restrictions behind, and made our first attempt at sailing the boat the 70+ miles north to Whidbey Island...I have just aquired a great story about hitting a draw bridge that was built lower than the height of my mast...yea it's a funny story without damage..We motored and sailed 34 miles in 10 hours, and for most of the last part of the trip, we had wind on our nose all the way, by evening, the chop was up, the tide and the wind was against us, we were making 2kts over the ground, and my dream of making it all the way to Whidbey in one day was interupted by the reality that it wasn't going to happen at that speed. We were near Shilshole Marina in Seattle, and ducked in there and took temporary moorage, cause I had to go to work for 2 days, and tomorrow I will continue the trip solo (unless I can find someone to go with me, so far no luck). The best thing is the boat is operational, the roller furling jib works great, and is in decent shape, the main is good, dirty but good, and the running rigging is usable...probably not in a strong blow or a storm but definately usable. The motor ran almost the whole 10 hours with only one minor oil leak glitch from the head install (an oil line at the bottom of the head) which I was able to fix while my son sailed the boat between giant container ships coming and going in the straits...wow...BIG wakes...like sunset beach waves..I was ever so grateful he was with me. I am attaching a couple of pics of the boat in a cleaner state...accent on clean"ER". I wish the bottom was cleaner, so I could make some way, and I will try to scrape some more crud off from the dock with my custom hull scraper (flat shovel with a milk container duct taped to it...) so I can eventually get it home...it would also help if the wind direction would cooperate, but I know it is the bain of every sailor that no matter which direction you have to go, that is always where the wind is coming from!! Fair winds to all!!!
Rich C.