Repair of My '79 O'Day 19

Jul 25, 2018
43
O'day 19 MK-II Weekender Narragansett Bay
Hey Luckyone17,

I have been impressed with your courage in tackling some daunting projects with your O'day 19.
I purchased a 1983 O'day 19 back in August, and have addressed a few much smaller sailboat issues.
I did also purchase a new main sail from Precision Sails, taking advantage of their year end sales.

I do hope you may be able to offer some guidance regarding crack repairs on the coaming, the cockpit sole, and the cockpit drain area of my O'day 19. (please see attached pictures)

Your input will be greatly appreciated.

O'day 19 crack in coaming.jpg O'day 19 crack in cockpit drain.jpg O'day 19 crack in cockpit sole.jpg
 
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Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Thanks for the praise! That's one thing I picked up from my dad... the older I get, the more I wonder how much he knew versus how much he just thought his way through fixing something. I'm lucky... I've got the internet. Odds are, someone out there has done it before and has documented it. I wish my dad had had access to it, when he was still active. He would've been unstoppable.

BG, those don't look like bad cracks to me... most likely, it's just stress cracks in old gelcoat. Take a Dremel-type hand tool with one of those curved conical grinding heads, then grind out the crack. Get down to the fiberglass underneath, and make sure that's not damaged. If it is, you'll need to grind out whatever FG is damaged, and it's more of a repair.

What scares me is trying to fill the gelcoat back in. I'm more engineer than I am artist, and the thought of mixing gelcoat to match the existing stuff scares the bejeezees out of me. By the time I get the color settled, the gelcoat will have been cured for a week. That's one reason I settled on using epoxy instead of polyester or vinylester for my repairs, and painting over the hull. Forget about the other benefits of epoxy... I'll be there for a year and a half trying to match gelcoat colors. Instead, I'll just pick up another quart of Rustoleum Top Coat every season.
 
Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Tackled a bit more in the last week or so. Waiting for the spring and warmer weather to complete the hull repair, since I'll need warm temps for the epoxy to cure. Gonna make sure I've set aside cash to get the trailer frame bent straight and reinforcements welded in. May as well, since the boat will be off the trailer.

Sanded the tiller down and coated it with epoxy, twice. Waiting for a full cure before I varnish. Tabbed up a new outboard mount pad, coated with epoxy, and waiting for the full cure.

Cut out plywood covers for the cabin interior. Getting close and closer...





 
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Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Wasn't all that happy with the wood supports I had jerry/jury rigged up (cheap and what I had on hand at the time). Had a large tarp on the boat, too, preventing easy access to the cockpit and cabin while it was covered. It's keeping me from working on the boat in the cold months... so I took a day and build new mast supports, then covered it with smaller tarps.



Not shown is the center support, it's it's little more than that upper support stuck in a chunk of 4x4 with the edges trimmed down a bit to fit in the mast step.
 
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Jan 22, 2008
506
Catalina 310 278 Lyndeborough NH
I enjoy my 1983 O'Day 19 MK2.

Yours is the MK1 with a taller mast. It should share many mast/boom parts with the Rhodes and Mariner 19 of that era. My mast is the correct height for the MK2, but it does not match up with parts from D&R Marine.

My wife and I first learned sailing on our O'Day 19. It is easy to trailer, launch, and beach. It needs only 12 inches of water to maneuver with the rudder tilted up. Initially I used a Minn Kota Endura 55 after the 5 hp gas outboard failed. Now I use a Torqeedo Travel 1003-C. We enjoy the quiet.

This boat came on a trailer with rollers. The hull is sufficiently strong to handle the loads. I ended up removing the antifouling paint then sealed it with an epoxy barrier coat. The cabin top needed to be rebuilt by the mast. I suspect that weakness was the cause of the mast failure. The original repair was far from professional but it worked for the first years we used it. It is corrected now.

Yes, we do enjoy the boat primarily when we want to go somewhere else and don't want to go through the hassle of prepping our Capri 22 which stay in the water in Winthrop.
 
