I just bought a Daysailer 17 and am amazed to find that the mast is stepped through the cuddy cabin to the sole. Has anyone ever cut the mast where it enters the cuddy and installed a tabernacle there to make stepping the mast a one-person job like all other dinghies?
Installing a tabernacle on the cuddy cabin.
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Not only have many owners (but not me!) made that modification, but it was a factory option until O'DAY changed to a tabernacle as standard in around 1983. Parts (ie. a kit w/instructions) are available from D&R Marine, www.drmarine.com might be best to call Rudy at D&R for advice and to be sure he sends you the instructions with the parts. (508) 644-3001 (I actually have a copy of his instructions, even though I'm in no hurry to modify my mast yet). I keep my DS II on a mooring for the Summer, so I step the mast in the Spring on launch day and unstep in the Fall when I haul out.
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I wonder if anyone has ever mounted the tabernacle to a block of some kind on the cabin top and reinforced the cabin top with a strut under it? It would probably involve grinding the top smooth and doing some fiberglass reconstruction. I would use a piece of Trex for the block. The mast would need to be centered on the block in the same way that it was before you cut it and added the block though.
I think that it would take some careful figuring.
I'm thinking that with the lower tabernacle hinge plate bolted through the block and the cabin top caulked with Butyl Tape, you would never get water in the cuddy cabin.
I think that this would work provided you had enough area on top of the cabin to mount the block and the hinge plate.
I think that it would take some careful figuring.
I'm thinking that with the lower tabernacle hinge plate bolted through the block and the cabin top caulked with Butyl Tape, you would never get water in the cuddy cabin.
I think that this would work provided you had enough area on top of the cabin to mount the block and the hinge plate.
I have found a hinge-like piece made by a company that recognized the problem of a mast that steps through the cuddy to the sole. the mast is cut about six inches above the cuddy and the part fits into the lower part and into the mast with a pin connecting them so that it can be lowered and removed. that way nothing is changed in position and the balance is not changed. Thanks for your input.
Joe, essentially O'DAY did that around 1982 when they made the hinged mast standard. I like the simplicity of the spliced-in hinge like I show in my posting above, but think that I'd mount it lower than O'DAY suggested so that the lower part of the hinge would rest close enough to the top of the cuddy to slightly compress a rubber/foam gasket or a bead of RTV caulk. The DS has a reenforced "ring" around the opening in the cuddy top where the mast goes through, so a wood or Starboard block would need to be routed out to accomodate that. We have pretty strict Class Rules about these things, so anyone who races or wants to keep the boat "Class-Legal" needs to keep those rules in mind. The hinge is certainly allowed, but I'd be leery about just how much I'd modify things.
When O'DAY made the hinge standard they eliminated the hole in the cuddy top and molded in a flat area for the hinge. They still used a section of mast extrusion as a support under the mast step, but it was not removable anymore.
When O'DAY made the hinge standard they eliminated the hole in the cuddy top and molded in a flat area for the hinge. They still used a section of mast extrusion as a support under the mast step, but it was not removable anymore.
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Our club used to have sailboat races years back before I joined and most of our members owned and raced O'Day Daysailers. http://www.shawometyachtclub.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Shawometyachtclub
You're right though. It would probably be a heck of a lot easier to just cut the mast and install both halves of the hinge on it.
http://www.facebook.com/Shawometyachtclub
You're right though. It would probably be a heck of a lot easier to just cut the mast and install both halves of the hinge on it.
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