O'day 26 draft questions

[John Stevens]

First, I've been told by Rudy that O'day never made a new hull when they built the 26. The 25 specs show a 2'3" and the 26 a 2'6" a 3" difference. Anyone have an explanation and ... which is correct?

Second, my depth sounder puck is glued to the inside liner at the bow of the boat just ahead of the forward bulkhead. Without running aground and checking my sounder reading, how do I figure how close that puck is to the waterline? It's obviously below the waterline by some distance or it wouldn't read. I'm guessing I have a few inches more than it is reading but how many?

I know a matter of a few inches isn't a big deal to most but the canal at my lake is reading 3'5" at the lowest reading. They adjust the lake level by way of a canal system so it will get a little lower.

TIA,

John

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

I have read that the 26 had at least 300 more lbs ballast than early 25's. That could be part of the difference.
I think that with your boat tied to a dock, you could stick the water with a cheap tape measure attached to a pole ( pvc pipe works) to get true water depth. And then compare that to your depth display (with it set to zero offset). The difference should be what you are looking for, does this seem correct?
I like to have my display set to true water depth (as opposed to depth under keel) because then I am using the same thoughts as when I peer at a chart.
Good luck.

 

[John Stevens]

Thanks Lance,

BTW, I sailed to Anna Maria Is. a few weeks ago. I had my boat in Gulfport and we sailed down there for the night, beautiful area.

John

 

[OdayDave]

Hi John -

A couple of other things to consider. Given that the stock rudder was not kickup, you will want to measure that. The bottom edge is a little below the keel on my 25. I haven't done a precise measurement but I will next summer when it's home on the trailer (covered with a tarp and covered with snow right now and the rudder is in the garage). Anyhow, I know that I've dragged my rudder twice even though my keel has never hit bottom since I've had the boat.

Second, consider how much weight you have on the boat if inches matter.

Good luck,

Dave
s/v Lagniappe
O'Day 25

 

[Sunbird22358]

I would tend to believe Rudy, although I stil lthink the hull of the 26 was different from the 25 (Maybe O'DAY just built a new mold to the same dimensions?).
As to the 26 drawing 3" more than hte 25...... When hte 25 was introduced, the draft was listed as 2'3" and she had an advertised ballast of 1525#. Later, around 1977, the ballast was increased to 1825# yet the draft was still listed as 2'3"....... obviously, adding 300# of ballast would make the boat sit lower in hte water, yet O'DAY never changed the original figure. If what Rudy says is true, the 26 would more or less have the same draft as the 25 (ballast increased again by 25#, but that wouldn't sink the boat 3").... so, perhaps the 2'6" draft is also correct for the 25 after O'DAY added the 300# more ballast.

Rudder was supposedly different for the 26, maybe it was made less deep? However, it would seem that the 26 rudder should fit the 25 if they are the same, yet D&R still lists different rudders each model (price is more on the 26 rudder).

I'd suggest the sounding pole idea to roughly test the delta between actuall depth and reading on depthsounder. I think you can adjust the offset, so you might be able to correct for the difference. Did you install the DS or was it a previous owner? If PO did it, the reading might be already corrected.

 

[John Stevens]

Thanks for all the replies. I installed the sounder, I haven't adjusted anything yet.

I ran a tape measure to the bottom at my slip. Problem is, the bottom is very muddy/weeds so I'm not sure where the sounder is reading to. I get 6.5 on the sounder, about 8 with the tape measure. I'm going to have to find a sandy area to do the test so that I can get a fixed point on the bottom.

 

[cbourne200]

PO must have set mine to measure true depth. When I have scraped bottom the DS went blank. Just prior was reading about 3' (272 is rated at 2' 11").

I was at boat today and did the 'DS in Slip' trick with inboard running in reverse (water flowing under the boat). DS bounced from about 5' 9" to about 3' 4". I would not have thought flowing water would distort the DS reading... Maybe there was a school of fish under the boat?

Charles

Charles

 

[Ward H]

I did the weight on a string trick to set my DS to actual water depth, then set shallow water alarm to 3'. This gives me a bit of play for the boat draft and rudder, which is a few inches below the keel.
I had read somewhere that the rudder being lower than the keel was one of the improvements made on the 26.