My 74 Oday 23 project

[Jamtra]

Hello, I am new to the forum and new to owning a sailboat. I've sailed with others on their boats but this is my first sailboat. I acquired a 74 Oday 23 a couple of years ago and have now started the process of fixing it up. I got it from a children's camp on Lake Texoma. It had been donated to them at some point. They were in the process of rebuilding their docks and bringing in new boats so I got this really cheap. It has been neglected for a while and needs a lot of work. I have stripped the hardware sanded the entire boat. I just finished taking off all the bottom paint and I am now removing the blisters.
I just wanted to introduce myself because I will probably have some questions and I would appreciate any insight from people who may have experience in these areas.

 

[kappykaplan]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[jssailem]

Welcome @Jamtra. Congrats on your, new to you, first sailboat.

While there are a few items that may be unique to your ODay, most of the boat's systems, hardware, and structure are common among all boat owners. Posting your queries in the "Ask All Sailors" forum is likely to receive more responses than just the specific Oday forum.

Perhaps identifying what your goals are with the boat should be considered. Are you looking to get the boat in a decent shape and seaworthy to take it out sailing, or do you imagine the boat as a challenge to bring her back to showroom perfection?

 

[Jamtra]

Thank you for the welcomes.
@jssailem, I appreciate your response and will direct most questions to that area. I just thought other Oday owners of similar boats might be interested. I will be sailing her for sure. This boat could never be showroom perfection. A prior owner has made modifications to it. Where it was a pop-top originally, that has been fiberglassed down into a solid top. There were a few other changes made also. Even though it will never be original, I will effort to make it as nice as I can for my wife and I to enjoy. I'm just looking to have a nice reliable boat to sail. Thanks again for the welcome.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Welcome, Jamtra.

FWIW, many of us use the main page of this site which generates a daily list of ALL new posts, rather than using any specific sub-forum for access. east that's what I do, so I see all the new stuff from all forums as well as the replies to all posts.

John's right about boats parts though.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Welcome to the forums! We have a handful of O'Day owners and former owners here. I owned a 25 and did extensive work on it. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. For replacement parts, Check out D and R marine. The owner used to be O'Day's parts manager. He's incredibly knowledgeable.

 

[jssailem]

Sounds like a solid plan. Previous owners are often known to make unusual modifications.

What waters are you looking to sail? Let them help you make decisions about your project. The waters I sail are very unlike the waters and conditions you'll face on the lakes in Texas.

The ideas about the recovery of an old boat have similarities.
My focus was: 1. Make sure the boat can keep the water on the outside.

 

[Jamtra]

Hello Project_Mayhem. Thank you for the warm welcome. I appreciate your offer of helpful information. I will keep that in mind. The next hurdle will be the centerboard. It is stuck up in the trunk and I don't know how I am going to go about getting it off. It is damaged and needs to be replaced. I don't know if it's only rust holding it in there or if the cable is jammed in there with it also. It is partly in and partly down. I have not spent much time on that yet. At the moment I am focused on the blisters. For some reason the starboard side has a lot more than the port side.

Hello jssailem, that was a very sensible focus. For now I will be doing most of my sailing on Texas lakes. I have actually never sailed on a lake. All of my sailing was in the Florida Keys. We lived in Key West for 7 years. I still have property up close to Cedar Key and I do plan on making it back to Florida eventually. It would be fun to sail that area. We have lived all over Florida. I will probably also take it to the Texas Coast around Rock Port and Port Aransas. I grew up South of San Antonio and spent a lot of time down there over the years. I liked fishing out by the oil rigs back then. The Texas coast is very rough in my opinion so while I learn to sail better I will stick to the lakes for a while. I've only owned motor boats until now. I've never spent any time on the waters of the west coast. I spent a lot of time in California and Oregon but I was always working.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

I'm guessing your boat was kept in the water at some point. Perhaps that one side has worse blistering due to more sunlight. I'm a freshwater sailor so we rarely have to deal with that so my knowledge is lacking. My 25 did develop thousands of tiny blisters however. It was in the water 4-5 months of the year and treated to heated storage in the off season.

Assuming that your boat was stored in the water, it's most likely marine growth that's keeping it from falling down. Your best, safest and possibly safest solution would be to take your boat to a yard and have them lift it. There's also no shortage of information about how to build or lift a boat off of its trailer. To my shock and dismay, Catalina 22 owners have been lifting their sterns by the rudder gudgeons for years.

When I rebuilt my centerboard, I made it a little bit too thick. As a result, it would be stuck for the first two weeks of the season. Eventually the waves would wiggle it down. After year three or four it wore itself down. If you replace yours, put barrier coat and many layers of bottom paint on it

 

[Jamtra]

@Poject_Mayhem, Hello, You are correct, the boat was in the water for a long time. From the paperwork I got with it, I would say about 9 years. I doubt it was ever out in that time after it was donated to the camp. I had to take the trailer home and redo it before I went back to get the boat. It was about 3 hours away from me. The bunks were completely rotted off and the tires were in really bad condition. I changed all the wheel bearings also. The trailer had been sitting as long as the boat was in the lake. Because I was under a time constraint I didn't make time to check the centerboard before I had to get it on the trailer. It didn't go all the way in and when I loaded her on the trailer it got jammed and took off some of the centerboard. It is really jammed in there and I am not sure how I will get it out yet. I really don't want to take the keel off. I can't find any information online on how to remove the pin on these early centerboards with the iron keel. It seems like it should be pretty straight forward. I've seen a lot of people say to ask Rudy at D&R. If I can get that out, I may be able to pry from that side also. I'm hoping I don't destroy the rest of it while trying to get it out.

I do have the boat off of the trailer. I did build some stands that it is on now. I have sanded the entire boat and am now grinding out the blisters. I have not counted them yet but I would guess at about 120 or so. Some are fairly large. I will glass the large ones and use epoxy putty on the small ones. When I am done with that I will barrier coat it.

What year was your 25?

 

[Project_Mayhem]

My 25 was from 1978. That thing handled anything Lake Michigan could throw at it. The passengers, not so much. I love heavy weather sailing though.

On mine, there was a plate toward the front with four screws. If you remove them, you'll encounter a couple of plastic blocks pushed up against the pivot pin. Mine was a large metal plate encased in fiberglass. It weighed 50-60lbs. Have you tried poking something up inside the trunk to try to free up the board? I've heard of people using hacksaws for this. I think I'd try something a little gentler first. It'd be a pain to touch up the fiberglass inside there