Last week I picked up my 33 year old O'Day 322 in Buzzards Bay, MA and brought it home to Casco Bay, ME. I was going to stop in Gloucester, MA for an overnight, but the weather was perfect so I just sailed through the night and made it in about 28 hours total. The last 12 there was thick fog and no wind so the Garmin Radar and little Yanmar got a workout. I forgot how much I love these little diesels. About 14 hours of motoring at 2,800 rpms total for the whole trip and I used 1/4 tank of fuel. So about 1/3 GPH, love it! Once I got it to my friends mooring in Freeport I unstepped the mast and had the boat loaded on a hydraulic trailer to bring to my house. Having the boat in my driveway not only saved me quite a bit of storage money, but it also will be very convenient to have the boat at home and 8' from my garage full of tools. Once the hauler left I got to work making some a-frames for the mast to rest on, lifted it up off the deck, and then did a little budget shrink wrap job with a weed torch. I gave myself enough room with the mast to get to everything on the deck and it has enough height that the snow should shed off the shrink wrap pretty nicely.
This will actually be the second 1987 322 I'll own. Back when I lived in Maryland for a few years I had one on the Chesapeake bay and did a few years of bay cruising and one long trip to Martha's Vineyard (hitting all the stops along the way). The shoal draft wing keel and the well designed interior were big reasons I bought the last boat as well as this one... When I decided I wanted another sailboat a few months ago (had just sold my powerboat) I was looking for something in the 34-36' range but this 322 came along at a price I couldn't pass up and offered a similar interior layout to the 34' boats I was looking at with much less draft.
I plan to do some east coast cruising with this boat and possibly some time in the Bahamas over the next few years, this coming summer I'll be staying local in Maine to work out all the bugs and hopefully head south about this time next year. So I'll be doing some appropriate upgrades over the winter to make it more comfortable for my plans.
In addition to the radar, autopilot, and dodger/bimini that are all in good working order. This boat also had all new standing rigging and brand new roller fuller last year. Big $$ items that will be very nice to have considering my plans for the boat. Now, with any old boat acquired for a relatively low price, there are a long list of projects that need attention and of course another long list of upgrades and things that I'll be doing along the way to make myself feel better and to reduce the chance of problems when I don't want them.
Here's a preliminary list that will only grow:
Maintenance/ Repairs
Exterior
--drop, inspect, and re-bed keel: I have no reason to believe the keel was ever dropped on this boat, so I think it only makes sense to drop it and see what's going on in there. Although I believe this boat was built before the "keel sump issues" it will also make me feel better to know what I have and repair as needed. Since the boat is in my driveway this will be a relatively easy job using a series of bottle jacks and blocking to lower the keel from the boat.
--replace all thru-hull and seacocks: I'm sure all of these are original so for a few hundred $$ I'll sleep better at night knowing they are in good condition.
--strip bottom down to barrier and repaint
--replace stuffing box with dripless shaft seal
--rebed all questionable deck fittings
--remove, sand, and varnish exterior wood
--rebuild or replace winches
--re-caulk tinted windows
--replace solar vents above head and aft berth
Interior
--replace all original head hoses: most of these were done by the PO when he installed the new electric head a few years ago (that thing is NICE), but there are still a few original stinky's left
--replace water heater: still working but very rusty so it's only a matter of time
--replace water heater hoses to engine
--clean up surface rust on engine and mounts and paint
--freshen up interior wood: sand and teak oil a few coats
--tidy up wiring
Upgrades
--dingy davits
--refrigeration: probably a nor cold ice box conversion kit but I'm open to other things
--some sort of heating system: I'm thinking a webasto forced air diesel heater, but still researching!
--solar: on the davits
--AIS: most likely just receiving, but I may opt for a complete system with transponder.
--New VHF to work with the AIS
--replace vhf cable
-- battery monitor
--upgrade battery bank: going with 6 volt golf cart batteries, most likely just a 2 battery bank which should give me plenty of capacity with solar.
--all led interior lighting, anchor, and running lights: I think most are already LED, but have to confirm
I'll be updating with some pictures and progress from time to time as slowly chip away at it. I'll be focusing on the bigger exterior projects before the cold weather hits then I'll get a heating system installed and move on to interior projects/ upgrades.
A few pictures to prove it happened!
This will actually be the second 1987 322 I'll own. Back when I lived in Maryland for a few years I had one on the Chesapeake bay and did a few years of bay cruising and one long trip to Martha's Vineyard (hitting all the stops along the way). The shoal draft wing keel and the well designed interior were big reasons I bought the last boat as well as this one... When I decided I wanted another sailboat a few months ago (had just sold my powerboat) I was looking for something in the 34-36' range but this 322 came along at a price I couldn't pass up and offered a similar interior layout to the 34' boats I was looking at with much less draft.
I plan to do some east coast cruising with this boat and possibly some time in the Bahamas over the next few years, this coming summer I'll be staying local in Maine to work out all the bugs and hopefully head south about this time next year. So I'll be doing some appropriate upgrades over the winter to make it more comfortable for my plans.
In addition to the radar, autopilot, and dodger/bimini that are all in good working order. This boat also had all new standing rigging and brand new roller fuller last year. Big $$ items that will be very nice to have considering my plans for the boat. Now, with any old boat acquired for a relatively low price, there are a long list of projects that need attention and of course another long list of upgrades and things that I'll be doing along the way to make myself feel better and to reduce the chance of problems when I don't want them.
Here's a preliminary list that will only grow:
Maintenance/ Repairs
Exterior
--drop, inspect, and re-bed keel: I have no reason to believe the keel was ever dropped on this boat, so I think it only makes sense to drop it and see what's going on in there. Although I believe this boat was built before the "keel sump issues" it will also make me feel better to know what I have and repair as needed. Since the boat is in my driveway this will be a relatively easy job using a series of bottle jacks and blocking to lower the keel from the boat.
--replace all thru-hull and seacocks: I'm sure all of these are original so for a few hundred $$ I'll sleep better at night knowing they are in good condition.
--strip bottom down to barrier and repaint
--replace stuffing box with dripless shaft seal
--rebed all questionable deck fittings
--remove, sand, and varnish exterior wood
--rebuild or replace winches
--re-caulk tinted windows
--replace solar vents above head and aft berth
Interior
--replace all original head hoses: most of these were done by the PO when he installed the new electric head a few years ago (that thing is NICE), but there are still a few original stinky's left
--replace water heater: still working but very rusty so it's only a matter of time
--replace water heater hoses to engine
--clean up surface rust on engine and mounts and paint
--freshen up interior wood: sand and teak oil a few coats
--tidy up wiring
Upgrades
--dingy davits
--refrigeration: probably a nor cold ice box conversion kit but I'm open to other things
--some sort of heating system: I'm thinking a webasto forced air diesel heater, but still researching!
--solar: on the davits
--AIS: most likely just receiving, but I may opt for a complete system with transponder.
--New VHF to work with the AIS
--replace vhf cable
-- battery monitor
--upgrade battery bank: going with 6 volt golf cart batteries, most likely just a 2 battery bank which should give me plenty of capacity with solar.
--all led interior lighting, anchor, and running lights: I think most are already LED, but have to confirm
I'll be updating with some pictures and progress from time to time as slowly chip away at it. I'll be focusing on the bigger exterior projects before the cold weather hits then I'll get a heating system installed and move on to interior projects/ upgrades.
A few pictures to prove it happened!
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