New O'Day 25 owner

[JRT]

Finally made it out for our first sail. Took a bit longer for the new Precision headsail to get here, but looks real nice with my newish North Sail main. The 6hp Tohatsu sailpro works better then the old 7.5 2 stroke mercury. It easily got us underway at idle and needed very little throttle. High thurst prop and 25" long shaft were worth the upgrade for sure.

Sails did great for us and we cruised the lake for several hours without needing the motor. Looking forward to our sailing classes in April, my daughter and I are both taking the keelboat certification course over 4 days in April to really learn.

 

[Ward H]

Looks real good! I'm glad the sailpro works well. I'm sure the 25" length will pay off if any chop kicks up.
Your daughter already looks like a pro. Neat taking the keelboat course together. She'll be outselling you in no time.
Thanks for posting.

 

[JRT]

Thanks Ward, she is 11 and really seems to love the sailing part. She told me her friends think it is cool we have a sailboat and she wants to really learn.

I did a fair amount of local research before getting the 6hp. After talking with several sailors at our lake, they all felt the 6hp with high thrust and 25" would be perfect for what we wanted and would even work if we decide to do a trip to TN for overnighting down the road.

The old O'day is functional and everything works correctly on her now. I need to finish the toe rail install which will probably be it for the season so we can build out time up sailing. Since we plan to keep her for awhile longer sometime next winter will be new cushion covers, hull and topside paint and removal of below water penatrations.

 

[JRT]

So I sent my old original Main and Jib to Sea Bags in Maine and they accepted them and made me these 2 bags for free. I wasn't sure they would want them given they are just old O'Day sails but they sent me a shipping label and all I had to do was pack them up and send in.

I asked them to specifically make the bags with the O'Day logo and Sail logo. This lets the sails stay with the boat still in a new functional role. Also a plus was I lived in Maine, and my son was born there so it seems like a nice connection.


https://seabags.com

 

[JRT]

First weekend of keel boat lessons. Had a terrible cold Saturday so did both days of classroom then Sunday for sailing. Not great, 50 degree bit learned a lot. Best of all Abby got some great instruction and had a fun time on the S2 8 instructors boat. Our imstructors are Susan Wilson and David Ellis who just moved to the area from St Petersburg.

 

[Jackdaw]

First weekend of keel boat lessons. Had a terrible cold Saturday so did both days of classroom then Sunday for sailing. Not great, 50 degree bit learned a lot. Best of all Abby got some great instruction and had a fun time on the S2 8 instructors boat. Our imstructors are Susan Wilson and David Ellis who just moved to the area from St Petersburg. View attachment 148568 View attachment 148569

Nice job getting out there even when you didn’t feel well. What classes and or certifications did you take? It’s interesting, that boat looks pretty rough for a certified training boat.

 

[JRT]

No I was well, I meant the weather was bad, cold, rain and blowing pretty hard. They haven't turned on the water yet so she hasn't been able to wash her boat since before winter. You have to remember us southern lake sailors are not the hard core MN you all are! Normally her boat is actually one of the cleanest ones but nothing in our marine is in mint condition.

It is a US Sailing class called, learn to sail, she is teaching it as a hybrid right now as she is a small boat instructor so we are getting all our instruction on keel boats instead of the dingy sailboats. I knew going in it wasn't exactly what I wanted (Basic Keelboat cert) but it is a nice first step, supports the club, and get's us more formal training. She also plans to have us all out in the summer and teach us the sunfish sail boats too, the club has about a dozen available to members to us for free. Abby is pretty excited to get to play with them this summer, Dad isn't terribly excited to be flipping around in the small wet boats...

For my daughter and I we are probably a bit farther ahead then some, but I really wanted to spend time in a controlled learning environment. Abby loved it and she did a lot more then what I have her do so she is learning new things and that makes me more comfortable. The instructor told me she is working with US Sailing to get our club/her certified for basic keel boat and this summer she is taking that course work to become a basic keelboat instructor. We have a blue book that we will get items and skills signed off as a nice first step in a record of our abilities too.

 

[Ritdog]

Just sent you a PM...would like to suggest you install a simple swim platform on the port side about 12" off the gunnel. Makes it very easy to unload stuff and climb on board when loading at sea. You can see it in the photo I sent.

 

[Jackdaw]

No I was well, I meant the weather was bad, cold, rain and blowing pretty hard. They haven't turned on the water yet so she hasn't been able to wash her boat since before winter. You have to remember us southern lake sailors are not the hard core MN you all are! Normally her boat is actually one of the cleanest ones but nothing in our marine is in mint condition.

It is a US Sailing class called, learn to sail, she is teaching it as a hybrid right now as she is a small boat instructor so we are getting all our instruction on keel boats instead of the dingy sailboats. I knew going in it wasn't exactly what I wanted (Basic Keelboat cert) but it is a nice first step, supports the club, and get's us more formal training. She also plans to have us all out in the summer and teach us the sunfish sail boats too, the club has about a dozen available to members to us for free. Abby is pretty excited to get to play with them this summer, Dad isn't terribly excited to be flipping around in the small wet boats...

For my daughter and I we are probably a bit farther ahead then some, but I really wanted to spend time in a controlled learning environment. Abby loved it and she did a lot more then what I have her do so she is learning new things and that makes me more comfortable. The instructor told me she is working with US Sailing to get our club/her certified for basic keel boat and this summer she is taking that course work to become a basic keelboat instructor. We have a blue book that we will get items and skills signed off as a nice first step in a record of our abilities too.

Sounds like a perfect plan!

