Compression Post for O'Day 20

[Bull Weber]

My O'Day 20 had no compression post when I bought it, nor did it have a bulkhead in place to take the downward load from the mast. In fact, there was no evidence at all that either had ever been in place. Predictably, to those of you veteran owners, late last summer in a stiff breeze, my mast seat suddenly sunk an inch or two into the overhead scaring the dickens out of my wife and me! I then discovered through some owner listservs that I needed a compression post which I fashioned out of 2x4 once I'd done the fiberglass repair. It worked fine, but was rather inelegant. I would like to replace the post with a shiny stainless steel post. Does anyone know of a place I can get one?Thanks,Bullbweber@bcharrispub.com

 

[Mike Basham]

Some Ideas!

Bull, let me throw out some ideas. Anything to help!- Maybe part of a damaged mast from a marine salvage company or boat work yard- A sporting goods store might have a pole for a volley ball net or something similar. The posts they use for tennis nets might work too, if you could find one.- A farmers co-op might have something that would work, like a fence post or something.- If it didn't have to be metal, you might be able to use one of those decorative posts used for staircase rails from a hardware store.The compression post is built into a bulkhead wall on my 1972 23' O'Day, and it's made of a 2 inch square piece of teak. Good luck!

 

[Bob Corey]

Mast Step Support

I have an O'Day 20, 1974. I have a bulkhead, or partition between my cabin and V-Berth area. The bulkhead goes directly under the mast step, with a piece of wood (about a 2x2) directly under the mast. Are you sure there was never a bulkhead in the boat? All the pictures I have seen seemed to have one.