And so it begins

[25yearslater]

Aww for crying out Pete's loud sake. After all this an annoying drip, drip, drip. Where in hell is that leak coming from? Rain reveals all don't you know. As I peeked and peered and probed it eluded me. After covering everthing with tape, buckets and whatnot the leak tasked me. In a moment of shear epiphany it occured to me the two freaking holes from the emblem pop rivets were wide freaking open. A dab of modeling clay proved to be the solution until I mount them. Bilge pump check, water system check, handrails on their way and that's about it till spring. Then on go the emblems as the handrails are the last restoration item. Batteries, lifelines, bottom paint and rigging are pretty much spring time chores. So I guess I can say, YEEHAW and phwew. Oh yeah and the mast is waiting for a boat headed south for it's rework. No hurry there as it will be done indoors. OOOOPPS one more thingy. Pyacht in Maryland has 9 loop teak handrails for the lowest price I could find. http://www.pyacht.com/cgi-bin/pagegen.pl?pr+hnl409T.html

 

[Fly_H23]

Interesting developments. I checked out an Origo and they are 7000 btu's. Not sure what the difference is to a cookmate except 200 btus and 100 dollars in cost. I had a two burner Origo for several years. I really loved the simplicity of it. In my 35 I am thinking of going with a 2 burner Origo and then mounting a microwave below it where an oven would normally be. Later 35's installed a microwave in the cabinet above the stove but my year didn't. Microwaves are great to heat water for coffee. I really like instant coffee, fast, no messy grinds. Not much space used up to store all the ground coffee. An origo stove with oven is 1500 bucks, a two burner is 349 plus the gimbal so call it 400. Another hundred or so for a microwave and some wood to install it, maybe 500 bucks versus 1500.

Have you tried the Starbucks Via instant coffee? It's darn tasty and we think worth the extra price.

 

[25yearslater]

I'm gonna try it Fly. Thanks. I drink so much coffee I'll be walking around three days after I'm dead. In other news that drip was the emblem holes. After last night's festivities YOT is dry as a bone. Spring Yet? How 'bout now? Now?

 

[25yearslater]

I'm so excited I might need a cold shower. My handrails are here and oiled up. Once the oil dries on they go and YOT is officially complete. I will be sending the mast out soon but that isn't something I even remotely need to worry about as it is a quick easy process. I purchased the handrails from pyacht and they are exactly the same as the O'day originals. They are made by H & L in California and have a 3 week lead time. I also afixed the emblems because I could. So for http://www.pyacht.com/cgi-bin/pagegen.pl?pr+hnl409T.html handrails in teak or mahogany try these folks. They even have longer ones.

 

[Joe11688]

So begins perhaps the most quixotic endeavor thus far. What might that be? An undoing of 34 years of some mighty absurd ideas of what a boat should and shouldn't be. Finally Yot is sitting along side my home thanks in no small way to Lockview Marine and Boat Transport. Yes, that is the boats' official name, YOT. It's my boat and I'll call it anything I please even to the chagrin of the crew, one of which has threatened mutiny already. Anyhow the stripping of the cabin has commenced. Hull liner-gone. Cushions-gone. Everything coming out up to and including the carpenty. Not the main bulkhead that's just fine. Instruments-gone. Rolly furly-gone. Gallons upon gallons of epoxy here. Tech note - this Oday 27 has a .187 inch outer deck skin and .375 inch balsa core. All measurements +/-.005 inch. Balsa 80 square feet due in tomorrow, 14 yards 18oz knytex 0-90 biax and another 14 yards +/-45 12oz knytex due Friday. Colodial silica here 404 filler here. Various rollers, spreaders, brushes, nitrile gloves, mixing bowls, pumps, and lets not forget the 14 or so yards of Outdura fabric for the hull liner. So call me nuts but this boat is going back to 76 when it was shipped new from Oday. And last but not least 2 gallons of RTV urethane to capture the original non skid deck as a mold for the new deck. Even the cushion fabric is selected and comes very close to an original Oday fabric. On the plus side somebody in its' history had the presence of mind to epoxy coat the bottom. Not a blister on it.

Hey Joe,
You did the same thing I did to my boat. Yor removed every piece of wood from the cabin. That's the only way to do it right. I like that name you gave her, "Yot". It's sounds original. One of the guys on the O'Day Facebook just bought an O'Day 272 LE with the trailer and he named the boat, "Knot @ Work." I thought that was a pretty cool name.

Is your boat leaning to one side in that picture or are my eyes playing tricks on me? Maybe I need to see an octopus.

 

[25yearslater]

Thanks Joe. Glad to have had you along on this adventure. I never thought this thread would turn out to be so popular. YOT does lean a little (about 2 inches) to port. The camera does exagerate it though. The advise and encouragement has been truly appreciated. Glad I could provide some insight into the O'day line.

