Draft for the 20'

[Slarkin50]

I bought a 20' O'Day this Sept and everywhere I looked saw it had a 14" draft. When I took it out of the water at end of season, I was surprised to find out the ruddder is much lower that that at least a foot or more power than the keel. It is not a fold up type as on some smaller models and to boot the rudder will not come off unless you take out all the screws in the rudder or the stern of the boat as the rudder has a curve in it that actually goes under the stern to prevent it from coming up and popping off. My concern is that if I bottom out and damage the rudder. Is there any alternatives out there?
Also I need to replace the rope that lowers and raises the centerboard--any advice how to go about it?

 

[Joe11688]

I'm thinking that the previous owner bought a tiller for this rudder that was wider than the original tiller, and in order to get the desired fit in the rudder head, he may have raised the rudder head by lowering the pintles. I did the same thing to my rudder years ago. This would give the desired clearance between the top of the transom and the underside of the tiller, but it would raise the rudder blade to a point where you can't take it off. The only cure for this problem is to buy a tip up rudder. You should be able to un-ship that rudder without having to remove screws. As for the centerboard pendant line, you need to get part of the boat off the trailer to get at it. This task is easier with a roller trailer and two, or even four sailboat stands, some rope tied to the stern of the boat and a tree or something solid. You would need to use the towing vehicle to pull the trailer out from under the boat. The rope tied to a tree keeps the boat in one place. The boat stands placed two on each side of the stern will keep the boat from tipping. I would place blocks under the stern to carry the weight of the boat. It's quite possible to get enough of the boat off the trailer to let the centerboard down and replace the pendant line, but it can be dangerous. The easiest and safest way to do this is to bring it to a boat yard and have them lift it for you or have them do the job. Of course, you'd need the new pendant line with the shackle before hand. Unless you have the equipment at hand and the means to do it at home, it's not an easy task. If your trailer is a bunk trailer, You would have to jack up the boat from the ground and move the trailer ahead little by little until the centerboard can be dropped. If you decide to do this yourself, have someone help you and do it as safely as you can.

 

[Slarkin50]

Rudder & centerboard

Thanks for the pictures.
1. Did you make a kick-up rudder from a one piece original?
2. How far down does the centerboard have to drop from the keel to replace the control line to the centerboard?

I appreciate the help!

 

[Joe11688]

My kick up rudder came stock with my 86 O'Day 222, but that doesn't mean that you can't make one for your boat. The original rudders that came with some of the O'Days were made by molding two halves. Then they were glued together, and pumped with foam. I think that the rudders were manufactured by a company in Clearwater Fl. They may have built these rudder blades this way to keep the weight down to a minimum, but these blades had a tendency to break after a while. I went through two of them before I smartened up and bought one through D&R Marine in Assonet Ma. One of my friends built a tip up rudder for his Bayliner Buccaneer, and it came out pretty good. The O'Day tip up rudders came with a pendant line to hold it in the down position via a 1/4" braid pendant line and a self rescue clam cleat mounted under the tiller. I added an extra pendant line to my rudder to hold the blade in the up position, and I used a fair lead and a self rescue clam cleat on the top of my tiller. My friend liked this feature, so he adopted this idea when he built his rudder.
My centerboard is about 12" wide, so you may need at least about 18" of clearance under the keel or less, to get at the pendant line shackle. You could always dig a hole under the keel to get more access to the board if you had to.

 

[LordNelson]

You are right, the ODay 20's rudder draws more than the keel. I think mine draws about 2 feet. Joe is also right in that it must not be the original. My rudder comes straight down from the transom. I can also remove the rudder as it is only held in the pindles by a stainless flat spring arrangement. (I have to remove mine on the mooring each time when the lake water levels drops in the fall.)

If you don't want to make one, I believe D&R Marine has a swing up rudder for about $400 - $450.

The keel pendant on my oday 20 does not have a shackle. A line simply feeds through the hull and though a small hole on the top of the swing keel. The line passes through about an inch of the keel into an open half dollar size round hole molded in the swing keel. A knot is tied in the line and when the keel is retracted, the knot sits in that half dollar hole so as to not bind the keel in the housing.

