Need help identifying Daysailer year

[RenntechE60AMG]

I just recently purchased an O'Day Daysailer 17 for $350 including trailer, 3 sets of sails, mast, keel, and rudder. The boat did need work when I first purchased it 3 weeks ago and I have been working vigorously between 3 jobs to try and restore it to some beauty.

The kid that I bought it from told me it was a 1998 O'Day Daysailer because that is when he purchased it. I had stumbled across and old closed thread on here about looking for a HIN # and a plate on the inside of the hull. My Daysailer doesn't seem to have either of those.

When I purchased the boat, the hull was white and the top deck was a god awful baby blue color that had faded away. The top deck had tiny pits in the fiberglass that I had sanded down and filled with fiberglass filler. I then used Rustoleum Marine Topside Paint with Anti-Slip Additive in white and did and additional coast of white semi gloss as an added layer. The hull I painted with Rustoleum Marine Topside Paint in Navy Blue Semi Gloss 3 coats. (1 coat with a foam roller, then 1 coat with a brush then the last coat with a roller again).

Everybody I talked to at Westmarine told me that as long as I wasn't keeping the boat in salt water all the time, then top side paint for the hull is fine.

So tomorrow I am going to stain my side stripping, finish off staining my 2 seats, stain the cover I made for the aft sink/cooler and start to paint the inside bottom.

I still need help identifying the model year if my Daysailer though

 

[Nils T]

RenntechE60AMG

This will help explain what the numbers mean. Look on the transom (stern), top right and there will most likely be a number.

http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm

Sounds like you made a good deal. All used boats require some work. You are in a great area for sailing.

 

[RenntechE60AMG]

ok so I painted the transom, would these number be etched into the transom? because there is no plate on the transom. What if I can't find any numbers

 

[Nils T]

Yes, they are usually stamped into the material. Are there any numbers on the sail. That is usually the hull number.

 

[RenntechE60AMG]

I couldn't find any number stamped into the top right of the transom.

 

[Brian S]

If there is no HIN stamped to the right top outside of the transom, then it was made before, HINs were introduced. If memory serves, HINs began in 1972. Well, late 1972, so effectively 1973.

As for your prep, you note that you are "staining the wood." In my opinion, stain will do nothing for the wood, as it is not a protectant, it's just a colorant. You would need to varnish the wood, and that requires (to my standards) a minimum of 8-10 coats of varnish. Teak can be oiled, but oil doesn't last long and requires reapplication. There's a world of info on wood finish if you search the forums here.

When I bought my Harpoon daysailer, the PO said he had just varnished the wood. I found the mahogany thwart and seat slats had all cupped, and had maybe 2 coats of varnish on them. They were unsalvageable. I made all new mahogany seats and thwart, and finished with 9 coats of marine varnish, before I got sick of varnishing and stopped. I shoulda done 12 coats! Even so, especially for seats, you should sand very lightly and apply a new coat of varnish each season, as varnish is very thin layers that wear.

 

[DHaranSailor]

Brian makes a lot of good points and I second all of them. I would add that in my research topsides paint is fine on the hull as long as it is not left in the water for more than a handful of days at a time. I have also seen to be careful if you have bunks on your trailer as the trapped water can cause the paint to bubble and peal.

For your hull number if not stamped then what Nils said. The sails is how I found my hull number on my Wayfarer.

I find it "funny" that he said the boat was the year that he bought it...

 

[berner73]

If you haven't found it already, this will be a good resource for you moving forward. Poke around there a bit and you should be able to narrow down which generation boat you have, and subsequently a mfg date range.

http://forum.daysailer.org/forum/

Unrelated to your post, but FYI, here's a good source for original O'Day parts:

http://www.drmarine.com/categories.asp?cat=60

 

[Nils T]

I thought some one with an O Day would add their input.

 

[Sunbird22358]

I own a 1979 O'DAY DS II (Day Sailer II, with molded-in cockpit seats and a lockable cuddy, cockpit is also "self-bailing".)
Well, from your description, this is an O'DAY Day Sailer I (DS I), I had to laugh when you mentioned the "Aft sink-cooler", although O'DAY did say it could be used as a cooler (uninsulated!) to keep your drink cans cold, the primary purpose of that molded box is to allow clamping an outboard directly to the transom. Build year could be anywhere from 1959 to 1976 if built by O'DAY, most were between 1959 and 1970 (DS II introduced in 1971, but DS I still built as special order for a few more years). If the seats are wood, then she would most likely be a 1959-61 model, later years had fiberglass seats. All years of the DS I did have 2 short wood seats that braced the CB trunk to the seats. However, the "kicker-pit" (outboard mount/cooler) wasn't added until about 1962.

Most of the DS Is were built prior to the 12-digit Hull ID Number requirement that began in November 1972. O'DAY boats built prior to that had a little metal plate riveted to the forward flotation tank (on the DS I) that would have listed 2 numbers, a HULL# and a CLASS#. But if your plate is missing........ I don't think O'DAY marked those numbers anywhere else on the boat.

I wouldn't worry too much about the topside paint being below the waterline, Rustoleum is an oil-based enamel, the blistering that everyone talks about occurs with most Polyurethane paints (even the $$$ ones like AWLGRIP!). Rustoleum should be fine, and should allow you to rinse off any slime or residue of a few days in freshwater.

I'm curious how she sails having a keel instead of the original centerboard, is it a fixed keel or retractable? I would think a fixed keel would make trailering harder, but the added stability might make up for that. If the keel is retractable, make sure that the centerboard trunk has been braced well to handle the added strain of the heavy retractable keel, it was originally designed to handle the original 25# centerboard (lever-operated) and so may flex more with the heavier keel.

The Day Sailer I is the most popular with racers so the resale value will be better if it is still possible to go back to the unballasted centerboard instead of a keel if you ever sell the boat. Class rules do not allow the centerboard to weigh more than 25# (although my OEM one seems closer to 30#.)