New owner of a 84' O'day 26

[BelladonnaII]

I've read through many topics on this Forum for insight prior to purchasing my new to me 84' O'day 26 for an inland lake/river cruiser. Although it is the dead of winter here in Middle Tennessee the temperature creeped up to 50 degrees on Saturday and I was able to take my first sail on her. :dance:

I just thought I would drop in and share with others.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Congratulations, looks to be in great shape. Happy New Year!

 

[BelladonnaII]

Congratulations, looks to be in great shape. Happy New Year!

The boat actually was in great shape, especially with a completely original interior. I got it at a great price with a new outboard still under warranty. I have a tiny bit of wood rot on the port side bulkhead from water leaking in around chain plate but I don't think it has progressed enough to warrant replacing the entire bulkhead just yet. I've hopefully caught it in time and can re-bed everything to fix leak.

EDIT: Please ignore the extremely ugly genoa sheets. Those are on order from West Marine.

 

[Oromocto_laker]

She looks great. I brought home a "new to me" O26 in the fall. I have been passing a snowy winter thinking about sailing her come spring. Makes me jealous of you winter sailers

 

[Ward H]

Congrats to both of you on your 26's!
Spring will be here before we know it!

 

[njlarry]

Welcome aboard. Your boat looks beautiful. Assume that you know if the deck is wet around the chainplates they need to looked at for crevice corrosion. Likely OK but should be checked.

 

[BelladonnaII]

Welcome aboard. Your boat looks beautiful. Assume that you know if the deck is wet around the chainplates they need to looked at for crevice corrosion. Likely OK but should be checked.

Yes, they look good on visual inspection but will be taking a closer look when I rebed them very soon.

I may actually end up doing more rigging work then I actually anticipated. I realized after sailing a few days ago that when at the dock, my backstay was very slack (had no pull on the mast whatsoever). I tightened it to an acceptable range and that left me with almost no room on the turnbuckle to go any further. I'm not sure if maybe the mast has settled or the backstay (which was replaced recently) is too long.

 

[Hydro Therapy]

Congratulations, great looking boat.

 

[njlarry]

Be safe and careful. A settled mast means a broken mast step, then all stays would be slack. Just a loose backstay, wrong length or loose chainplate or really excessive rake or something higher up like a swage is giving way. (no 30 knot spinnaker flying for now)
All during our first season we continued to find various "quirks" on our boat that needed further investigation and repair despite a very through survey.
Let us know how you make out.

 

[Oromocto_laker]

Congrats to both of you on your 26's!
Spring will be here before we know it!

I hope, here is a picture of my mooring as of 5 minutes ago

 

[BelladonnaII]

I hope, here is a picture of my mooring as of 5 minutes ago

Wow, good luck up there!

 

[RichBone]

Clean and well maintained, great! Lucky you.
Check to see if the tabernacle has depressed the cabin top. As stated above if the backstay was replaced it could be too long. If all the chainplates look solid then the backstay should be measured. It shouldn't need to be that far in the turnbuckle. Check with Rudy for proper length.

 

[BelladonnaII]

Clean and well maintained, great! Lucky you.
Check to see if the tabernacle has depressed the cabin top. As stated above if the backstay was replaced it could be too long. If all the chainplates look solid then the backstay should be measured. It shouldn't need to be that far in the turnbuckle. Check with Rudy for proper length.

UPDATE: My initial feeling was that the entire rig was loose but now that I've done more research on these boats, I think my thinking is just off on what they should be. I'm used to being on a much heavier and more stout Pearson 365. Everything I read about the O'day 26 says all stays and shrouds should be hand tightened + one turn. That does not seem very tight to me at all but then again maybe that is typical for this type of deck stepped rig and I'm just expecting what I'm used to with a keel stepped rig. I definitely do not want to over tension the rig.

Any opinions on that?

 

[RichBone]

Yeah, I think you got it right. Start with that and go from there. Older fittings aren't going to tighten as easily as new ones so you might need to tighten a little more. Trial and error. Check headstay sag, weather helm and leeward shroud slack when under sail. On mine I find that headstay and backstay turnbuckles are adjusted about the same amount.