Just Adopted a 222

ebsail · Oct 18, 2011

1. If you have the space it's always better to have the boat home where you can work on it over the winter. Cleaning, waxing, repairing sanding painting etc. Also you can brush large snowfalls off with a broom
2. Shrink wrappig is not all that desireable. It doesn't allow much ventilation heat builds up on warm days, aiding mildew formation
3. The trick is to keep air going through the boat to avoid mildew, and to keep all critters both large and small out. Screen all openings (metal)
4. Remove all cushions or anything else a mouse could user as as a home (like sails) and put them in your house
5. You will need a ridge pole, use 2 long 2x4's bolted together.
6. You have to make some supports, A frames or other supports to get the lengthwise ridge pole up high enough to shed snow. I just put a couple of sawhorses on top of the boat. You need a steep angle in the tent you are about to make.
7. Use a commercial grade tarp as long as the boat and don't tie it down. Just take old milk bottles (1 gal) and fill them with a water/antifreez mix. Use the non toxic stuff you get in marine stores. It's OK if the stuff almost freezes. Just so its mushy and not solid so freezing wont break the plastic milk bottles. Hang at least 4 milk bottles on each side of the tarp. Don't tie anything around the boat. This way, if there is a tremendous snow load, the tarp can sag without tearing and when it melts, the cover will come back to shape. You can easily get back into the boat to make sure nothing is living in it.
8. Your Honda dealer will probably do everything you need for about a $100. If you want to get a manual, you can:
Run out all the gas by disconnecting the tank and running the engine. Make sure you are supplying cooling water
Oil fog the cylinders by spraying into the spark plug holes and the carb intake while manually pulling on the start cord.
grease lower unit
Examine and possibly change lower unit cooling impeller
Install new spark plugs

Good Luck Ernie

ebsail · Oct 18, 2011

I forgot- Make sure spark plugs are out of engine when spraying oiil into engine air intake

Joe11688 · Oct 19, 2011

treeman said:
Hello All:

I just adopted a 1984 O'day 222 this past weekend. I am very excited! This is the first serious boat I have owned. I purchased her from a very nice and caring couple from New Jersey.

My sailing experience, thus far, has been limited to a Sea Snark that I owned as a teenager and various vacation rentals: Sunfish and Hobies. I did a little bit of Windsurfing before my forty-something lower back said, "that's enough". I have been drawn to Sailing for almost my entire life. I wish I would have acted earlier, but I have a wife and two young children now. (ages 7 & 8) It seemed like an ideal time to share this hobby with them and start teaching them about sailing.

I am hopeful that I will be able to secure a slip at Lake Nockamixon in the Spring. For now, I must focus on winterizing.

I am humbly requesting advice on winterizing. Should I shrink wrap? Canvas tarp? Plastic Tarp? Do I need to build A-frames to keep the snow off? (I am in Eastern PA) Keep it by my house? At a storage rental facility? How about my Honda outboard? How should I prep. that?

Thanks in advance.

Congrats on the purchase of your 84 O'Day 222. I can guarantee you that you will love this boat. It's fast, easy to sail even with just the Mainsail, and it's 800 lbs keel makes it a very forgiving boat compared to centerboard sloops.
I bought mine new in a boat show and I still have it. It's all the boat I'll ever need. She will take you almost everywhere that her larger sisters will go.
I just posted some info on my storage tarp on one of the threads. I had built mast holding crutches for my boat and every year I strip the mast of almost everything except the halyards and use it for a ridge pole for a heavy duty Polytarp which is about 18'X30' long. I use pieces of tarp roller around the mast for chafe protection and tie the tarp off to each end of the mast with rope. Then I spiral a 100'X 3/16" line around the whole thing to hold the tarp in place and tie it off at both ends. This works for me.
As for the outboard, I start it with the skeg in a barrel of water and fog the engine. The directions are right on the can. "Sta-Bill'' makes a good fogging oil as does "Engine-Stor", and a can of either one should last you many years.
I then put the outboard down my cellar on a rack that I constructed out of 2x4s hanging from a joist near the wall. I drain the lower unit and replenish it in the spring.
In the spring I mount the outboard and run it in a barrel of water just to make sure that it will run OK when I get the boat to the club. I even raise the mast on the boat in the spring just to make sure everything is OK. Next spring I plan on installing a boom brake on my boat, so I'll have a good reason to get the mast up on the boat while it's sitting at the house. The biggest reason why I set my mast up is because after I lower the mast, I leave all the stays connected except the fore stay of course, and when I get my boat to the club to splash it in the spring, I'll be able to get the mast up in about 20 minutes. All the work will have been done. The boom is stored in the cabin with the sail and cover on it, and the engine is on the engine bracket with the electric wire going to the battery. I usually put the rudder in the back of my pick up body under the cap and mount it on the transom after I get the club.

In the fall, I keep all my rigging in the cellar including my CDI roller furler which is stretched out along a beam down there. Most of what is in my cabin I store in the house. The battery goes down the cellar and is put on a special charger that is designed to top off the battery automatically during the long winter. I always jack the wheels of my trailer off the ground for the off season. That's about it in a nut shell.
Joe

OdayDave · Oct 19, 2011

Dan -

Congrats on the 222. You will love it. I had one for 10 years and sailed and trailered it all over. I bought a 25 last year so I could do more exploring of Lake Michigan, which is why I'm a former 222 owner.