 

[slarkin]

I like the photos of the rudders. The wood one must be your buddy's and the fiberglass one from your O'Day.--- Mine looks like your fiberglass one and it measures down 32" from the waterline so I,m thinking of making it into a kick-up type as yours. Do you have any plans for the one you have?
I suppose it would be easy enough to make by sight. Is the outside housing stainless steel on both sides or aluminium?
I have had 3 boats with this type set-up and they work great.
I appreciate your help !
Steve

 

[slarkin]

Lord Nelson,
The centerboard has to be dropped about how far to get at that half dollar hole to put the pendant in? Also how long does the pendant have to be, any idea?

 

[LordNelson]

hard to say as i have only dropped it while in the water. the line is attached about 6 inches from the bottom of the swing keel so you only have to drop it alittle over the wiidth of the keel. i would say maybe 1/3 down or a 18" - 24" to be able to get at it easily.

i had to retie the knot this summer due to chafing so i lowered it about 1/3 - 1/2 due to shallow depth on the mooring. i then ran a rope under the hull to support it when i cut the line near the keel. i ran the line back into the keel and tied a new knot. i then trimmed the excess below the knot. if there is too much excess it can get outside the keel and bind. (if you were not worried about the depth you could drop it all the way.)

as to the amount of line, mine is much longer than necessary, but i am quessing i have around 8 feet of line. i would suggest you run maybe 10 feet of line and then trim it later while in the down position and tied off. the line tends to chafe where it enters the swing keel so i would leave some extra line to be able cut the line at the keel and retie the knot again without having to replace the whole line. it's a good thing to check on occasion while it's in the water.

 

[slarkin]

Thanks for the helpful info !

 

[Sunbird22358]

The original fiberglass rudder for the O'Day 20 did not extend under the stern as far as I can tell, so your rudder may not be original. The O'Day 23 (1977-85) and the 25/26 did have rudders that extended underthe stern. To remove these rudders one needs to pivot the rudder to one side or the other until the rudder clears.
O'Day did offer a kick-up rudder as an option on the 20, I'll post a picture of one of these. If you can find a source for the materials it might be a good Winter project to build one.

 

[slarkin]

I thinking of cutting the one that came with the boat and scab aluminium sheets on both sides and a stainless steel bolt for it to swivel on. Do you have any dimensions for the kick-up rudder that you posted?

 

[LordNelson]

I am interesting in knowing how thick of the aluminium sheets would need to be as i would like to build one due to my shallow mooring area?

i will try to measure my oday 20 stock rudder for you (not a kick up) and post these.

also, look at the "questions fromr a green horn" posting. joe has a link for building a rudder from marine plywood which may be of help.

 

[slarkin]

I thought that the O'Day 20 came through with a kick-up rudder, which would make sense so the 14 draft would be effective and you could sail very close to the beach or in a shallow area.
I plan on changing it to a kick-up on mine one way or another.
Let me know how you doing on yours.

 

[Sunbird22358]

O'Day 20 rudder dimensions

I thinking of cutting the one that came with the boat and scab aluminium sheets on both sides and a stainless steel bolt for it to swivel on. Do you have any dimensions for the kick-up rudder that you posted?

I don't have the dimensions, the pictures came from someone with a 20 who posted them on one of these message boards. It looks to me that the basic outline of the kick-up rudder matches the original one-piece fiberglass rudder, so maybe a fellow O'Day 20 owner could measure/trace their rudder for you. Making a kick-up rudder from the original fiberglass one is not impossible...but it might be easier to make the new one using marine plywood with aluminum cheek pieces (those are the plates on each side of the pictured rudder). I have made kick-up rudders for a couple of small sailing dinghies using the original one-piece rudders as a template. If you could get a chance to see a disassembled kick-up rudder (any size) it will help you to design your own. I found it to be an interesting project and for my boats it was definitely less cost than buying a commercially made rudder.
One other option would be to buy a new kick-up rudder from www.IdaSailor.com They might have a better price than some others, although their kick-up rudders look alot less beefy than the one I posted pictures of.

 

[LordNelson]

i can measure my solid oday 20 rudder if that would help.