Missing mast pin

Sep 23, 2009
1,475
O'Day 34-At Last Rock Hall, Md
Hello all. The manual for my 1984 O'day 34 in big bold type warns that the dealer MUST intall a 1/2 inch stainless pin thru the mast just over the deck mast collar. The mast is now on saw horses and there is no hole where a pin was placed.
Anyone else have this pin missing also? I could add it now but the boat has been fine for 34 years without it. Oh happy day!
 
Nov 6, 2006
9,884
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
That is a strange one, Larry.. is it supposed to be a guide or fairlead for internal halyards or wiring?
 
Sep 23, 2009
1,475
O'Day 34-At Last Rock Hall, Md
Correct. It is drawn and discussed in the manual. As it would be covered by the mast boot it is normally out of sight.
 
Aug 7, 2013
48
O'day 39' 25th Anniversary Mystic, CT
Ahoy there!!!! I just returned back from FH, after a 4 day mini staycation on our mooring. Great time sailing other people's boat......
njlarry, after owning FH for a couple of years, the admiral suggested that we replace our mast boot. Here are photos of what we found..... Admiral panicked when she saw that the pin had apparently sheared off, immediately called the PO, who told her not to worry and that it had probably been that way for a while and posed no immediate danger, and to just replace the pin after the sea sun once the mast was unstepped. So we continued to sail and enjoyed our sea sun. the following spring we found 1/2" s.s. rod, had her son cut it to length, drill new holes for cotter pins, and voile... we were like new!!!!
Measure the height from from your mast step plate to the cradle on your mast deck plate that the pin would sit in, if it has one. Carefully drill through your mast, avoiding any wires and that's it.....

Good luck,

Tony E.
s/v Faster Horses
 

Attachments

Aug 17, 2010
311
Oday 35 Barrington
My '87 O'day 35 did not have this pin installed either. About 5 years ago I found a ¼" pin in one one of the drawers under the Nav. Station. I figured that this had been intended to be used as the pin, so I installed it per these instructions; http://forums.sailboatowners.com/in...pping-the-mast-from-oday-30-manual-pdf.41390/

Well, after a spirited sail** this year I noticed that my mast boot was leaking, so after I hauled I removed the mast boot. I was shocked to see that the ¼" pin that I had installed had bent into a "U" shape from the mast pushing downward, and the deck pushing up. Next spring I will be installing a ½" pin instead of the ¼" pin.

** The spirited sail was downwind in 25-30 knot winds with 6-8 foot swells up 'Vineyard Sound. The crew and I had a double reef in the main and a single reef in the Genoa. We were straining the rig, but having a great time. After we rounded West Chop the seas decreased and, because we were in the lee of Martha's Vineyard, the wind decreased to about 22-26 knots. We passed another sailboat, it looked like a 30 footer, motoring INTO that slop! We could see the leading edge of his keel as he bounced over the waves, and we saluted him as we passed.

BTW - the O'day rubber mast boot gave up the ship long ago. Instead I use the 4" x 100" version of this:
 
Oct 7, 2008
378
Oday Oday 35 Chesapeake Bay
I never knew this was or should be there. I’ll check mine next time I’m down to the boat. It looks like it is designed to keep the mast from driving into the step plate at the keel.
 
Nov 3, 2010
564
Oday 39 Lake mills WI
The pin is needed to prevent the deck from rising and the boat squeezing together midships (placing greater than designed loads on the bulkheads below). There is a large force from your halyards if run them back to your cockpit thru blocks attached to the deck plate. The boom vang also tries to lift the deck. My buddy who has owned his O'day 39 since it left the factory and sails it across oceans says the pin is a cheap alternative to the proper solution which are tie rods running from the deck plate to the mast step as seen here https://www.google.com/imgres?imgur...sTeAhUl_4MKHSAIAhEQMwhIKAQwBA&iact=mrc&uact=8 and here http://www.jordanyachts.com/1840 He has two tie rods on each side of the mast. They run much closer to the mast than the picture I attached and look great down below. Handy hand hold as well.
I'm happy with my O'day solution but don't plan on curcumnavigating any time soon.
 
Jan 27, 2008
3,045
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
O'day should have put a metal plate on the collar where the mast goes through the deck so the pin has something to resist compressive forces. Sitting on FRP it wears a groove in the collar due to fretting. I like the idea of tie rods better. A pin is in contact just on a tangent point so the stresses are infinite until the material deforms or wears enough to have some surface area in contact.
 
Aug 17, 2010
311
Oday 35 Barrington
This is a picture of the mast collar that is used with the Isomat NG51 mast on my 1987 O'day 35.


You can see that there are "notches" at 12:00, 4:00, 6:00, and 8:00 around the inner circumference of the collar.

It turns out that there are "Deck Tie Down Turnbuckles" available from RigRite (hold on to your wallet) that insert into these notches. The turnbuckles (also available from RigRite) look like this:
 

Attachments

Jan 28, 2017
26
O'Day 34 Suttons Bay
BTW - the O'day rubber mast boot gave up the ship long ago. Instead I use the 4" x 100" version of this:
Do any 30/34/35 owners have the rigid PVC mast boot (NG51-15B-10, $169 at RigRite.com)? I'm wondering if it is flexible enough to remain sealed and not crack with movement. I have the mast down this winter so now is the time to install it if I'm going to.
 
Aug 17, 2010
311
Oday 35 Barrington
BTW - The correct clamp for fixing the bottom of the mast boot to the mast collar is a Shields/Trident 720-8000 8" T-Clamp - $10.50 through Amazon
 
Aug 17, 2010
311
Oday 35 Barrington
Also, I am trying an experiment with 8" wideFlex-Tape (as seen on TV!). I will cover this for UV protection with the mast boot tape in my earlier post.