Before putting it away for the season, I always did a thorough cleaning job on the deck, bottom (carefully pressure washed the bottom to remove the scumline) and also the inside. I ran bleach water through water lines and then used compressed air to blow them all out so they are dry and don't get mildew or mold in them. I always took the water pump off the boat. The PO of mine didn't do that and freezing water split the metal pump which I only found after I tried to use the pump. I stored the standing rigging and running rigging in a bin at home. The CDI roller furling unit was suspended in my garage for the winter.

I would always use a tarp in the winter and would use the mast to support the tarp. I would suggest you support the mast in the middle of the mast if possible using the mast-step as an attachment point. Before putting the tarp over the top of the boat, I would wrap the mast in a separate tarp so that nothing on the mast (light, tangs, etc.) would chafe through the tarp. Also, to keep the tarp from sagging under the weight of snow, I would bow some lengths of smallest diameter pvc over the top of the mast and attach the ends to the base of the stanchions. Four of these works fine (two on each stanchion). I would remove the stanchions themselves as well so the tarp was relatively snug to the boat. I would leave my cushions in the boat and never had a problem with mildew (make sure the bilge is dry when you put it away). I always did a deep clean to get any remnants of food out of the boat. Then I would duct tape all openings around the main hatch so that mice could not get in. I never had a problem even after 10 years of storage. I would always lock the cockpit hatch so that no critters could get in there. I did find raccoon prints on the deck one time but since he couldn't get in anywhere, he moved on, thank goodness. That would have been a disaster since they tear up everything they come into contact with.

I would change the oil (main case and lower unit) at the end of the season, and then once at mid-season. At the end of the season, I would run all the fuel out of it (note: pull the choke when it starts sputtering and this will get it out). I took the remaining gas and put it in my car tank and always started with fresh gas of the non-ethanol variety at the beginning of the season. While I never fogged it at the end of the season as Joe suggested, but that's a good idea. I always stored the outboard upright in the basement. The engine always started like a top at the beginning of the season (Tohatsu 6 hp 4-stroke) and ran well for the 5 years or so that I owned it.

I would jack the wheels up so there was no weight on them during the winter, and then I would make sure and squirt some grease in the bearing buddies at the beginning of the season, and check the tire pressure before towing it.

All the sails were kept inside (hanging from the basement rafters to keep out any mice that find temporarily find their way into the house). I've heard of some people using mothballs to keep out pests, but I would be afraid I would smell that the whole sailing season.

Finally, I always removed the battery, topped it off and stored it on a shelf in the basement. The whole de-commissioning process took a couple of days. It's a little more complicated now that I have a diesel engine which needs to be winterized by others, but not a lot more. I'm still in the water, but I know I've only got a couple of weeks at most.

You are going to love the boat. It's a great size for daysailing and weekend trips and it trailers easily.

Good luck,

Dave
s/v Lagniappe
O'Day 25

Joe11688 · Oct 20, 2011

treeman said:
Joe:

Thanks for the info. I did a lot of research and kissed a lot of frogs before finding this boat. I am encouraged by your positive experience.

This is probably a stupid question, but is there any risk to using the mast as a ridge pole?

Can you describe your crutch design?

-Dan

What I can do Dan is send you some pics of my crutch design if you email me. sailtrinkka1986@verizon.net When I bought my boat at the Boston Boat Show I was lucky that the dealer I bought it off was probably the largest O'Day and Catalina dealer in the Worsester Ma. area. I was able to get him to agree to having the O'Day factory in Fall River Ma. install a full stern rail on my boat and also leave off the Gennie winches and tracks with cars for me to install on the combings of my new 1986 O'Day 222. The factory also built 19 other 222s with these stern rails so I'm told.
To make a long story short, I had a marine welder build a mast crutch attachment to fit on that stern pulpit and I built the wood crutch. Then I built a crutch for the bow pulpit. This works great for trailering as well as storing my boat for the winter with the mast used as a ridge pole. It would probably be a great idea to use a detachable mast crutch on your tabernacle as O'Day Dave has mentioned.
These boats are really great once you get the bugs out of them. The rudder blades on some of the O'Days, the larger ones included, were inferior. They can break. I've broke two of them. I now have a solid rudder blade and it's still kicking. Outside of that, they're a great boat that will give you a life time of pleasure.
I've probably done over 30 modifications on my boat and it's been non stop. I probably should post more of them in my "Owner's Photos" picture album on this site but if you go to it you'll see some of them. Here's a few that you can check out and hopefully get some ideas.
Joe

OdayDave · Oct 20, 2011

By the way Dan, you do want the spreaders off before putting the tarp on.

Dave
s/v Lagniappe
O'Day 25

Joe11688 · Oct 21, 2011

treeman said:
What about the stanchions and lifelines? Off or on?

I also remove the stanchions and lifelines for the winter and store them in my cellar.

OdayDave · Oct 25, 2011

I also remove the stanchions and lifelines so the tarp doesn't wear through at those pressure points.

Joe11688 · Oct 29, 2011

treeman said:
Gotta love this weather. The boat is not nearly prepared, but the snow has started here, already. They are calling for 4-6 inches hear tonight in Eastern Pennsylvania. That's almost unheard of for this time of year. What a blast!

We're supposed to get some snow here in Massachusetts too.

Just Adopted a 222

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