DSC01384 I keep these 2.5 gal. containers with food stuff in the compartments under my quarter birth mattresses and it takes two hands to remove them. This means that I need to lift the mattress each time and hold it with my head. Ya know what? I'm getting tired of doing this each time I need to get at the containers. My next mod will be to cut each of my mattresses in half and recover them them with new material. This way, all I have to do is lift the mattress off the cover and move it out of my way or place it on the adjoining mattress. I may use Velcro to keep the mattresses joined, as I have omitted the two quarter birth mattresses that were under the cockpit seats in those cubby holes. I plan on doing the same thing in the V birth section. These mattress covers are in bad shape and need replacing anyway. Also, it's going to be easier to cover four short mattresses in this area of the cabin than it would be to cover two long mattresses. I think it's a plausible idea. What do you think?
- Joe11688
- Feb 22, 2013
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DSC01108 I used to attach my yacht ensign to my backstay years ago till I got an idea of making a flag staff out of a short 1" S.S. pipe. I took the pipe to the marine fabricator one day and had him put a bend in it for me. I made a round cap out of a piece of Teak and attached it to the top of the staff and bored a hole in the other end of the pipe for the Fast Pin to hold it to my fore way fitting. It came out real nice. I keep the flag attached to the staff and I usually remove the staff and stow it in the cabin when the boat is on the mooring.
- Joe11688
- Feb 21, 2013
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DSC01042 The curved pipe that the welder made up is about 30" high from the top of the transom and it leans forward in order for the mast crutch pipe to fit in the 90 degree base flange on the sole plate with the pipe straight up and down. The guy did a superb job I think and he only charged me $230. The straight mast crutch pipe stows pulls out of the four way fitting and is stowed down below in one of my settee compartments when not in use.
- Joe11688
- Feb 21, 2013
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DSC00450 This is a mast crutch attachment that I had made up for me years ago by a marine metal fabricator. I made the wooden crutch and later install a small roller in it. The weight of the mast is being supported by the 90 degree 1" base fitting which is screwed to the cockpit sole just in front of the self bailing well.
- Joe11688
- Feb 21, 2013
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Tension bar sketch 001 These angles are pretty close to the ones on my bar. What I would do is try to mock up a bar out of wood for instances and check to see how it fits. Then take it to a welder and have him make you up one similar to it out of 1" stainless steel pipe.
- Joe11688
- Jan 25, 2013
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222 Tension bar 3 If there is any give to your cabin roof due to the pressure of the shrouds bearing down on the mast, you may discover that your shrouds are getting loose. I truly believe that this problem can be avoided altogether by installing a strut similar to this one. This strut was installed at the Fall River Ma., O'Day factory in 1986 when they built my boat.
- Joe11688
- Jan 25, 2013
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222 Tension bar 2 This strut is just a 1" stainless steel pipe with a flat spot on one end with two holes in it for bolting to the galley cabinet post. The other end has a welded flange with two holes for attaching to the mast tabernacle bolts. The bolt spacing on the welded flange might be different depending on what make mast and tabernacle is on the boat. My boat came with Z-Difusion (Z-Spar) internal halyards and I suspect that the tabernacle plate on the cabin may have a different bolt spacing than an O'Day 222 with Dwyer spars.
- Joe11688
- Jan 25, 2013
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222 Tension bar 1This tension bar is not a mod but I felt that it should be in this album because earlier O'Day 222 models particularly the 1984s didn't come with this tension bar for some unknown reason. It would behoove the owner to try and have one made and installed. I think it is very important.
- Joe11688
- Jan 25, 2013
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Finished extrusion 002 This is the finished extrusion. Well,-almost finished. I later added two more bolts to it. What you see is a Trex plug that fits into the mast and it's sitting on a 1/4" Aluminum plate with two pieces of PVC trim board bolted to the top tabernacle plate. I cut some kerfs on the edge of the Trex where it fits into the mast. Hopefully, any water that gets in the mast will drain right out through these kerfs. I don't know if anyone out there has ever done this. Maybe I'm the first. All I can tell you is, so far it's worked out fine.
- Joe11688
- Jan 23, 2013
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Tabernacle 002 Shortly after I left that other welder with the dollar signs in his eyes, I thought about making up the 2" with 1" thick pieces of Trex. I had to use the Stainless Steel plug for now so that I could get back out on the water. My son came down with his Makita crosscut saw with a carbide tip blade and he cut the bottom of my mast. I then made up this temporary mast extrusion and was back on the water in less than two weeks. This extrusion is a bit heavy and it's ugly, but it worked. It was worse than ugly. It looked down right fugly. :)
- Joe11688
- Jan 23, 2013
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DSC01267 This isn't the original mast tabernacle that came with my boat when I bought it new. It came with an el cheapo French made cast Aluminum extrusion with a small sheave at the bottom for the internal Jib halyard to pass through and I hated this set up with a passion. After losing my mast back in the 1990s out of Newport RI, I had Rig-Rite in Warwick RI make me up a new mast. This time I wanted it made up to my specs and that included a stainless Steel hinge plate. This plate is a Dwyer and the utility plate is a Kenyon, I think. He told me to mount a block on the cabin to make up up 1-1/8" under the hinge plate so that my upper stays would fit. He gave me the plates and I mounted them to a 5"X7" Teak block like what you see in the pic. The rigger had to make a mast plug to attached the upper plate to the bottom of the mast. I wish he'd have made it out of Aluminum instead of Stainless Steel. Years later my mast started corroding and I had to take it to a marine welder. You can see in the pic where he welded, but the whole bottom of the mast was thin and getting ready to blow out.
- Joe11688
- Jan 23, 2013
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006 A marine welder looked at my mast and told me, "to fix that mast, the labor alone would be about $300." I thought to myself, "I don't think so." My mast is Z-Spar and they don't make a casting for this mast that would work for me. He told me that I'd have to cut at least 2" off the bottom of my mast. I would need to make up 2.25". When you have a problem like this you need to think outside of the box. He's thinking, "weld" with dollar signs rolling around in his eyes, and I'm thinking, "just make up 2.25" between the mast and the upper hinge plate." That board under my Tabernacle is a piece of Trex that I used to replace the old Teak board that I had under it. I use stainless steel wood screws to secure the extrusion to the mast. I'm also using Nylon washer to insulate the screws along with a small dab of Never-Seize.
- Joe11688
- Jan 23, 2013
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005 This is what I call a mod of necessity. I made up this permanent extrusion last year. It's a long story but in essence what happened was the bottom of my mast rotted out and I had to cut 2" off it and make up the difference with some material that I've never used before.
- Joe11688
- Jan 23, 2013
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