O'Day Daysailer 3 jib & boom rigging

[beeteejr]

I just purchased a Daysailer 3. It needs a lot of cleaning up, sheets, halyards and I'm sure other things I don't even know about. The hull appears to be structurally sound and the spars are in good shape. I have some questions about how it's rigged.

I learned to sail in college long ago, my favorite course, but haven't sailed in quite a while. I'm really looking forward to getting back under sail .

I've done a lot of reading and looking at pictures at this website and others to try to learn how the boat is rigged. There are 2 cheekblocks on the boom that I'm not sure about.One is just aft of the gooseneck fitting and the other is about 1 foot forward of the aft end of the boom. Any idea what they're used for ?

My other question at this point is about the jib. All of the instructions I've read and pictures I've seen show hanks clipped to the forestay.There are not many pictures of 3's that I can see clearly enough to tell how it works on that model. My jib has no hanks but has cable through the luff edge. Does it just attach to the halyard above and attach to the same deck plate that the forestay does on the bow ? There are 2 holes in this plate so I guess it could work that way.

Any input would be appreciated !

Thanks,
Bill

 

[Sunbird22358]

Those 2 cheekblocks are for the reefing line for the main. I'l linclude a diagram below on how to rig. Basically, the reefing line runs from an eye strap near the clew end of the boom, up through the reefing grommet in the leach of the sail (trailing edge) then down through the cheekblock near that end of the boom, forward along the starboard side of the boom to the cheekblock near the gooseneck, up through the reefing grommet in the luff of the sail, then down to the clamcleat usually used for the downhaul.

The jib doesn't have hanks because it is a roller-furling jib. The DS III came with a standard wire-luff jib furler (Schaefer model 100) there should be a padeye just aft of the stemhead fitting (that fitting with 2 holes that the forestay attaches to) to shackle the furling drum to. The DS I and DS II (and I think the early DS IIIs?) used a hank-on jib and on those you would fasten the jib tack to the stemhead fitting. Anyway, back to the roller furler, there should be a furling drum (white plastic spool in a black plastic cup, with a stainless-steel barrel swivel in the center) There is a slot i nhte top of the swivel with a clevis pin to hold the jib tack and an eye o nthe bottom to shackle to the padeye on the deck. The upper swivel may be spliced to the jib halyard (not sure, maybe swivel is attached to halyard using a shackle?) and the upper swivel is basically the same as the furling drum but without the drum, there is a slot on hte bottom to attach to the head of the jib with a clevis pin. The furling line will run from hte exit of the drum to the clamcleat on the top of the cuddy, near the mast.

For any missing parts, you can't beat calling Rudy at D&R Marine in Assonet, MA. (508) 644-3001. Rudy was the Parts Dept Manager at O'Day and now runs a little one-man shop (actually, Rudy and his Wife, Debbie.... that is where D & R comes from) supplying parts for "old" O'Days. He also has a web site www.drmarine.com but phone calls (or Saturday morning visits) are the best way to contact him. He also now owns a 1986 DS III.

 

[beeteejr]

Sunbird 22358, thanks for your reply. The diagram was great. Now it makes perfect sense. When the sail is reefed, is it just folded up on top of the mast ? I read about rolling it onto the boom but wouldn't that cover the main sheet block ?

As far as the jib goes, my boat does not have the extra padeye you describe, just the stemhead fitting with 2 holes. I don't have the furling drum either. So it appears I have a mismatch between the type of jib sail and the equipment to attach it. I guess I could just connect the tack of the jib to the stemhead , raise it with the halyard and sail as if I had a furling jib. May get a little difficult to drop the jib is it's a little windy. An alternative would be to install a padeye, buy the furler and use the jib as it was intended to be used. The jib is original to the boat so when it needs replacement I could just go with a hank-on jib. I'll be trailering the boat so I may not get much use out of a furling jib.

Thanks again for the information you sent me.

Bill

 

[Sunbird22358]

When the mainsail is reefed the "extra" sail material is more or less rolled up along the boom and the reefpoints (short lengths of line threaded through the 2 grommets in the middle of the sail (will be level with the tack and leach grommets of the reef)) are used to hold the sail roll. I'll post pics of my sail reefed, that might help (need to scan them first).
Yes, if you rolled the sail around the boom it does cover the mainsheet block attachment point. On the older DS I and II that was the standard way to reef the sail (gooseneck will allow boom to rotate when doing this) before rolling the sail on the boom the block is removed and is shackled to a reefing claw (a "C" shaped device that fits over the boom and reefed sail to attach the block to) this allows the sheet block to be positioned over the rolled sail. This claw was actually "OPTIONAL" (ie: extra cost) even though the there was no way to really reef the sail without the claw. The roller-reefing really didn't work well anyway and many owners have since converted their boats to the type of mainsail reefing that came standard on most of the DS III years (slab or jiffy-reefing). I made that change to my boat and have never been sorry!

I have the original Schaefer jib furling gear that would have come with the DS III, I bought it at a marine store clearance many years ago (in fact 10 years before I had a DS II) planning ot use it on another boat. I'd post a picture of the 2 parts, but at the moment it is 40 miles away in the shed at our beach cottage (I'll make a note to bring it home next week).

You could sail with the jib "as is", but if the sail is in good shape overall, it might be easier to have a sailmaker (or do it yourself?) add hanks to the jib. SAILRITE Kits sells the hanks www.sailrite.com Even if you trailer, a roller-furling jib is not out of the question, if the area where you sail has variable winds (calm one minute, gusty the next) you may enjoy the ability to quickly furl the jib using the furler. The jib should stay rolled up pretty well (in a sort-of sausage form) after you lower it before unstepping the mast. However, I'd probably add hanks to the jib if it were my boat. The wire-luff style furlers tend to be very hard to get set just right, because they tend to sag off to leeward ruining the set of the jib (can't really get enough tension on hte luff of jib to prevent this). Wire-luff furlers don't work for reefing a jib, for that you need a furler with a plastic of aluminum extrusion that fits ovver the forestay.

 

[beeteejr]

Thanks Sunbird. I think I'm going to go the hank route. I've seen the screw on type designed to go over the wire luff and clip on to the headstay.

If you get a chance to post the pix of your furled main, I'd appreciate seeing them.

Thanks again,
Bill