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Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Updates so far this season:
  • Got the boat off the trailer and onto three stands (two at the stern, chained together; one bow with a V support), backed up by cinderblocks and wood blocks under the keel, bow, and sides.
  • Dropped the centerboard. Pin's worn a bit, may as well replace it through D&R while it's out and I'm looking at it. $12 for a new pin ain't bad.
  • Centerboard tip was all sorts of chewed up, but most of the external structure's there. The center filler is mostly chewed out of the bottom, but a good four inch chunk of the leading edge was removed. I'm filling in the end with epoxy & silica filler, using empty cereal bags to help shape the epoxy while it sets. It'll need some more shaping when I'm done, but it's coming along well.
  • Got the crack in the hull ground out and beveled 3" to each side, after drilling the ends of the crack. First four layers of woven fiberglass are on. Rained a bit today, so I haven't been able to get more layers on there. Poking and prodding into those drilled holes makes me think there is no stringer there, just foam backing. It does surprise me how thick the hull actually is, but I suppose it really doesn't have to be.
  • When I dropped the centerboard, water ran out of the retaining bolt holes for at least three minutes. I'm not sure where those bolt holes lead, but there's obviously space under the cabin liner that the bolts lead to, and there was water there.
  • Looks like there might be a crack in the center of the centerboard slot, a couple of inches long, at the bow end. Not real keen on having to deal with it, on account of the limited space between the keel and the ground, plus a 1,400 lbs boat being directly overhead.
  • Finished pumping 5200 up into the deck/hull joint at the bow.
  • Ground out, beveled, and fiberglassed over the cracks on the starboard deck edge. Still need to build up the corner a bit to match the rest of the boat.
  • Picked up some 1" aluminum flat bar stock and cut backing strips for the other cleats I'd like to install on both sides of the deck edges. Handy to hang fenders off, I figure, plus having some more mechanical force holding the deck to the hull makes me feel a bit better. Probably ain't much, but it's something.
  • Having neighbors around nice enough to hang out while I'm working 'neath the boat is a huge blessing. Can't thank them enough.
 
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Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Got some more done today:
  • Got a few more layers of mat on the damaged area of the hull, building it up to match the slight curve there. Should be able to start sanding it tomorrow. I'd like to minimize the amount of epoxy filler I use there, so I might need to put another layer or two down in spots.
  • Hadn't quite got the sharp curve down on the repairs I'd made to the sides of the deck at the hull joint, matching the surrounding gelcoat. Instead of trying to build it up with fiberglass mat (messy) or weave (not enough space to get enough fiberglass to matter, without building up the edges too), I found a strip of wood, wrapped a cereal bag around it, and clamped it to the edge. Filled in the curve with epoxy & microballoon filler, then planed and sanded it to shape. Looks pretty good now.
  • Noted that there's definitely more flex on the hull in the damaged area than on the other side of the boat. Took a look in the cabin after, and there's an access hatch in the liner that lets me look just about where the damaged portion of the hull is. Of course, there's flotation foam there... looks like the port side (where the damage is) is separated from that foam just a little bit more than the starboard side, which is likely where the flex is showing. I'll see if I can't get some closed cell spray foam in a can in the gap, enough to support the hull.
 
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Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Short update:
  • The rudder and centerboard are done. Tip of the CB is filled in and shaped. Epoxy filler where both needed it, primed, and painted. Getting the latter done this summer has been horrible... I really want for a garage/workshop in the backyard. The humidity has been bad, and the regular thunderstorms (and iffy forecasts) put a damper on whether I paint or not. But they're done. Just two brushed on coat of Rustoleum Top Coat, with visible brush marks, but I won't be paying attention to how well it's painted when I'm sailing her.
  • Hull is mostly done being repaired. Just one more spot to shape along the keel, and one more repair on the hull to sand down. I'm surprised at how much more damage I found on the hull; I've still got a few cracks in the gelcoat to deal with at some point.
  • Deck is mostly done, except for one spot on the stern that will need grinding and more fiberglass laid down.
To do:
  • Gonna get the trailer towed down to a local body shop, to see if they can straighten the frame and weld in some scrap to reinforce the area.
  • Replace the standing rigging that's damaged. If I can put the cash together before the end of the season, I'll order the wire rigging from Rudy. Otherwise I'll buy some synthetic over the winter (heat treated, pre-stretched) and do it myself. I've got a goal to learn to splice the synthetic stuff myself, following along the DIY attitude and knowing I'll need to re-rig the Tylercraft 24' when the day comes.
 
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Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Rig up a method to secure the companionway hatch to the boat. Don't need that going overboard.
I usually put them between the interior seat cushions and the hull. Idea taken from another sailor

Don't feel bad. You're not the only one still doing repairs 3/4 the way through the season
 
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Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Ha! One step ahead of y'all... picked up a '67 Tylercraft 24' twin keeler this past spring, for the price of the trailer. Hull on her is good, as is the mast and boom. Rest of her... not so much. She'll keep me busy on the weekends I'm not sailing the O'Day.

Starting to get the feeling that I'm not happy if I don't have something to fix on something...
 
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Apr 13, 2018
30
O'Day 19 Rexford, NY
Got the centerboard reinstalled today, without much drama. Artificial sinew (left over from a skin on frame kayak build) ended up breaking while I tried pulling the cb line back up. I was able to feed a bent wire (ex-clothes hanger) down the tube to pull the line through. CB retaining plates were sealed with 3M 4200.

Beyond that, I sanded down a couple more repair spots on the hull and keel. Getting there, slowly but surely...