 

[25yearslater]

Merry Thanksmasyear. And what a day it is. The handrails are on and with it the last of the components are finished. I used #12 stainless oval head sheet metal screws and stainless finishing washers to afix them as per the original. Have a variety of lengths on hand. 2", 2-1/2" and 3" as the cabin liner and cabin top can vary significantly in thickness. I drilled 5/16ths inch through holes in the deck structure only and used plastic straws to keep the injected thickened epoxy from providing a big drilling project. Once the epoxy cured a quick drill with a #1 drill down through the straw and we were ready to attach. Starting aft we predrilled 5/32" holes approximately 1.5" deep to preclude splittting these things. Reattach and mark the next 2 or three and remove and drill. Reattach and mark the next group of 2 or 3 and follow the same take it of put it on procedure. Finally remove and caulk or use butyl tape to permanently attach. There is a very pronounced bow so take your time to prevent a split handrail. So there we have it. YOT is ready for sleepy time till spring. :dance:

 

[SailingCal21]

Damn nice looking. Good thinking with the soda straw idea, gonna rip that one off.

Happy Thanksgiving to too Joe.

 

[Bill Roughton]

I like the job you did on the fold-up salon table. What I can't see is how it is supported when folded down. Are there legs folded up somehow or do use something else?

Bill

 

[25yearslater]

Thanks Scott. It has been great having you along since the beginning. Hello there Bill. The table can be seen on pages 5 and 21. Page 21 is cut short but it is a two piece leg that hinges in the middle and on the leg that is nearest the leaf it is hinged at the top. When the leaf that is hidden is folded out the leg folds out to support it. Here are some additional photos of the table and legs. I removed it as the Formica buckled on one leaf so I will glue it a little more diligently this time.

 

[jibes138]

Shouldn't that table be bright orange formica to match the original for a perfect restoration? :>)

 

[Bill Roughton]

Looks really nice. I will, however, forgo the bright orange formica...

Bill

 

[25yearslater]

Ah jibes, another fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Been there from the git go also. Nah couldn't deal with that gawd awful orange. Don't blame you a bit Bill for foregoing that color. What in hell were they thinking or were they thinking at all? I can't imagine that ever looked good. But what the hey, some sacrifices had to be made in regard to a perfect restoration.

 

[bria46]

My O'Day 272 has a pale yellow surface for the drop-down table. I wonder if they, meaning O'Day thought that a hard plastic surface would be a better surface that wood. I recovered my table with a wood tone product made by Wilson Art. Check them out!

 

[jibes138]

Joe,
YOT looks amazing. I applaud you for your effort and the quality of your work. One quick question, I don't see a stern rail in your latest pictures. Do you still need to install it or didn't this model have one?

 

[25yearslater]

Thanks jibes. As to the matter of the stern rail. YOT did indeed have one originally but it was a real cob job affair. I have all the pieces for a new and more visually pleasing unit that when welded together should be much stronger. I probably won't get to it this year but somewhere in the future I will tackle that. I even have a lovely swim ladder that has nice teak steps that came with the YOT.

 

[jibes138]

Another question. I had a Catalina 25 with a deck stepped mast and the wiring for the mast went through a deck fitting. This was a potential source for leaks, a tripping hazard on deck, and susceptible to damage from stepping on it. Plus the risk of corrosion from regular dousing with salt water. Inside the boat the wires ran up the compression post and through the fitting so it was unsightly. I see on YOT it looks like the wires come up through the deck plate and connect internal to the mast....correct? I assume you need to step the mast with a crane and not yourself? How do the wires run inside the boat?

 

[25yearslater]

You are correct jibes. The wires come through the step casting and are run between the interior liner and cabin top along the starboard side. This is perhaps not the best situation as they are not free to move up in there. Replacing them would be a chop and abandon affair as fishing new ones through this area would be a massive headache. The mast is a definate crane stepped deal as it has to be close enough to connect the wires via a plug and does not have a hinged tabernacle. The mast itself weighs 95 pounds and with the hardware it comes in at about 110. At 33 feet it would be a feat of luck to safely step this if a hinged tabernacle were installed.

 

[bria46]

I had the same situation. I rigged my mast with internal halyards and all electric wiring. I installed the wiring down thru the deck fitting and used water tight fittings supplied by DEL Electronics in Milwaukee. My mast was made my Z-Spar. So it was quite easy to get a one foot piece of the identical extrusion from Z-Spar. Then I cut about 6" X 1-1/2" wide making sure that the upper and lower edges were were first cut with a hole saw before cutting the long slot. Next I cut the cover out of the 1 foot section supplied by Z-Spar and used 3M double sided tape and installed the cover. The slot is about 10" above the bottom of the mast. I have used this setup for three years with no cracks showing. The mast now has: Anchor light, steaming light, Foredeck light and VHF radio cable all internal.

 

[jibes138]

The Catalina 25 had the wires molded directly into the deck. They weren't tinned wires and once they corroded could no be replaced (without major structural work). So I ran new wires inside the boat and up the compression post and through the deck. Much better than original but still a potential leak source with a deck fitting and a tripping hazard on deck. Why a builder would design the system this way is not clear other than it is cheap and looks good when new. Definitely not built to last or for easy maintenance.