 

[JRT]

Week 2 of our sailing class was again challenging conditions. Saturday was a bust with cold front and major rain moving in around noon so we extended sailing time on Sunday. Forecast was 10-15 with temps low 50s. Actual was probably 10-15 but gusts were all over the place. I would never have gone out if it was my daughter and I but with an instructor on her boat was an excellent learning experience.
I got alot of tiller time and I really had fun learning and getting proper tips. We learned a lot about our lake, it actually gets pretty squirrelly in certain areas and learning them and how to handle was awesome .

It wouldn't be an adventure without issues and problems too. The original plan was to pace the weekend races in the back of the pack. This got me exposure to how the races work and procedure and having handlers on the sheets was a nice change as all I needed to do was concetrate on course and not adjust sails. Unfortunately all did not go as planned. The boat was a S2 8.0 with fuller and all halyards lead to cockpit, so big change from my O'day 25 simple setup. While the main halyard was being winched up the sheet end some how got caught and jammed in the wrap. It was sucked big time and the main was all the way up and we couldn't release tension. After some time of trying to use levers and other winches to pull it out I recommended to try to release the tack pin. It took a lot of effort to get the pin out and I managed to not drop it or get knocked overboard but it worked. At this point we missed the start but did come back and try the course for a bit.

For the short time I really did like the race concept. Ya I was terrible at calling sail adjustments because I'm use to doing everything myself. Still it was fun and we started to close in on another boat. But the wind was consantly gusting and changing and the other brand new sailors (zero sailing experience) really weren't learning much so we bailed out and just went to work on basics.

It was fun and gave everyone more time to think. I really started to truely understand the value of an adjustable traveler with 4 to 1 and I think this has to be my next upgrade.

It never warmed up so we decided to head back in. Of course the outboard decided to jam up and would not rotate down. I tried everything I knew, the instructor could not understand what was wrong either. After one other crew tried I decided to give it another try but had to hang out the back past the railings and hope not to have to practice MOB. Finally I managed to get the pivot plate and pin to move and we had the motor down!

It was a fun adventure for sure and once again a bad day on the water is still a great day of living and learning.

 

[JRT]

Today I installed new teak toe rails. Went pretty good, took a bit of time as I had the wood cut to 3/4" x 1" so I cut to the size and rounded corners. I'm very pleased with the results and will be cleaning up the other wood.

 

[cb32863]

What did you seal the screw holes with?

 

[JRT]

What did you seal the screw holes with?

Nothing, right now I'm trying them flush with a countersink in case I need to remove and seal again. I butyl taped the hole, the seat between the wood and the countersink screw head.

 

[JRT]

Skip Work, Go Sailing!

Work has been rough for the past 2+ weeks so I banked a bunch of time and said no to Friday in a building and yes to on the water. My friend joined me at 9 AM and we set off with condions 9-10 with puffs in the 15-18 expected.

He has practically zero experience, last sailboat he was on was in the 70s. So my 1976 would have been almost new then!

Thanks to my recent sailing classes I was feeling much more comfortable and looking forward to putting the new knowledge to practice. We set off with no drama or issues. Once my friend was comfortable under motor he did great holding us into the wind while I raised the sails.

We immediately had a perfect beam reach run across the lake and under tthe bridge with just minor adjustments. After the bridge we were on a broad reach and eventually got into a downwind run.

We needed to head back so ended up tacking back and forth close hauled. Unfortunately we just couldn't make significant progress back and Dad needed to be back in Huntsville to pick kids up so the motor was dropped and sails secured .

My friend did great and I really got a complete exercise of all points of sail.

My final thoughts are the new sails really helped and even heeling in the puffs was controlled and the boat never felt like she was fighting me like the old sails last year. The 6hp 25" new Tohatsu Sailpro model was way better then the old 7.5 20" 2 stroke Mercury too. I think I have a good combo now and will prioritize sailing this season.

 

[Ward H]

Great report, John!
Nice when it all comes together like that. Sounds like your upgrades were good choices.

 

[JRT]

Summer has arrived. Weather reports were all over the place for today but My daughter was game and we figured even if it stormed on the lake it would be good practice. I'm also happy to report that my new rebedded toe rails are still leak proof and we had a dry interior. I'm pretty sure the rub rail needs to be rebed but I'm taking a break from boat projects.

So today was a race day but we just wanted to spend time doing our thing and elected to sail around and enjoy all the boats out. Water temps are finally comfortable so I dived and unstuck to notorious O'day 25 centerboard. I really have no idea why it keeps jamming but we marked the line to keep from pulling it up too tight and will try that this season.

I have to brag on my daughter, she really has taken to sailing and has great confidence. After freeing up the centerboard, she stayed on board, I raised the sails and with no instruction from me she had them trimmed and us underway like a pro.

We worked all out points of sail and even practiced man over board drill which went really well. With any luck we should be able to sail next Friday again before a 2 week break with travel and trips.

 

[JRT]

My daughter and I went out today, wind was just terrible so we broke out the drifter and did pretty good. Wish I could get a pic of us underway showing the whole boat and sail.

 

[JRT]

Father's Day sail, drifter helped but I think our tow added a lot too.

 

[JRT]

Happy 4th of July. We went out, did a bit of sailing then waited for the show. First time at night and had a good time. Just too many bugs at night so need to figure out a solution for that. Made it back with no drama, the O'day 25 really is a predictable boat so in the dark I had no worries.

 

[jwing]

Hi, John. I use Listerine or a generic copy for insect repellent. It works very well against the bugs that we have around here. Simply splash it on all exposed skin. This works as well as any DEET product that I have used, but without the DEET side effects. Bonus: Listerine on the skin is magically refreshing on a hot day/evening.